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Nothing About Us Without Us
Developing Innovative Technologies
For, By and With Disabled Persons

PART FOUR
WHEELS TO FREEDOM

CHAPTER 30
Evolution of the Whirlwind Wheelchair


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192

4. A Jump Step and Toilet Seat for a Wheelchair

Toilets and latrines are made for squatting over.

Two problems: In many Third World countries (as also in France), toilets and latrines are made for squatting over, rather than for sitting on. Basically they consist of a hole in the floor. This can be a big challenge for the wheelchair rider.

Also, in some countries, people traditionally work and eat at floor level. In the Introduction of this book (page 15), we saw the difficulty that Mira had with her standard wheelchair. Its height kept her from joining in kitchen work and family meals, where everyone squats or sits on the floor.

but Ralf uses a built-in jump seat. Some people get up into their wheelchair using a low box or stool ...

Finding Solutions: Solutions to each of these difficulties have been found by wheelchair riders and travelers. A simple solution to both problems has been devised by Ralf Hotchkiss. The device started as an improvisation to meet his personal needs, as well as those of other adventurers who travel in off-road situations and sometimes fall out of their wheelchairs.

For Ralf and others whose spinal-cord injury is at a relatively high level, getting back into the wheelchair without help can be difficult. Wheelchair users, as part of their rehabilitation, are often taught to get back up from the floor using a stool or a box of an intermediate height. But on a country road or desert trail, a stool or box may not be available.

Jump seat.

JUMP SEAT. To get back into his wheelchair from the ground in such circumstances, Ralf designed a small cloth step, or "jump seat" (transfer seat), halfway between his wheelchair seat and the ground.

This way, he can first lift himself onto the low-level seat, and from there, into the wheelchair seat. (The front edge of the jump seat also functions as an ankle-band, to keep his feet from slipping backward off the footrests.)

193

TOILET SEAT. While traveling in Kenya, Ralf faced the difficulty of trying to use pit latrines that had no seat. A Kenyan wheelchair rider suggested that he cut a round hole in the jump seat of his chair, and perch on that. Ralf did so, and it worked.

In the revised design of the jump seat and toilet seat, a flap is included which is kept in place for transfers, and is folded up out of the way for toileting or bathing. The flap fastens into place with Velcro tabs. (Velcro is a self-adhesive plastic tape, where tiny hooks on one surface catch on loops of the other.)

Note: Where Velcro is not available or is too costly, the flap can be held with buttons or ties.

The new jump-seat design lends itself to many circumstances.

Consider again the example of Mira, mentioned above and in the Introduction. In order to work in the kitchen and eat with the family at ground level, she obtained a low-riding wheelchair, or trolley. But a jump seat on her standard wheelchair also might have helped her to easily move to the floor for meals and other activities.

194

TROLLEY AND WHEELCHAIR TOILETS IN BANGLADESH

Trolley.

Trolley. At the Center for Rehabilitation of the Paralyzed (CRP) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, low-riding trolleys are often used instead of wheelchairs because people traditionally eat and cook at ground level (see page 15). The trolley rider sits on a soft coconut-fiber mat on top of an air-filled inner-tube (from a motor-scooter). To convert the tube to a toilet seat, the person just removes the mat.

The inner tube functions both as a cushion and as a toilet seat. Centered under the hole, in the tube, a small removable aluminum removable pot fits into the metal frame of the trolley. For travel on crowded buses, the trolley is collapsible. The back folds down. The projecting leg-rest slides in.

A motor-scooter inner-tube is used as an air cushion. Laced backrest which allows adjustment of the chair width.

Wheelchair. The center in Dhaka (CRP) makes wheelchairs with a frame similar to Ralf Hotchkiss' Whirlwind. As with the trolley, however, a motor-scooter inner-tube is used as an air cushion, and also serves as a toilet.

Notice that the CRP wheelchairs have several of the same innovative features as does the new Whirlwind design. These include the laced back-rest which allows adjustment of the chair width.

The goal of a wheelchair is to increase the person's possibilities.

A nice feature of the CRP chair is a removable table that easily slips into small tubes welded to the arm-rests. With an easel fixed to her table, Dolly - who has cerebral palsy - paints greeting cards with her mouth.


195

THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

Some of the best innovations come about through bridging conventional barriers and sharing widely varied experiences and skills. Remarkable designs have been developed when - by working together as equals - the gap has been closed between the First and Third Worlds, between professional and lay-persons, between the provider and recipient. Wonderful things happen when persons from different backgrounds pool their abilities and their dreams and learn from each other. According to Ralf Hotchkiss, this has been the secret to the evolution, and the many breakthroughs of the Whirlwind wheelchair.

New designs and inventions from many parts of the world.

In the workshop in his California home, which has been imaginatively adapted for doing work from a wheelchair, Ralf experiments on and improves new designs and inventions by disabled wheelchair builders from many parts of the world.

Design improvements by communication.

Jaime, one of Ralf's students and co-workers at PROJIMO, joins his girlfriend, Irma, in spoking the wheels of an improved model of the Whirlwind wheelchair. By sharing ideas and working together, Ralf and PROJIMO team make design improvements that neither may have realized alone.

196

SATETY FIRST in Wheelchair Design

For many wheelchair riders, the biggest danger of all is pressure sores (see Chapter 27). Good cushions help. But the design of the chair can also make a difference. If the rider has a spinal-cord injury fairly low down his back, he may prefer a low back-rest like this (Picture below). Every few minutes he can lean far back to lift his backside off the seat, thus helping to prevent sores. (But if his injury is higher-up, he may want a higher back-rest for more support.) Each individual's needs differ and may change over time.

Wheelchairs serve many purposes. Here, Raymundo, a brace maker and wheelchair builder at PROJIMO, has found an effortless way to relieve the pressure on his backside and prevent sores.

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Nothing About Us Without Us
Developing Innovative Technologies
For, By and With Disabled Persons
by David Werner

Published by
HealthWrights
Workgroup for People's Health and Rights
Post Office Box 1344
Palo Alto, CA 94302, USA