Latest / Living Loud and Proud: Disability Conversations / History of Wheelchair Part 2

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History of Wheelchair Part 2 · Living Loud and Proud: Disability Conversations

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Welcome to the Living Loud and Proud podcast,
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brought to you by Disability Pride Pennsylvania.
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If you need a link to the transcript for this
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episode, please visit our accessible website
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at www .disabilitypridepa .org/podcast.
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And now, here is your host. Welcome to the Living
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Loud and Proud podcast, season two, episode two,
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from Disability Pride, Pennsylvania. I'm your
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host, Phill Rosen. Today, I'm chatting with my
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co -producer, Ray 'DECA' Horton, about the wheelchair
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designs and designers of the past and now. Hello,
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folks. Yeah. How's it going, Ray? So, yeah, so
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we're going to just kind of really quickly go
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through all of the different, like, kinds of
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wheelchairs there are, kind of try to highlight
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a little bit of some of the wheelchair designers
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who are disabled individuals themselves, and
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kind of talk about some of the more specialized
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wheelchairs as well. But broadly speaking, that's
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the main focus of today. So let's just get started
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on the different types of wheelchairs. So the
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first category of wheelchairs I want to talk
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about is the manual self -propelled wheelchair.
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There's a couple of different types, as I'm sure
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a lot of you are aware of. The first type is
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the folding chair. You know, these are the classic
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kind of like X -brace designs that you would
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see like in hospitals and nursing homes or other
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places that would have wheelchairs available.
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But this isn't self -propelled though, right?
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Well, some are, some are not. Most hospital chairs,
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I don't believe, have wheels big enough on the
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back to propel yourself with. I do want to talk
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a little bit about the X -Brace design, because
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as people who listened to the last episode of
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the podcast might remember, that was created
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by the company Everest and Jennings. And specifically,
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Herbert Everest was paralyzed in a mining accident,
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and he was designing a wheelchair that was a
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little more lightweight, a little more portable,
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a little easier for everyone. cornering the market.
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Okay. I'm sorry. I got a little bit confused
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when you said self -propelled. I'm thinking that
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the wheelchair itself propels itself. So you're
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talking about manual propelled ones. Yes. Manual
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propelled. Yeah. Self -propelling meaning the
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user can propel the wheelchair. So, but yeah.
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But yeah, Herbert Everest was, you know, instrumental
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in creating the first like modern wheelchair
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design. And, you know, the X -Brace, when you
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think about it too, like, you know, it looks
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a lot like those camping chairs that people will
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like go to like shows out on the lawn. Like they
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go to the man center here in Philly or something
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like that. You'll see a lot of those there. So
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that's like the first kind of like, of manually
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propelled or self -propelled wheelchair that's
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out there. The other kind that a lot of people
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would know about is the rigid frame wheelchair.
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Now, these are usually custom built for the user.
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One probably very common example and one of the
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earliest examples that I could find was the Quickie
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wheelchair. Okay. Yeah. And the quickie wheelchair,
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as you know, people will probably remember from
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the last episode as well, was designed by a team
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of three designers. It was Marilyn Hamilton,
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who was paralyzed in a hang gliding accident.
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Jim Okamoto and Don Helman. And so like these.
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Features were really created to create an even
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better wheelchair for users to use. Something
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that's custom built to their body, fits them
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perfectly, is lighter, easier to maneuver, all
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of those different things. Right. Now, something
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that's common between the two types of wheelchairs
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that we just described is the frame, obviously.
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They each have a frame. You know, they're distinct
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frames, but they are frames. They each have a
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seat. Usually they have foot plates or a single
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foot plate. You know, there are different types
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of foot plates, obviously. Right. The single
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foot plate being the wide one that goes the expanse
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of the wheelchair itself. Right, exactly. And
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then there's the dual foot plate, which, you
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know, sometimes those are removable. Sometimes
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they're, you know. rigid stuck on the the chair
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itself there's four wheels, two usually two
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large back wheels and two caster wheels in the
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front right they there's often a seat cushion
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for comfort to you know help prevent you know
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things like stress sores and stuff like that
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as well as to me it was a big problem having
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the right cushion Oh, for sure. For sure. You
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know, anyone who's in a more sedentary position
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for whatever reason, you know, those types of
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sores are really important to avoid. Right. All
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sorts of different problems. They often include
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push rims on the back wheels. So, you know, those
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are like the like if you ever look at wheelchairs,
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you know, they are on the outside of the wheels.
