We’ve chosen to write about wheelchairs in this issue of our Newsletter: Disability and Africa to highlight the value of this apparatus adds to the lives of those for whom walking may be an issue.  Although discussing wheelchairs may seem trivial, the truth is, too many Africans are stuck and lack the mobility that a wheelchair offers.

A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it's propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing. Wheelchairs are used by people for whom walking is difficult or impossible due to illness (physiological or physical), injury, or disability.

 

 Adapting an environment to make it more accessible to wheelchair users is one way to ensure equal access.  To promote inclusion of people with disability, the most important principle is “Universal Design” where regardless of ones ability status, all people have access to all parts of society.  For instance, a wheelchair user is less disabled in an environment without stairs, however; simply placing a ramp in such an environment could be the only solution need to remove an obstacle to access.

Having a wheelchair does not solve all of lives problems.  For instance, in august 2010, Exodus interviewed several people with wheelchairs and below are highlights of our conversation with two of them.

Adebolaji is a student of Cheshire School in Ibadan.  Living with a disability is challenging and quite honestly having a wheelchair also has its own set of problems.  Although his wheelchair makes movement easier and sometimes faster, it also creates a spectacle that causes to sometimes prefer crawling.  Although his only limitation is mobility, many including teachers have assumed that he is unintelligent and thus, disregard his opinions.

Adebolaji acknowledges that the wheelchair has allowed him to go places he never thought possible.  However, nothing beats good health and he wishes to be “normal” and consequentially, intellectually stimulated.

Basira lives in Osun State where she works as a hairdresser.  Having a wheelchair has allowed Basira the opportunity to visit her friends and relatives in neighboring Oyo state. Basira is grateful to the MTN foundation for donating a wheelchair to her, just a few years ago.  Without the wheelchair, she would still be crawling her way around life.  Also, the wheelchair has definitely improved her livelihood by reducing pain and strain on her body. 

However, getting proper recognition and respect in her chosen profession has been difficult.  Potential clients must not see her in wheelchair at their first visit otherwise; she risks them not coming back.  Apparently, seeing her in a wheelchair suggests that they too can “catch it”.

Prominent Africans Who Use Wheelchairs

Chinua Achebe born on November 16, 1930 is a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor and critic. He is best known for his first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), which is the most widely read book in modern African literature.  On 22 March 1990, Achebe was riding in a car to Lagos when an axle collapsed, the car flipped, and the weight of the vehicle fell on Achebe.  Thus damaging is spine severely.  Chinua Achebe as a result of this accident now requires the use of a wheelchair for the rest of his life

 

Prudence Mabhena is a Zimbabwean singer and songwriter with was born severely disabled.  She was born in 1989 with Arthrogryposis, a rare congenital disorder that is characterized by multiple joint contractures and can include muscle weakness and fibrosis. The disease derives its name from Greek; literally meaning 'curved or hooked joints'.  Her story is the story of many of African children with disability, a story of abandonment and abuse.  However, Prudence is the lead singer of the band Liyana, a band made up of only individuals with disability.  Prudence writes and composes her songs in a wide range of styles and many topics. While challenges with Arthrogryphosis have placed her in a wheel chair, she is an independent and assertive woman.

Ernst Van Dyk born 4 April 1973 is a South African wheelchair racer born with congenital absence of both legs. His parents, two provincial-level athletes, recognized his athletic abilities and encouraged sports participation. At first competed as a swimmer and in 1992 he participated at the Barcelona Paralympics as a swimmer and wheelchair athlete. Thereafter, he concentrated on wheelchair athletics.  Ernst has won the Boston Marathon nine times and holds the record for most wins than any other person in history.  He is also the current world record holder for men's wheelchair marathon by completing the 26 miles in 1 hour, 18 minutes, 27 seconds. At the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney, he won a bronze medal in the 400 meters. In Athens 2004, he won a silver medal in the 800 meter race, silver in the 1,500 meters, and a bronze in the 5,000 meters. At the Beijing Olympic Ernst won gold in the hand cycling marathon and a bronze in the wheelchair marathon.

History of the Wheelchair

It is uncertain as to what can be considered the first wheelchair, or who invented it. The first known dedicated wheelchair (invented in 1595 and called an invalids chair) was made for Phillip II of Spain by an unknown inventor.   In 1655, Stephen Farfler, a paraplegic watchmaker, built a self-propelling chair on a three wheel chassis.

In 1783, John Dawson of Bath, England, invented a wheelchair named after the town of Bath. Dawson designed a chair with two large wheels and one small one. The Bath wheelchair outsold all other wheelchairs throughout the early part of the 19th century.  However, the Bath wheelchair was not that comfortable and during the last half of the 19th century many improvements were made to wheelchairs. An 1869 patent for a wheelchair showed the first model with rear push wheels and small front casters. Between, 1867 to 1875, inventors added new hollow rubber wheels similar to those used on bicycles on metal rims. In 1881, the push rims for added self-propulsion were invented.

In 1900, the first spoked wheels were used on wheelchairs. In 1916, the first motorized wheelchair was manufactured in London.  In 1932, engineer, Harry Jennings, built the first folding, tubular steel wheelchair. That was the earliest wheelchair similar to what is in modern use today. That wheelchair was built for a paraplegic friend of Jennings called Herbert Everest. Together they founded Everest & Jennings to become the first mass-manufacturers of wheelchairs. Their "x-brace" design is still in common use with updated materials and other improvements.

Types of Wheelchairs

There are many types of wheelchairs, operated both manually and electronically.  A basic manual wheelchair incorporates a seat, foot rests, handles at the back and four wheels: two castor wheels at the front and two large wheels at the back.  Other varieties of wheelchair are often variations on this basic design, but can be highly customized for the user's needs. Such customizations may include the seat dimensions, height, seat angle (also called seat dump or squeeze), footrests, leg rests, front caster outriggers, adjustable backrests and controls.

Other Variations of the Wheelchair are as follows:

A Standing wheelchair is one that supports the user in a nearly standing position. They can be used as both a wheelchair and a standing frame, allowing the user to sit or stand in the wheelchair as they wish. They often go from sitting to standing with a hydraulic pump or electric-powered assist.

A mobility scooter is a motorized assist device with a steering bar.

A bariatric wheelchair is one designed to support larger weights; most standard chairs are designed to support no more than 250 lbs. on average.

Pediatric wheelchairs have lower seats which are designed for easy foot propulsion. The decreased seat height also allows them to be used by children and shorter individuals.

A Power-Assisted wheelchair is a recent development that uses the frame and seating of a typical manual chair while replacing the standard rear wheels with wheels that have small battery-powered motors providing motorized assistance that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to navigate, especially by those with limited upper-body function.

Sports variants: Athletes with disability use sport wheelchairs that require speed and agility, such as basketball, tennis and racing. Each wheelchair sport tends to use specific types of wheelchairs, and these no longer look like their everyday cousins. They are usually non-folding (in order to increase rigidity), with a pronounced negative camber for the wheels (which provides stability during a sharp turn), and made of composite, lightweight materials.  Sport wheelchairs are not generally for everyday use, and are often a 'second' chair specifically for sport use, although some users prefer the sport options for everyday.

All in all, we just want to point out that People with Disability are People first!