subject: Transitioning Your Home To Using A Power Or Manual Wheelchair [print this page] When you first begin to use a power or manual wheelchair there are several things you are going to notice. First, how did you ever reach the cereal boxes way up there on the top of the fridge? Secondly, how did you never notice that your walkway leading to your porch was slightly uphill? You're going to notice many things that you were never aware of before and you'll have to learn to cope with your new lifestyle in your manual or power wheelchair.
If you find yourself suddenly in a wheelchair with no previous health problems you're probably going to need a lot of help when you first get home to make sure you're able to do things on your own and be independent or mostly independent. If you have been walking with a rollator or another type of home medical supply assistance, you might not need as much help, but you'll still definitely want someone around as you navigate your new lifestyle.
First, make sure you can reach all necessary places in your home like the bathroom, the bedroom, and the kitchen. You might need ramps or even a motorized stair climber for you and your chair to be able to navigate your home properly.
After you've made it into all the rooms you'll need to figure out how to reach everything that you need. No longer can you store those snack foods in the top cupboard, you'll need to move things lower and within reach. You can always use other means to grab things out of reach. They sell extendable claws that can reach higher than you can. You'll have to prioritize things that you need most often and those are the things that should be most accessible.
You'll find more and more things as you go along that need to be changed, like the height of mirrors, where you keep your keys, how you hang your clothes in your closet, and even how high your kitchen table is. You can get a contractor to come in and build ramps to your front porch and add railings where needed in the bathroom and bedroom.
It's not an easy transition to make but it's definitely something that is possible. All you need is a good attitude and a little help from some friends and family to get used to the new changes around you and in your life.