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Usually it helps prevent the wheelchair user
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from getting their hands as dirty. Right. Especially
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when it's like really nasty out. The push rim
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is that little, usually chrome wheel folks that
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you see like right at the center that's extended
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out. And that's where they're used, like Phill
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said. Yeah. And usually there are brakes on the
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back wheels. Now, these are, they're locks, really.
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They're not exactly something that you would
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use to actively brake in the same way that you
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would. say, like on a bike, for instance. These
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are just like when you're stationary so you don't
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wind up rolling down the hill. Right, exactly.
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Or, you know, when you're transferring, you don't
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have the wheelchair going all over the place.
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It's a lot safer for people. Now, materials that
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are used are, you know, they're usually aluminum,
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titanium, or carbon fiber. Titanium and carbon
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fiber usually are not, covered by most insurance
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here in America right you know because the
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materials are a lot more expensive than say aluminum
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and then some chairs have some extra features
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like shock absorbers and you know the camber
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angles are often you know modified for
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stability and whatnot And also a lot of wheelchairs
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have quick release axles, which usually they
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consist of like a pin in the center of the wheel
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that goes into the axle and you can easily and
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quickly remove the wheels that way. Right. Now
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there are also attendant propelled wheelchairs
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that are manual. Those are usually, you know,
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what you would see in a hospital. So institutional,
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large venue based. They're usually a lot heavier
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than self -propelled. You know, sometimes they're
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made out of things like steel or, you know, heavier
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materials than, say, aluminum even. So that's
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like kind of the two types of like manual chairs
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in general that exist. Now we have power chairs.
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Which, you know, those were invented in part
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by a grant in Canada for George Klein. And this
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was when? This was in the 1950s. 1952, I believe,
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was the first beginnings of it. They went to
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the market in 1956. You know, Everest and Jennings,
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of course, cornered the market on it. when it
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hit the market became mass produced here in America
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so you know for a long time there was only
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one developer of wheelchairs or a company that
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made wheelchairs for most people gadget to use
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now these are generally electric powered so
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they have batteries and often have like a
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little joystick attached to them that you know
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the wheelchair user can used to propel the
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chair. And there's like a couple of different
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types of power chairs as well. There's indoor
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chairs, which they reliably really only work
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on flat surfaces, like flat, smooth surfaces,
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like hardwood floors. Maybe a tile floor would
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be okay. They're the slippers version of wheelchairs.
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Exactly, exactly. Then there's like indoor -outdoor
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chairs, which are less limited to like an indoor
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chair. But if there's a steep grade, like a heavy
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slope, probably not going to be able to climb
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that very easily, if at all. And then there are
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outdoor chairs, of course. And they're more capable
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than the indoor -outdoor chairs, but they still
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have a lot left to be desired when it comes to
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things like snow, rain. Yeah. Don't even think
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about going to the beach with one of these. Right.
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So, you know, and then there's like these kind
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of specialist designs. These are highly specialized
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and can traverse most terrain. You know, one
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example, and this is generally not covered by
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insurance in my research, is the iBot, which
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who is. invented by Dean Kamen if anyone
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remembers the early 2000s, he created the Segway
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Okay. and it uses the same kind of similar
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technology, gyroscopic technology and there's
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four powered drive wheels and two caster wheels
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it has a couple of different modes standard
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mode which is you know just two drive wheels
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on the ground with the two caster wheels Four
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-wheel mode uses the four -wheel drive wheels
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on the ground, which handles, you know, the rougher
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terrain that you might experience. Dean Kamen
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lives in New Hampshire, up in New England. So,
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you know, things like snow, rain, sleet. Ah,
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yeah. And sometimes you can, you know, go onto
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like harder packed beaches. So some sandy terrain
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as well. Right. Can also handle curbs. Like small
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curbs. Okay. Balance mode, which raises the user
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to eye level height. Oh, yes. Those. On the two
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drive wheels. And then stair mode allows trained
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users to ascend and descend stairs, which, you
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know, for a lot of people is a huge thing, given
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how many places in the world don't actually have
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ramps. Of any kind or elevators or anything like
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that. And, you know, sometimes even lifts, like
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places that have lifts, the lift is out of commission
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or really janky. Right. Whatever. We see so often.
