Powered wheelchair that tilts for indoors and garden path UK

[Kitty]

I did a lot of playing around with the position of the armrests and the angle of the joystick bit before, but there may have been too much wrong to get very far

Yeah, I really feel for you—it is hard. The "right" thing might be a four millimetre adjustment, in combination with a 12 millimetre adjustment in something apparently unrelated. It's so much easier if you can sort all that out while you're still fairly mildly affected. Back then, as long as I had seats at a couple of different levels I could strip my chair down to the frame.

It's worth seeing if weight shifts make a difference when you're able, either by tilting the seat or being on a slope. if it does, that will give really useful information to the people doing the adjustments. They may not even have thought of gravity as a factor in that aspect of chair setup.

 

[Evergreen]

I have a question for @Kitty, @Binkie4 @Dolphin and any other wheeled-up people.

We're having work done so that I can access the garden. Basically there will be two patios joined by a path. The path is 160cm wide, plus 6-10cm edging stone on either side.

The surface of the patios and path will be the same grippy tile, but the gradient changes from one part of the garden to another. So the path will be about 15cm from ground level at one end, and about 30cm from ground level at the other end.

My question is: would you feel safe travelling along a nice wide path like that in your wheelchair even though it's not level with the surrounding ground? Or would you much prefer the edging stone on either side to be raised, so that it would hopefully bump an errant wheel back onto the path?

To me, having no raised kerb sounds a bit like having a ramp with no rail, and I would not do that. There'll be a good rail on the ramp in the front. Is it just my inexperience leading me to be overly cautious? Or should I definitely ask for a kerb/raised edges on the path?

 

[Binkie4]

@Evergreen. Sounds a great, carefully thought out project.
If it were me, I would prefer a kerb just so that I would know I was safe even if I lost concentration or something interesting caught my eye. Some days you may be tireder than others. Having kerbs makes it fail safe. I would relax more which saves energy knowing that I could not run off the path. I hope you gain a lot of pleasure from your spells in the garden.

 

[Evergreen]

@Evergreen. Sounds a great, carefully thought out project.
If it were me, I would prefer a kerb just so that I would know I was safe even if I lost concentration or something interesting caught my eye. Some days you may be tireder than others. Having kerbs makes it fail safe. I would relax more which saves energy knowing that I could not run off the path. I hope you gain a lot of pleasure from your spells in the garden.

Thank you for saying that @Binkie4!

Your reasons make sense to me. When more tired, I do things like walk into doorframes. So I will likely do the same in the chair. And you're so right - I will relax more if I know we're not just relying on my unreliable brain to get me to the other end safely.

It's been kind of hair-raising planning it. The official guidelines are really aimed at public buildings servicing people with all kinds of disabilities, so some of that we don't need. But figuring out what we do need is a bit tricky when you don't have experience being out and about in a chair. We've a really good company doing the job, but they don't have loads of experience with making things accessible. Here's what I've discovered: when something makes me think "That sounds dangerous", it's usually because it is!

 

[Kitty]

My question is: would you feel safe travelling along a nice wide path like that in your wheelchair even though it's not level with the surrounding ground?

Yes, I climb steep grassy hills with rabbit holes and adverse cambers, and roll on canal towpaths having near misses because I'm too busy looking for dragonflies.

I'll cheerfully tackle the steep path up to the clifftop at Abereiddy. But I do it because I'm used to it—what matters is whether you feel safe.

Or would you much prefer the edging stone on either side to be raised

Personally I'm not keen on kerbs, you can get stuck against them if you're brain fogged, or keep catching the spinning castors. Worse still, they can mean that if you suddenly feel unwell—or just realise you've forgotten your KitKat—you can't easily turn on the spot and zoom back into the house. However, turning on the spot might not be a problem with a path as wide as that.

Can't you just go across the grass when you want to go out? It's a hell of a lot cheaper than laying hard standing. I use the wheelchair accessible paths thoughtfully provided by the council to keep my pot plants on, and drive over the lawn. It's not a problem even though it hasn't been mowed since the year before last.

 

[Evergreen]

Yes, I climb steep grassy hills with rabbit holes and adverse cambers, and roll on canal towpaths having near misses because I'm too busy looking for dragonflies.

Brilliant!

Personally I'm not keen on kerbs, you can get stuck against them if you're brain fogged, or keep catching the spinning castors. Worse still, they can mean that if you suddenly feel unwell—or just realise you've forgotten your KitKat—you can't easily turn on the spot and zoom back into the house. However, turning on the spot might not be a problem with a path as wide as that.

I see what you mean - good to hear the downsides too. Yeah, I should be able to turn because my chair turns on the spot and the path should be wide enough.

Can't you just go across the grass when you want to go out? It's a hell of a lot cheaper than laying hard standing. I use the wheelchair accessible paths thoughtfully provided by the council to keep my pot plants on, and drive over the lawn. It's not a problem even though it hasn't been mowed since the year before last.

Unfortunately not. There's no level or ramped access (until now, we're mid-job). I'd have to do a ski jump to reach grass, and it's very lumpy terrain. The house and garden are at different levels, with different parts of the house further from the ground, and then the garden also slopes uphill (hard to tell because you keep falling into holes!)

The only alternative would have been to do the lot in decking, but it needs maintenance and we had problems with rats under the decking that was here when we moved in. And woodlice because it was rotting. So that didn't appeal.

I know the last thing the world needs is more paving, but actually the only completely new bit is the path. The rest had concrete already from the previous owners, under the decking. We're planning on making up for it with more trees and plants in the next few years.