Wheelchair Adapted Cars: How To Make Yours Suit Your Needs
Buying a new car is a stressful enough process without having to think about how to have it adapted to best suit your needs if you are disabled.
The aim of this article is to take away that stress by informing you on the best types of adaptations you can have made to make getting in and out as comfortable as the drive.
Here are just some of the general adaptations you can have made: â—? Rotating seats â—? Adapted Mirrors
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Hoists, Ramps and Tail Lifts to aid access into and from the vehicle ● Steering Wheel Knobs ● Hand controls e.g. accelerator, brake, lights
Whilst all these adaptations will help improve your vehicle it is possible to adapt your car to a greater extent in order to suit your specific disability. If you have an upper body disability you can do the following:
Upper Body Disability ● Automatic Transmission ● Joystick Steering ● Moving The Handbrake – move it to your strongest side. ● Adapt the indicator & horn controls to be within fingers reach or operated by foot pedal.
Whether you have lost the use of one or both arms it is possible to adapt your vehicle to suit your needs.
If you have limited or no use of your lower body alternative adaptations can be made to make your vehicle work for you.
Lower Body Disability ● Installing an automatic transmission will negate the need for a clutch. ● Move the accelerator to your stronger side. ● If you have no use of your lower body hand controls can be fitted along with steering assistance.
If you are a wheelchair user, as well as some of the adaptations above, it is possible to make access amendments to improve your driver experience, these include:
Wheelchair Adapted Cars: â—? Access to your vehicle can be amended to allow access from the drivers side, the passenger side or the rear of the vehicle. â—? Doors can be adapted to be swing doors, sliding doors or extra wide.
Wheelchair adapted cars are available to hire or buy. We would advise though in both cases that you seek both advice and training from a specialist to ensure you fully understand how to operate your adapted vehicle before taking to the road.
If you live in Sussex or Surrey we recommend you pay Southern Mobility Vehicles a visit. Call them on 0330 555 9999 or visit their website: http://www.southernmobilityvehicles.co.uk