What Every Wheelchair User should know about Travel

Travelling and visiting new places is great fun for everyone, whether it’s visiting a new restaurant, going to the cinema or watching your favourite sports team at a stadium. But for wheelchair users some of these simple activities can present completely different, fundamentally different, very different whole host of difficulties that must be overcome.

Simply getting out and about, which many take for granted, can present some significant issues. This is where an appropriately adapted disabled vehicle can be a real benefit. In some vehicle adaptations the drivers seat is replaced by the wheelchair which is clamped securely in place. Hand controls are provided for the gears, clutch and brakes making a fiery speech possible for many wheelchair users to drive themselves wherever they want to go.

Alternative vehicle adaptations might introduce a wheelchair ramp or lift to make the vehicle wheelchair accessible. A fine example is the Nissan NV200 mobility vehicle which, when expertly adapted, can accommodate up to 4 people in addition participate actively the driver and the wheelchair user. Vehicles like this can be purchased using your Motability mobility allowance, if you are lucky enough to live in the United Kingdom.

But before setting off for that totally new, a new, completely new restaurant or sports hall its a good idea to make certain that you’ll not be disappointed when you get there. So you may want to call ahead and ask the following questions before setting off.

Ask if their a massive construction, broad construction is wheelchair accessible? Generally this means that they will have provided wheelchair ramps.
Verify that they have wheelchair accessible bathroom comprehensive facilities? Most public bathrooms aren’t made for wheelchairs so it’s a good idea to check.
Does the building offer elevators or stairs? Obviously stairs would prevent completely different, fundamentally different, very different wheelchair user from accessing floors above the ground.
Are there disabled parkign bays close to the building? The ability to park close to the building is essential.

By taking a few preparatory steps (excuse the pun) you can be sure that your wheelchair will not present restrictions on where you want to go.