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Right, exactly. And, you know, obviously these
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powered chairs are generally heavier than manual
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chairs, mostly because of the electrics. the
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battery, the motor. The frame can be heavy as
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well, because it needs to be more robust to be
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able to handle all of the different stresses
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that having the electric motor and the torque
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with that can bring. So now we're going to move
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on to mobility scooters, which are a little bit
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more controversial. Opinions divided as to whether
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they can be considered wheelchairs. They do share
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some features with power chairs. You know, they
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have a motor, the battery power, all that kind
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of stuff. Right. Primarily intended for people
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who have a limited ability to walk people, you
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know, maybe people who have CP or, you know,
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have fatigue issues. Can't be on their feet too
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long. Yeah. Can't go long distances without some
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assistance. Usually typically they're three wheeled.
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They have a base control tiller in a seat. The
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control tiller is often connected to. a wheel
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on the front. And then there's two in the back
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that, you know, where the seat is closer to.
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And there are four wheeled scooters that have
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a more substantial seat. They tend to be for
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individuals that have, you know, are larger.
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Gotcha. So, you know, they need the extra wheel
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to maintain stability. And then there's actually,
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we're going to move on to a subset of manual
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self -propelled wheelchairs. Manual self -propelled?
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Yeah, they're single -arm drive wheelchairs.
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And these are wheelchairs that enable one -arm
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propulsion. So this is for wheelchair users who
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are... don't have a limb or amputees, whatever,
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and are unable to walk long distances or. Yeah.
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They usually have two concentric hand rims on
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the wheel that is being used to propel the chair.
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And usually the way that it works is there's
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one hand rim on the inside. That's like, it's
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a larger diameter rim usually. Got it. But it's
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like further like into the wheel itself. Like
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it's closer to the wheel. Right. And then there's
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the smaller rim on the outside. That's usually
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a smaller diameter. And it's connected to
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the opposite wheel via a smaller concentric
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angle or axle, excuse me, not angle. So if
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you want to go straight you grasp both hand rims
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and if you grasp one or the other you'll turn
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in whatever direction. Got it. You want I
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to kind of wrap my head around this I had to
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watch some videos on YouTube. Thanks to all of
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the people on YouTube who are users of these
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single arm drive wheelchairs right for doing
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that because I was having such a hard time wrapping
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my head around it. Trying to just visualize it
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with your imagination. Right, exactly. For some
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users who have a little bit more dexterity in
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their lower limbs there are some models that
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control steering via a foot plate using the
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front casters. Okay. So basically, from what I could
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kind of gather, this is kind of like similar
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to having like pedals and you would press pedal
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depending on which direction you want to go.
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Right. I get it. Yeah. And then there we're moving
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on to reclining or tilting chairs. So reclining
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chairs have a seat back that tilts backwards,
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similar to say a recliner. that someone might
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have in their living room or den. Right. There
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are both manual and power chairs that have this
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feature. Some allow the user to lie completely
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flat. They're, you know, obviously the, you know,
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people who have like say spinal cord injuries
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or whatnot would use most likely a power chair.
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Right. Because. you know they will have limited
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ability anyone who has severe you know limit
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severe mobility issues you know or don't have
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the strength for to handle a manual wheel. Right
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and and tilting chairs have a seat back base
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and leg rest that tilt back as a single unit
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These are mainly used for individuals who need
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to maintain a particular posture or have other
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needs in a relative position throughout the day.
