By Christina McGairk
Skills on Wheels Equipping Manual Wheelchair-Bound Kids to Navigate the World Around Them
As of to the 2002 Census, there were 2.8 million wheelchair users in the U.S., with 121,000 of them under the age of 15. We can only assume the numbers have increased since then. That’s why wheelchair safety programs like Skills on Wheels, a collaborative effort between Indiana University’s Department of Occupational Therapy and Riley Hospital for Children, are so important for youngsters who use manual wheelchairs. Skills on Wheels, which officially got its start back in 2021, is the brainchild of Dr. Joseph O’Neil and Dr. Mary Ciccarelli, who both wanted to create a wheelchair skills program for children. That’s where Dr. Tony Chase came in. An Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy (OT) and now Director of Skills on Wheels, Chase did his research and created an evidence-based wheelchair program designed specifically for kids. His interest in people who use wheelchairs stems from his childhood when he would spend weekends with his grandmother, who was in a wheelchair. “She had rheumatoid arthritis, which nowadays
28 Special Needs Living • June 2022
there are a ton of treatments for, but back then, there were not,” said Chase. He recalled her legs always being at a 90-degree angle due to the decay in her joints. Yet, according to Chase, that didn’t stop him and his grandmother from having fun. “We were always going to the mall, the park, and the library using city buses. She didn’t let any kind of limited mobility stop her from doing anything.” He carried those sweet memories with him and now is helping children learn the skills needed to move around with independence in a mobile world. Skills on Wheels provides one-on-one training to manual wheelchair users ages 8-17 in a program that runs for five Saturdays. The program is delivered by occupational therapists from Riley Hospital and students in the OT program. The kids are taught 33 skills to help them navigate safely at home, in school, and in their community. Some of the skills include but are not limited to body positioning, moving around obstacles, and ascending and descending low and high curbs. It also provides support for parents.
