A wheelchair is a tool of liberation, not confinement. With the right wheelchair, quality of life increases dramatically. In Choosing a Wheelchair, longtime chair user and ergonomics consultant Gary Karp guides you through the selection process to help you identify the chair that can provide optimal independence.

Summary
A wheelchair is a tool of liberation, not confinement. With the right wheelchair, quality of life increases dramatically—even people with severe disabilities can have a considerable degree of independence and activity.

People selecting a chair for the first time can be distracted by their emotions, overwhelmed by the number of features t consider, and unsure of their part in the selection process. Experienced chair users might know about features on their present chair that don’t work well, but are probably not aware of all their options with a new wheelchair.

In Choosing a Wheelchair, longtime chair user and ergonomics consultant Gary Karp guides you through the selection process to help you identify the chair that can provide optimal independence. He covers such topics as:

• The wheelchair as a mobility tool
• The selection process and your part in it
• How to compare manufacturers (including smaller, niche manufacturers)
• Basic choices such as: Power or manual? Fixed frame or folding?
• Features and options for both power and manual chair users
• Paying for the chair
• Wheelchair maintenance
A primer on wheeling technique

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. The Wheelchair Revolution
2. Large Versus Small Manufacturers
3. Who Pays for Your Chair?
4. The Selection Process
5. Your Role
6. The Basic Choice: Manual or Power
7. Manual Chair Decisions
8. Power
8. Chair Decisions
9. Cushions
10. Seats and Backs
11. Footrests
12. Tires, Casters, and Suspension Systems
13. Tilt/Recline Systems and Positioning Systems
14. Armrests, Clothing Guards, and Accessories
15. Wheelchair Maintenance
16. Wheeling Style and Technique
Conclusion 149 Manual Chair Features and Options
Power Chair Features and Options
Resources
Bibliography
Contributors
Index

Excerpts

From Chapter 4. The Selection Process

Selecting a wheelchair is a major decision. It is all the more daunting if you are new to the experience. If you’ve been dreading the moment when it would be necessary, the prospect of having to choose a chair probably feels more like an unpleasant task—or maybe a sentence to prison—than a shopping adventure.

Perhaps you expect a recovery, so you wonder why you should even bother to get a wheelchair at all. No matter how true it is that you might recover, if your physician is recommending a wheelchair, odds are your mobility will be limited for at least a while. There is still a lot of wisdom in getting the right chair. It will optimize your mobility, minimize your fatigue, keep your spirits up by allowing you to be more active, and protect you from hazards that can result from the wrong chair, including some that can impede your recovery. You will want to maintain the best possible health. The right wheels will help you do exactly that.

The professionals who are advising you will talk with you about many issues and options. They will ask you a lot of questions. They may give you catalogs for a variety of chairs that have all kinds of features to choose from. It will likely seem overwhelming. You might think, “Just sell me a wheelchair!”

The best advice is to relax. This is a process that takes time, and it is extremely important not to rush it. You’ll have much to learn and many questions to consider. If you find the right people to work with, they will help you identify the chair that will make it possible for our to have the fullest possible life you disability allows. Inform yourself. Trust your advisors, and trust the process. This chapter will encourage you to begin shopping for your wheelchair when it is time, explains that roles of those who will advise you, and discusses a typical consultation.

Published Review

I love the idea of putting knowledge often possessed only by professionals into the hands of new consumers. Gary Karp has done it. This book will empower people with disabilities to make informed equipment choices.

--Barry Corbet, Editor, New Mobility magazine

Karp, an ergonomics consultant and wheelchair user, has produced a practical and well-written guide, highly recommended for disability/rehab and consumer health collections.

-- Library Journal

The process of getting a wheelchair can be confusing and frustrating. Gary Karp gives readers the information they need to understand the many options they have, and overcome some of the obstacles they might face. Choosing a Wheelchair is an excellent resource for consumers as well as professionals who are learning how to advise them.

-- Michael Boninger, M.D., Executive Director,
Center for Assistive Technology,
University of Pittsburgh

Choosing a Wheelchair is a warm, user-friendly book that goes right to the core of what is relevant when selecting a chair. Gary Karp has a sensitive…understanding of the wheelchair user's perspective, and skillfully guides readers through the many decisions they will face as they determine the best possible chair for their needs.

-- Jody Greenhalgh, O.T.R, Rehab Therapy Supervisor
Stanford University Hospital

Reader Review

Email your review to reviews@disabilitiesbooks.com

Meet The Author

I've been paralyzed with a spinal cord injury for 26 years, since I fell out of a tree and broke my back in 1973 when I was 18, unable to move my legs the moment after I hit the ground from 25 feet up. Being a chair user has been very a different experience from what I imagined it to be at the time. This is my main interest. To correct the widespread misunderstanding of disability.

This is what my book Life On Wheels is about--to address the misconceptions people bring to their experience of disability. I believe these myths drags out the process of adaptation, wasting time having to get over culturally-ingrained beliefs which are not true. There is enough to adjust to with a disability, so the more one is able to realize how much potential for meaning remains in their lives--even with a "significant" disability--the sooner that optimal life can be reached. Plenty--in fact most--people with disabilities have already proven the case.

Now I am using my disability experience and my abilities as a writer to clarify what the disability experience is about. It is not about being "crippled," nor is it about being needy. In fact, people with disabilities are capable of much greater levels of independence than many in the able-bodied public imagine. Most of us live pretty normal lives. We work, we travel, we have fun, we have friends, and we are sexual. The burdens of disability are often more a matter of obstacles in the built environment, public policy, and general cultural attitudes. Most people with disabilities are not looking for sympathy. They want control of their own lives, and that is the gist of what independence is about. Even if you are being assisted, it is a question of who is in control, and that defines your independence.

I live in Northern California, play music, juggle, tend my gardens. I am also a consultant in computer ergonomics, helping companies protect their employees with training and workstation visits. The work is about being comfortable while you work, and about being protected from potentially disabling cumulative trauma injury. I am also a frequent speaker at meetings for individuals with disabilities and their family members as well as for rehabilitation professionals. To contact me about a speaking engagement, please write me at gkarp@disabilitiesbooks.com