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Think of people who might be paralyzed in one
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form or another. They're also common amongst
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people with cerebral palsy, which, you know,
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that's... That makes sense in a lot of ways,
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too, because of the ways in which cerebral palsy
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can manifest itself in the body. Right. That
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limits their mobility in all the different joints
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that they have. They're more common than reclining
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chairs when we're talking about wheelchairs designed
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for children. Because like with the reclining
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chairs like you would have to it's like shoes...
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Right yeah. You would have to you know constantly
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keep changing it for a growing child...Yeah.
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...throughout their life and it's generally more
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resource effective to use something that you
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don't need to replace every year or every six
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months. Exactly. And then there's also standing
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wheelchairs, which allow for the user to be supported
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in a nearly standing position. There are power
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and manual chairs with this option. Manual standing
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chairs can be entirely manual, meaning that there
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are like a series of levers that someone would
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manually use to work with this, you know, stand
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up. Or have a full powered stand function. So
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like maybe it's a self -propelled wheelchair,
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right? Like a user propelled wheelchair, but
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you know, they would have to, they have like
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a little switch or whatever that they can use
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to stand up with. Right. Now there are a lot
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of benefits to this. I think the benefits are
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probably pretty obvious. They foster independence
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and productivity. Increased psychological well
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-being. Exactly. Social status. So extended access.
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And it can ease a lot of medical conditions by
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reducing pressure, reducing pressure sores like
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we talked about. Improve respiration in individuals
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that need that extra support for their diaphragm.
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Reduced occurrence of UTIs in individuals that
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are prone to them. Improve flexibility. Maintain
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the bone mineral density, which is really important
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for some people with disabilities to maintain
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because, you know, reduced motion will all go
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away. You got to take into consideration corrective
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measures for your well -being and your health
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with your wheelchair. And some of these are specifically
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designed just for that, you know, going back
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to what you stated in the beginning, talking
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about the posture, you know, someone who needs
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to be healing, like maybe from a spinal cord
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injury, you know, they can't be in a wheelchair
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slump, you know, there's chances for them to
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regain some kind of mobility, you know? Yeah.
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I, yeah, I get it. All right. And now, folks,
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we're moving on to sports chairs. A lot of these
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chairs tend to be non-folding chairs to have
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increased rigidity, which is important, especially
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in contact -type sports. Think wheelchair rugby
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or football, hockey, whatever you might be playing.
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They have a pronounced negative camber a lot
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of the time, which increases stability and allows
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for sharp turns. Very important for people who
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are doing various track and field type turns.
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They're often made of extra lightweight composite
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materials. And this is to help enhance the speed.
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that someone might be able to propel themselves
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that. They're often customized to the sport.
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So like, you know, some types of chairs, they're
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designed for the user to be seated, you know,
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like in a wheelchair rugby type chair. And racing
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chairs are generally designed for the user to
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kneel. And actually one notable person that I
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want to mention here, is Bob Hull (Mispronounced, should be Hall), who he participated
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in the Boston Marathon in a self-designed wheelchair.
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And this wheelchair was necessary for him because
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he had polio as a child and reduced mobility
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as a result in his adulthood. Yeah. And this
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was actually a wheelchair that was put on display
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at MoMA in the 1980s, as people might remember
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from the last episode. Okay. So a very important
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individual. He designed several wheelchairs,
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including some non-sports type wheelchairs as
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well. But the sports wheelchairs are probably
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very notable because those are very similar
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to what you would see today, like a Paralympian
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may use. And there are power chair sports that
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exist like hockey or, or power chair football
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or soccer here in America, us damn Yankees. But
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yeah, so let's move on to some all-terrain chairs.
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There are two formats. There's like the wheelchair
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mountain bike hybrid, which this is a wheelchair
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frame that generally has like four mountain bike
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tires. So instead of having caster wheels, there
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would be two bike tires on the front as well
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as on the back. Generally, there's no push rims
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and the propulsion is by pushing directly on
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the tires. So, you know, your hands are probably
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going to get a little bit dirty. But, you know,
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if you're off-roading, it probably doesn't matter
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that much. And then there are beach wheelchairs,
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which they either will have, like, extra wide
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balloon wheels, you know, that, like, allow the
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weight to be spread out a little bit more. So
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that helps with things that are easily compressible,
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like sand. Or snow. It helps increase the stability
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and decrease the pressure on the ground. And
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the other type of tires that you might see would
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be like a track tire, something similar to like,
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say, a backhoe or a tank. Right. And then there
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are also like smart wheelchairs. which are like
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any power chair that uses a control system to
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augment or replace user control. Generally computer
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controlled in some fashion. There's often a suite
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of sensors that apply mobile robotic techniques.
