Bob’s Wheelchair Blog

Adapting to Survive

One of the qualities that have most impressed me about the community of wheelchair users is its ingenuity. Whether it's a boom box that has been duct taped to an arm rest for impromptu surround sound or a car cup holder that has been jerry-rigged to provide 24-hour beverage availability, chair users are always coming up with novel solutions to the myriad of obstacles we face.

Like many of these solutions, my big innovation came directly out of frustration. After spending my first months cruising around town in my power chair, I had already identified the biggest problem facing me: where do I keep my valuables so I can access them and keep them safe?

At the time I was using a nifty backpack made especially for chairs that had lots of cool compartments, zippers, and doo-dads, but I always had to ask people to get stuff for me. Making things more complicated, when they did get stuff for me I usually could not see them, opening up the possibility of being robbed or losing valuables.

As I saw it, the only solution that made sense was some sort of storage unit that I could access. This limited the area for the unit to the two arm rest. A friend suggested I try a zipper pouch around the arm rest. I did, but found the zippers frustrating and the pack cumbersome. I needed something that would allow me easy access to all the assistive devices I used regularly. After much looking, I decided there were no easy solutions on the market. I resolved to invent my own solution.

I sketched out a storage unit that could be built into the arm rest itself. It resembled a glove compartment with a top that flipped to the side on hinges an a side piece that I could flip down so I could scoot out whatever I wanted.

After a few revisions I was confident I had the right design and I turned my focus to getting it built. Through a series of circumstances too complicated to retell here, I was lucky enough to find a local contractor who agreed to help me out. He made some really good suggestions on revisions and then sent me on my way.

A couple of month later, he called me back and blew me away. The piece he'd crafted was way beyond my expectations. He'd built an entirely new arm rest out of stainless steel, padded it and finished it to look like it came from the manufacturer. Ten years and two chairs later I'm still using that arm rest and honestly have no idea how I'd function without it. When I got my latest chair, my biggest prerequisite was that the arm rest could be adapted for it. Whenever I meet chair distributors or fellow users I almost always get asked where I got my arm rest.

 

Guest Blog by Ian Ruder

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