Most people who use wheelchairs face the difficulty of climbing stairs since they are seated on the wheel chairs. They also find it difficult to go over a platform due to the upward slope that they will have to drive over. Wheelchair users also experience problems when getting down or stepping inside a car or when they go to a building that does not have a ramp. It is for such difficult situations that Portable wheelchair ramps were devised and are found to be most useful for the people who use wheelchairs. These portable ramps are designed in such a way that the wheelchair can be suitably adjusted by the users to use the steps up and down while being seated on the wheelchair.
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When you go on to choose a portable ramp for yourself or for someone who necessitates it, you must consider a number of important factors that will help the user to effectively use the portable wheelchair. The weight of the person would be one of the most important factors. The wheelchair must be chosen such that the weight of the person can be withheld by the wheelchair ramp without leading to any deformation. Another important factor is the durability offered by the material used in making the wheelchair. Priority can also be given in choosing a portable wheelchair ramp made of particularly strong materials for a safer use. Of the many materials used for making portable wheelchairs ramps, the ones that are most commonly used are steel, wood and aluminum. Hospital portable wheelchair ramps are to be bought with care keeping in mind the weight capacity that keeps varying depending on the patients and the width requirements in certain cases. The best portable wheelchair ramps are the ones which are designed to have the capacity to help serve all types of wheelchairs, regardless of the size. It must also bear all types of weights of the wheelchair and have a reliable and smooth platform.
2) CLASSIFICATION OF WHEELCHAIR RAMPS
Wheelchairs are used by many people with mobility problem and who wish to live an independent life without the necessity of a caretaker to move them every time. Wheelchairs give freedom to these mobility impaired people and help them in moving easily to the places like home or their work place or even a locality where they wish to meet friends.
Wheelchair ramp is a platform which helps the movement of wheelchairs with ease in certain incompatible surfaces such as stairs and rough floors. Wheelchair ramps come in many designs and can be used effectively in places such as curbs and steps of a building to make the wheel chaired persons cover heights smoothly.
Wheelchair ramps can be classified into four different groups based on the structure and the way the ramps are used. The most important and the only distinguishable feature of ramps is the way the ramps is the way the ramps are installed and used. Horizontally folding ramps are the ones which are foldable in horizontal directions, when required to move the wheelchairs in a rough path. Longitudinal folding ramps are used in covering steps f a building and when different heights are to be covered. There are other types of ramps too such as fixed dimension ramps which cannot be extended and have a fixed size and telescopic ramps. Telescopic ramps come in different shapes and hence are further divided as gutter ramps that are basically U shaped, also called U shaped Gutter ramps and reverse profile ramps that are used in many places.
Though wheelchair ramps are primarily used from among the above four types, there have however been a number of other wheelchair ramps in the market now. Track Wheelchair Ramps are used in places where the wheelchairs have wheels that use a particular design. In this case, the Track wheelchair ramp aligns itself to the wheel and extends itself to make a path for the wheelchair. Many other Wheelchair ramps like Modular Ramps, Threshold Wheelchair Ramps, Single-Fold Wheelchair Ramps and many more are also available in the market.
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3) MODULAR WHEELCHAIR RAMPS
Wheelchair ramps provide a way for people to travel from one place to another with comfort avoiding any kind of hassles or hurdles in their way. Wheelchair ramps are designed in specific ways to suit the specific situations where patients or mobility impaired victims can move easily by wheelchairs or trolleys. An easy mobility of the wheelchairs in buildings is provided by wheelchair ramps and rough uneven surfaces both inside and outside buildings. There have been many variants in the modeling of wheelchair ramps to suit the different scenarios faced by a wheel chaired person. These wheelchair ramps help them in facing the difficult situations such as going through doorways to outdoors and also to reach laces that are in high areas that are difficult to reach by them without any aid.
Modular ramp is a variant of wheelchair ramps that is available and widely used due to its mobility features. Modular Ramps are a class of wheelchair ramps that can be installed permanently or can be installed for a period of time and removed later. These ramps are made of leveling systems that help in elevating wheelchairs to higher levels and moving them easily over the stairs. Modular ramps also have landings and supports to create a stable movement atmosphere for the user of the wheelchair. The ramp can also be moved with the help of wheels and flanges. Hand rails are also included in the modular ramp. The ramp can be extended by combining ramps with bolts and clamping the rails together and fitting the ramp to the ground for stable standing of the ramp. These ramps are manufactured with varying dimensions and hence can be ordered to obtain a custom sized ramp suiting your needs for your building or house. The ramp will be shipped with instructions of how to install the ramp included with the package.
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4) SINGLE FOLD AND MULTI FOLD WHEELCHAIR RAMPS
Portable wheelchair ramps are most used in the world today for providing access to people who use wheelchairs to travel within building and homes. Portable wheelchair ramps are easy to install and can be used dynamically to move wheelchairs to classes, churches and hospitals, or even other locations such as to meet friends and family. Wheel chair users can go in vehicles and get in and move out of vehicles easily with no hassles by using a portable wheelchairs ramp when required. Portable ramps can be installed when required and can be folded and carried easily. Due to the varied advantages of portable ramps, many variations of portable ramps have been designed and are available in the market for users.
