Wheelchair Accessories for Safety, Comfort and Individuality

When driving a car, car owners make sure their cars provide safety and comfort. Many also like to add personality to their cars by decorating them with bumper stickers, license plate frames, detailing and more. Just like a car, wheelchair owners look for safety, comfort and individuality when using their wheelchair. Thanks to our readers, we recently learned about three products that are lesser known but significantly enhance a wheelchair user’s experience. Although Special Needs Group/Special Needs at Sea does not sell or rent these items, we thought they were worthy of passing along the information.

Motorized and manual wheelchairs are frequently hit by vehicles due to them being so low to the ground and drivers not paying attention to them. As wheelchairs have no reflectors or lights, they are especially vulnerable to accidents at night. One great product on the market is spoke reflectors. The reflectors clip onto the spokes of the wheelchair wheel and make the wheelchair more visible. The spoke reflectors are lightweight and can be placed in interesting patterns to express one’s individuality.

Another product we learned about is the FreeWheel™ Wheelchair attachment. This durable, lightweight wheel attachment clamps to existing wheelchairs and enables users to push over surfaces that would typically be impossible like grass, curbs, rough road and other terrains. The product is lightweight (under 5 lbs), easily clamps on to existing wheelchair’s footrest and is made from strong, aircraft quality aluminum material.

And finally, for those who don’t like tracking dirt, leaves or other outdoor contaminates from outside into your home, a great option is to use wheelchair tire covers. When entering your home, you simply need to slip on the covers to keep the floors clean and dirt-free. They are designed to come on and off easily, so many wheelchair users can place them on and remove them without any help. Made out of foam and fabric, they are machine washable.

There are many other fun wheelchair accessories out there – wheelchair safety lights, backpacks, drink holders, umbrellas and more. Whether it’s transporting your favorite items along, providing you with safety or just adding personal flare – we encourage you to check out accessories to make your wheelchair experience more enjoyable, safe and fun.

May 27, 2010