Motorized Wheel Chair

First, let’s make this clear, I didn’t even know that such a thing existed as a solar powered wheelchair. Then on my daily reading of the news I found this post on the site www.emirates247.com about a guy named Haider Taleb from the United Arab Emirates who is trying to break a record with his solar-powered wheelchair using his chair that is not limited in distance because it relies upon the power from the sun.

He’s planning to travel 125km in 14 hours an win a Guinness world record. He invented the solar powered wheelchair. The four 20 watt batteries of this wheelchair are powered through solar panels and the raw energy of the sun.

I’m seeing a lot these days in the news about people who are not limited by what is perceived as a “handicap.” From my previous post on a modern day hero to our wheelchair athletes in the Olympics. Seems the only thing that limits us is ourselves. Don’t let it happen.

The posting that follows is written by Keith J Fernandez.

From Abu Dhabi to Sharjah in a wheelchair!

solar powered wheelchair

Haider Taleb will spend 14 hours going from Abu Dhabi to Sharjah in a Guiness attempt tomorrow
On Thursday, Haider Taleb will attempt to set a new world record for the greatest distance travelled in a solar-powered wheelchair.

The UAE national, who wants to raise awareness of the uses of renewable energy, will set off from Masdar City at 6am, travelling across three emirates to arrive at Sharjah’s Al Thiqa Club for the Handicapped at an estimated time of 8pm.
That makes it a distance of over 125 kilometres in 14 hours, and Taleb hopes it will be enough to win a Guinness World Record.

“Setting the record is an important milestone as it underscores how technological innovation can improve lives and demonstrates the raw power that can be harnessed from the sun,” he said, posting on his Twitter page on Wednesday that he aimed to travel a minimum of 100km on his journey.

“While crossing the finish line is the ultimate goal, the journey is equally as important. I want to show the world the advantage of a solar-powered wheelchair, and highlight the hope and encouragement it brings to people with reduced mobility,” he added.

Taleb presented the first version of the wheelchair, which he invented, to the Young Future Energy Leaders (YFEL) in January.

His chair scores over traditional electric wheelchairs because the solar power source frees its user from geographical limits. Electric wheelchairs must be charged regularly, but the overhead solar cells on Taleb’s chair automatically charge the chair’s batteries on exposure to sunlight. His publicists say the panels are powerful enough to charge four 20w batteries.

The next step of his plan to spotlight solar energy is an attempt to travel across the seven emirates that make up the UAE. He will begin that challenge on November 22, and hopes to finish in time for UAE National Day on December 2.

Taleb is being supported by Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy initiative.

I don’t always write about the newest and the latest motorized wheelchairs. Although I’m always watching the news about wheelchairs and the people who own them. We have the ParaOlympics and that is where I find my heroes, but once in a while, we can find our heroes in the ordinary people like you and I. The following news story comes from Sympatico news and I wanted to share this story with my loyal readers. It’s about a man in a wheelchair named Larry Skopnik who was able to stop a robbery at a convenience story in British Columbia.

Man in wheelchair thwarts robbery in B.C.

Wheelchair Hero

A Vancouver man in a wheelchair who stopped a robbery at a convenience store over the weekend says his actions may appear impressive, but he was just doing what his parents raised him to do: help others.

Larry Skopnik was in a Commercial Drive Food Stop on Saturday when a man at the counter became aggressive after the clerk would not accept his suspicious-looking $50 bill.

The man told the female clerk he was going to rob her and then moved behind the counter. Skopnik rolled up, grabbed the man by the torso and, after a struggle that threw him from his wheelchair, the pair fell to the ground. Other store patrons held the suspect until police arrived.

On Monday, clerk Cindy Grewal called Skopnik “a hero.”

“Honest to God, my heart goes to him because he didn’t think about it that he can’t walk,” Grewal told CTV British Columbia, “but still he managed to get out of the chair and grab him down and put him down.”

Skopnik denied that he is a hero, saying, “I usually stand up for the little person and people that need help.”

He also said the fact that he is in a wheelchair will not keep him from helping others.

“I don’t think there should be any big deal made about it. Yes I’m in a wheelchair but I still have all the morals and standards that my dad and mother put into me to help people, to stand up to bullies,” Skopnik told CTV News Channel Tuesday afternoon in an interview from Vancouver.

“People have a perception of people in wheelchairs as being unable when we’re 99 per cent able. There’s only four things I can’t do in life, and that’s walk, run, jump and kick. Everything else I’m totally able to do, and helping other people is one of them.”

Skopnik has been in a wheelchair since he was injured in an ATV accident 10 years ago.
He said he was thinking about protecting Grewal from getting hurt, and not his own safety, when he decided to intervene.

“Right at the moment he was going in and getting physical with her I figured that was unacceptable to cross that boundary,” Skopnik told CTV B.C. “And all you really want to do is end the situation.”