Motorized Wheel Chair

A German entrepreneur, Paul Krauthausen has designed an accessibility map showing wheelchair-accessible locations worldwide.  The site is call WheelMap. Org.  Volunteers have contributed to this wheelchair mapping site, mapping over 73,000 places, chiefly in Europe at the current time in order to help the 185 million people who are in search for wheelchair accessible locations around the globe.  The WheelMap.Org site will no doubt grow overtime to reflect the needs for such a website as this indispensable tool.  It just goes t o show that anyone can do anything.  Identify a need and then fulfill it.  Personally, I think this is a great idea and it’s about time.  This wheelchair news story first appeared in www.dw-world.de.

Every day, countless people use Google Maps or other online mapping services to figure out how to walk or drive from one place to another. But for the 185 million people in wheelchairs around the globe, stairs and other uneven surfaces are constant obstacles in their daily lives.

One year ago this month, 31-year-old social entrepreneur Raul Krauthausen launched an online tool that maps wheelchair-accessible locations in different cities around the globe. He’s one of 1.6 million wheelchair users in Germany. Over the past year, 2,000 contributors have mapped over 73,000 places – mostly in Europe – including bars, cafes, government offices, and train stations on WheelMap.org.

“Two years ago a friend of mine was sitting with me in a café and told me that he hates this café where we meet every day and he wants to go to another place,” Krauthausen explained.

“But as a wheelchair drive …you always have the problem that you don’t know which café is wheelchair accessible.”
The site makes use of “open data,” information that is stored in a particular file format so that it’s easy for programmers to create new visualizations or variations on it.

Developers point out that commercial online mapping tools like Google Street View often don’t take into consideration how wheelchair users use public transportation. But, with open data tools like OpenStreetMap, they can create the online tools that cities or companies have neglected.

In recent years, there has been a greater movement pushing cities like London, Manchester, Madrid and Turin to make their transit scheduling available as open data. Wehrmeyer had to collect this information on Berlin by hand.

“In addition to timetables, public transport companies should also provide real-time updates as to where the elevators or escalators have recently broken down – because people with disabilities depend on these services,” he added.

Krauthausen has developed into the site which now draws around 100 new entries every day. The site is dependent on wheelchair users who contribute their own knowledge of places under four color-coded categories.

Wheelmap has become almost indispensible for many of its users, especially in older European cities like Berlin that are not always designed to accommodate them.”

Author: Cinnamon Nippard, Photos: dw-world.de

Just a few notes on how life has become more accessible for people with motorized wheelchairs.

For millions of  people who experience certain types of disabilities, the wheelchair has come as a boon. Many of these people who just cannot imagine life without their wheelchairs. With rapid advances in technology, such as solar powered wheelchairs or wheelchairs which can be controlled by the tongue, wheelchairs have become more user-friendly and help people having problems with walking, to lead as normal a life as possible. One’s daily life has been made more accessible.  Motorized wheelchairs have come as great news to those with disabilities, since they are easy to operate and maneuver. A typical day in the life of someone who uses a motorized wheelchair, although somewhat restrictive, can now begin with the ability to perform the daily tasks with less difficulty. The rapid advances in technology have meant that wheelchairs these days come with a host of features.

Commuting to work is one thing that has become a lot easier with the advent of the modern day powered wheelchairs. With motorized  wheelchairs, going to work has become a lot easier and there are organizations that also provide transit for wheel chair users. Similarly, people can also move about, near their homes and afar with ease, thanks to city planners that have made sidewalks and buildings wheelchair accessible. Whether it is going out for a breath of the fresh morning air or taking a ride around a garden or park, all these small things, which mean a lot to all people, have become a lot simpler.

Then there are portable wheelchairs.  Many of the latest motorized wheel chair models are portable enough to be folded and packed inside a car enabling people to travel and get around the city more easily. Many of the latest models also come with sophisticated technology in the form of software applications. You can now program your wheelchair to do certain functions. For example, adjusting the seat height or changing the recline of the seat are all now possible, with just a click of a button.