Persons with mobility impairment, either from injuries, paralysis or diseases, are often prescribed to use wheelchairs to allow them some freedom of movement. Local legislation has recognized this right and is embodied in the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) with implementing rules such as the Use of Invalid Carriages on the Highways Regulations 1988. With a more sustained focus on enhancing mobility, there are now hundreds of companies offering wheelchairs for sale online with models and styles that have never been as varied as before.
Ten years ago, if you were in the market for a good wheelchair for an invalid household member, your best bets are those medical equipment stores and the broadsheet classified ads offering both new and used wheelchairs for sale. These days, you have the internet where you can do your shopping right form the comfort of your home. The classified ads are still there of course, but you can also access online classified ads. If you’re in the market for good value pre-owned or second hand wheelchairs, the internet also has them.
Wheelchairs have gone a long way to where they are. Most wheelchairs go beyond the said hospital look and have combined ergonomic aesthetics with the functionality afforded by newer lighter materials and more sophisticated construction.
The conveniences allowed by direct-driving high torque motors and the advances in rechargeable batteries have found their way in electric wheelchairs for sale, both new and used.
For many invalids, owning an EPW or electric-powered wheelchair is now a necessity as they bring not only a higher level of mobility that allows the handicap to go further without tiring easily, they provide some degree of independence allowing them easy and responsive self-maneuverability that is difficult in manual wheelchairs or impossible for some.
Quadriplegics and paralytics from the neck down would not be able to navigate on their own, but with specialized devices that allow their chin or mouth to control a motorized wheelchair, what used to be impossible is now a reality.
It is to these special cases of total motor skill incapacitation that a new breed of wheelchairs has started to make their dent on the market. Called smart wheelchairs, they employ computers and sensors governed by Artificial Intelligence-based application often used in robotics.
The more sophisticated ones also have sonar, infrared and laser rangefinders to ensure the wheelchair will never have to collide with any object no matter how clumsy the rider’s control gets. They can also use small cameras to visually detect landmarks and obstacles to assist in steerage. It can be said that very soon, the most sophisticated wheelchair could very well impart near-robotic qualities to the rider.
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