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Things like ultrasonic acoustic range finders,
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something that you might think of more colloquially
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as SONAR even though that is like a brand name,
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I think. Right. And, or an infrared red range
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finder, which, you know, when you think like
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IR sensors, like think like a TV remote. Wait a minute, hold
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on. Okay. All right. Yeah. Yeah. So, and the
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interface can be one of three different types
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of things. Generally a joystick, you know, like,
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on other power chairs, uh, a sip and puff device,
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which you know, when, when you think about
27:27
those, those are like those little like
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mouthpieces that some wheelchairs might have.
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There's like usually...Yeah...it comes up and,
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and goes to the user's mouth. Right. And
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for people who have like basically no, And others
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like him have that same. Yes. And then, you know,
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for people who maybe don't have like the ability
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to use a joystick, but have some range of motion
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in their arms, a touch sensitive display could
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be used. So, you know, this would be like, you
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know, a touch screen in front of their face or,
28:13
you know, close by that they would. used to power
28:18
the wheelchair and propel it. Right. And
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now we're going to get into, I think one of the
28:25
more interesting parts of all this stuff, there's
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like accessories that, that go along with
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wheelchairs. So there are like powered devices
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that you can attach to manual wheelchairs,
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self propelled wheelchairs. So there's like
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some powered and you know, less powered.
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You know, one of the more common type of power
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devices that, you know, you might see would be
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something like the Smart Drive, which is a motor
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encased in a housing with a wheel on the back.
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You attach it to the back of the wheelchair and
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it helps people who are using their wheelchair
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to move about more easily through the world on
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relatively level surfaces. This is good for people
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who have, you know, some ability to use a manual
29:27
wheelchair, but maybe need a little bit of help
29:30
to get through their day or, or, you know, have
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some, you know, requirements to move around a
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lot in a way that maybe is very tiring for them.
29:46
There are also things called hand cycles, which
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they clip to the front of the chair, usually
29:54
like on the foot plate. They have pedals on the
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front and usually you would use your hands to
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propel them that way. And then there's also a
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device that's similar to the hand cycle. called
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the Free Wheel, which is like a dolly wheel that
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is often attached to the front of a manual wheelchair.
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This improves the performance over rough terrain.
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So like, you know, people who have like maybe
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a rigid wheelchair that normally you wouldn't
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want to go off -roading with, but they want to
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go hike or something on like a, you know, unpaved
30:37
path of some sort, that could be a good option
30:40
to work with. Okay. You would propel the chair
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using the rear wheels of the chair. So it, you
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know, it's literally just a wheel that's on the
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front. And then there's like some other wheelchair
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designs that, you know, are really kind of interesting,
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like the Leveraged Freedom Chair. You know, this
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was designed by the MIT Mobility Lab. It's low
31:08
cost. Intended to be used in like places in developing
31:15
countries that are like rural. So like, you know,
31:19
think like rural India or, you know, Africa or
31:25
even, you know, maybe more impoverished places
31:28
and places like South America would be good examples
31:32
of where these would be intended to be used.
31:36
They they use local materials often they share
31:40
a lot of parts with bikes which are...Right...you
31:45
know and this makes it so it's very easy for
31:49
people who get stranded somewhere with their
31:53
wheelchair to be able to fix it because they
31:55
don't need to have specialized wrenches they
31:56
can literally just go you know have a set of
32:01
wrenches that would work on bikes do all the
32:03
same kinds of fixes on them that they would
32:07
need to for a bike and some of these chairs
32:12
you know if you watch videos of them some
32:15
are you know propelled by using the wheels by
32:19
pushing the wheels others have hand controlled
32:22
levers and the hand controlled levers often allow
32:26
for a little bit more off-roading ability because
32:29
you can have just the one wheel in the front
32:31
and it'll more easily kind of bounce up and
32:36
down through on rough roads, which, you know,
32:41
in, you know, rural areas in less developed countries
32:47
is very important. And then there's also, moving
32:54
on, geared mechanical wheels that you can get.
