In this article, you will find different assistive devices that help increase your or your loved one’s mobility despite a disability. In addition, these are tools that help you or them to maintain an active lifestyle.
As an example, one of the devices could be a device to help individuals with reduced or no mobility in their arms or hands to use a touch-screen. Or it could be an electric vehicle to help people to get from home to work, as easy as people who can ride a bike. You will be introduced to lots of different recommendations in this article.
1. Using a touch-screen without actually touching
The company Tubus Technology’s newest invention is designed to make it as easy as possible for individuals with reduced or no mobility in their arms or hands to use any device that has a touch-screen. It works by blowing a light puff of air through a tube.
By blowing into the tube, the air activates the tip of the product and the tip then becomes able to press and swipe on touch screens, but without using hands or fingers. So the company actually makes it possible to use touch-screens without actually having to touch the screen. That is some impressive engineering.
2. Activity-bikes with a TV-screen
Source: bowflex.com
There are several different activity bikes for individuals with reduced mobility and functional ability. One of these activity bikes is an activity bike with a TV screen attached to it. The TV screen displays a virtual street view while riding the bike.
This type of activity helps to activate and rehabilitate a person, as well as increase stimulation and exercise. It’s also great for cognitive training.
The bike is especially suitable for individuals with dementia, individuals with late brain damage, hemiplegics, and the elderly who want to add exercise and socializing into their daily routines. The special program was developed together with Google “StreetViz”, which is an improved version of StreetView and specially developed for this type of activity. The TV screen itself displays a street view that works in such a way that the user navigates the cityscape on the screen and steps around on the bike’s pedals. This activity helps prevent user inactivity.
3. The electric wheelchair
source: unsplash.com
In addition to activity bikes, there are also many wheelchairs or similar means of transportation for individuals with reduced mobility. In addition to wheelchairs that you can use manually, there are also wheelchairs in the electric version.
Groundbreaking and ultra-light electric wheelchairs have been developed, among others from the brand called Trekinetic GTE, which gives people with reduced mobility the opportunity to live an active life, outdoors as well as indoors.
The electric wheelchair is designed with large wheels at the front, which provides safe propulsion on different types of ground. The electric wheelchair weighs only 36 kg and can be disassembled into three parts in less than sixty seconds. Each part is easy to lift, and you, therefore, do not need a specially equipped car available to take it with you on for example a picnic with the family.
The wheelchair is very stable and can easily keep up, even in places where the trip goes along a pothole road, in puddles, or up and down steep roads and around turns. So, if you have had an active life in the past, but live with a disability now, this device can help you to regain the hobbies you had before the accident or an illness. In other words, you will enjoy having your radius of action expanded with the new possibilities that an electric wheelchair provides – it even comes in a unique design.
4. Wheelchair based on Segway technology
Source: simplyev.com
Another opportunity for the disabled is a unique, electric wheelchair, based on Segway technology. This type of vehicle is especially suitable for people with none or reduced functionality in legs, for example, due to chronic illness, accident, amputation, or the like. However, the vehicle requires a full cognitive level of function, good balance, a certain strength in hands and arms, and good control of the upper body muscles.
A major advantage of using this type of vehicle is that it – unlike, for example, an electric wheelchair with a joystick – maintains and expands the muscles in the upper body and the balance ability of the user. The vehicle is thus steered mainly by means of balance, by moving back and forth, and by pushing the handlebars to the right or left. You can easily steer the vehicle, even if you only have one hand and arm available due to amputation.
5. Tricycle For The Disabled
Source: azub.eu
Plenty of disabled people still have the same will to be active they had before the accident or illness changed their life. Fortunately for those men, women, and children, there are plenty of tricycle models they can use to be more efficient on a daily basis and to make their outdoor activities more fun. When it comes to tricycles for the disabled, there are many options in play, but the most important decision a person should make is whether to get an electrical one or a manual trike.
Electrical models are better suited for those with severe injuries simply because they can control them by using only one hand. Manual ones, on the other hand, are better for people with mild injuries and disabilities.
The main question here is this – what are the benefits of using a tricycle? Here are a few of them:
- The person using it can stop without getting off
- The user doesn’t have to keep the balance themselves
- It provides the disabled person with extra stability and safety when cycling
Conclusion
Suffering an injury or illness that leaves one with severe or mild disabilities is, without question, one of the toughest things a person can experience. A person has to regain their life and confidence, and that, as one can assume, is not an easy thing to do. Fortunately, there are plenty of assistive devices disabled men, women, and children can use to make their lives easier and more fun. The devices mentioned in this post should definitely be considered by everyone who is living with a disability.