33:02
like a reduction gear into the wheel design so
33:05
think kind of like a mountain bike or or even
33:08
like a street bike where you have like multiple
33:12
different gears to be able to more easily get
33:15
up and down hills and most of these wheelchairs'
33:21
wheel designs have a two speed ratios a one
33:25
to one which is no assistance and two to one
33:27
which is a 100% increased assistance
33:31
to go uphill the low gear does incorporate
33:37
a hill hold function that's automatic to hold
33:40
the wheelchair in place between pushes so
33:44
like if you're in the middle of like a push and
33:46
you get like for whatever reason there's a delay
33:50
you're not going to go rolling back down the
33:52
hill that you've already gotten back you know
33:54
it's not going to be you know some uh Sisyphean
33:59
task. For those of you who don't know that reference,
34:08
check out Sisyphus in Greek mythology. Just Google
34:12
it and get to the Wikipedia page. It also provides
34:17
downhill control on descent. And if you do need
34:22
to push backwards while going uphill, it does
34:25
allow you to override it. If you are using one
34:30
of these types of wheels. And yeah, so that's
34:37
like kind of a really quick, basic kind of dirty
34:41
sort of overview of the different types of wheelchairs
34:45
that are available. You know, I will say that
34:49
unfortunately, a lot of these types of wheelchairs,
34:51
especially the more technologically advanced
34:56
with more bells and whistles type wheelchairs
34:58
are not covered by insurance here, at least in
35:01
the US where we are located. But, you know, the
35:07
fact that these chairs exist is, I think, important
35:09
to recognize because it shows that there is potentially
35:15
hope for them to be more easily available and
35:19
practicable for more everyday users of wheelchairs.
35:26
So, and, you know, I think it's important as
35:31
well, like I said, to kind of think about all
35:33
the different people who design these, you know,
35:35
even some of the non-disabled individuals, because
35:39
it shows that there are a lot of people who are
35:41
trying to work on making the world more accessible,
35:45
even if it isn't directly affecting them right
35:47
now in this moment. Ray. Do you have any other
35:53
thoughts, additional thoughts on this topic of
35:56
wheelchairs that exist and the people who designed
36:00
them? No, no, no. That was pretty informative.
36:05
And if there's a deep dive for any one particular
36:07
subject that was mentioned, I mean, hey, we can
36:10
hear, you know, request a response from the different
36:13
listeners, you know, and maybe do a deeper dive
36:16
on one particular thing. But no, I can't think
36:20
of anything else. Feels like you covered a lot,
36:23
you know? Yeah, and unfortunately, anyone who
36:26
wants to hear more about Sisyphus, you're going
36:28
to have to do your own research on that. I don't
36:31
think it's going to quite fit into the podcast
36:32
theme. Yeah, no, it's not exactly, yeah, no.
36:36
I mean, you can make the argument that he is
36:38
disabled in one form or another, but I don't
36:41
think it's going to, it's going to be a real
36:42
stretch. You're going to be splitting hairs at
36:44
that point. Exactly. Well, thanks for coming
36:47
on, Ray. I really appreciate it. And I appreciate
36:51
being here. Yeah. So, folks, that was our second
36:56
episode of Season 2, Wheelchair Part 2, all about
37:01
the development and types of wheelchairs that
37:04
are available for people to use. If you have
37:09
any thoughts, comments, or any sort of other
37:15
topics that you might want to see covered, please
37:18
let us know. And come right back here to listen
37:23
all about more disability culture and, you know,
37:28
the history of other types of assistive technology
37:31
being developed. All righty. Bye. All righty,
37:36
folks. Have a good day now. Please visit our
37:40
accessible website at www.disabilitypridepa.org.
37:45
You can find us on social media at @DisabilityPridePA
37:50
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