Single-Fold Wheelchair Ramps are one of the designs of portable ramps that offer highly portable features, making the ramp easy to carry and use in any environment. The ramp can be folded easily at the center, and can be carried to any place without any problems. Single fold wheelchair ramps are very easy to install in locations and can be set up within minutes and can also be uninstalled quickly.
Multi-Fold Wheelchair Ramp is an extended version of single fold ramps. These raps can be folded multiple times and can be made into a small pack that makes it easily portable. The ramp can be folded twice in most designs and fits in to a suitcase easily. Multi Fold Wheelchair ramps are easy to install and also offer extendibility. Multi-Fold Wheelchair Ramps help in covering long distances and taller obstacles in an easy way by using added ramps for length.
Roll-Up Wheelchair Ramps are an extended variant of multi fold ramps. These ramps are designed to be portable to the best extent. These ramps have a hinge design which allows the complete ramp to be folded to a small pack and enabling the ramp to be stored in a small space.
Though many variants of wheelchair ramps are created, it is an observed fact that no single wheelchair can suit all the needs of wheelchair users.
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5) WHEELCHAIR RAMPS FOR BUILDINGS
Wheelchair ramps are specially designed slopes that are used for providing ease in movement of wheeled chairs and other transporting equipments to a house or hospital. Wheelchair ramps are primarily used in hospitals to help people who use wheelchair to easily move in and out of the hospital. The ramp can also be used for transferring patients in portable bed when a patient cannot walk or sit. Wheelchair ramps have now been used for purposes other than just for wheel chaired patients. They act as a great path for strollers and trolleys to be moved in a mall and in many government agencies. The main purpose of wheelchair ramps however was to make every wheel chaired person to be able to use buildings without any difficulties. The introduction of wheelchair ramps was a great replacement for wheelchair lifts and has been implemented all over the world now.
Most building owners prefer to have a fixed permanent wheel chair ramp made up of cement or by using wood as the ramp floor. However, installation of Permanent wheelchair ramps can be done only in places where you have a fixed entrance to the house or building on a wheelchair. In cases where you must cover varying heights of a building, the ramps must be designed and architecture differently depending on the distance the wheelchair must cover vertically. A straight and slightly inclined wheelchair can be the best to cover short distance safely in cases where there are only few steps in the building. But when one must cover more distance through stairs, especially the ones which are steep, creating a wheelchair ramp would be the best option for the building. Wheelchair ramps are also mostly not sighted in first look and hence will not be harm in the looks of your building. On the other hand, you will also be creating an easy and safe way for wheel chaired people to move in and out of the house easily.
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6) WHEELCHAIR RAMPS – CHOOSING BASED ON NEEDS
If you are a person who use wheelchair for moving around, you would know the difficulties better than anyone else in the world. It is sure a trouble to go around in a house which is designed for a normal person and is in most cases not compatible for movement on a wheelchair.
People on wheelchairs also face difficulties to get in a car when they wish to move to far places. It is also a hard job to get to different floors of a building when there is no elevator and one has to use stairs to get there. For all these purposes, Wheelchair Ramps were designed.
Wheelchair Ramps provide an easy way of navigating throughout the building. It makes a whole lot of difference to wheelchair users and makes their life more comfortable and manageable. Wheelchair Ramps have grown in popularity so much that there are many types of Wheelchair Ramps available in different brands. The ramps are available in varying qualities and prices.
The first thing to decide when buying a wheelchair ramp is the size of the ramp required. The area of the ramp required can be judged based on the type of ramp you wish to install too. If you are willing to install a permanent wheelchair ramp, the area of the ramp can be large and as much is suitable to fill the area, by using concrete or wood as ramp base. However, in cases when you need portable ramps, the size of the ramp will be limited since the ramps must fit into a suitcase or the back of your car deck in case you wish to carry. So the best way to choose a wheelchair ramp is to list the places where you wish to use the ramp and then decide whether you require a permanent or semi permanent ramp installed in your house, or rather buy a portable limited area ramp which can be carried anywhere and installed easily.
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7) PORTABLE WHEELCHAIR RAMPS AND SAGETY
Wheelchair Ramps are widely used now in many places to assist mobility impaired wheelchair users to move freely in public places and in homes. The need for Wheelchair Ramps arises in many situations such as staircases, elevated places and so on which cannot be accessed by wheelchair users. The situations faced by wheelchair users are often challenging and keep changing and hence the need for variety of ramps was noticed. Now, there are many classes of Wheelchair Ramps available in the market which suits the needs of almost all wheelchair users in difficult situations.
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Suitcase ramps are portable wheelchair ramps which are used when ramps are to be installed dynamically in random places, when needed. These ramps are easily installable and detachable and can be folded and carried to places easily. Almost all portable ramps can fit in suitcases that make them easy to be carried along anywhere. So if you visit a hotel which has only stairs and no lifts, you can have your portable ramp to help you get over the place with no problems at all. Another interesting advantage of portable ramps is that the weight capacity that it can withhold is enough to even carry your luggage over the ramp. A typical portable ramp can carry about 600lbs. of weight. This way, portable ramps can also be used to move heavy luggage up or down the stairs, by just using a wheeled trolley to carry and slide the luggage over the ramp.
An alternative to portable ramps would be threshold ramps. These ramps are often to move chairs to places such as down small steps in the house or near doors. Using threshold ramps in such places helps the wheels of the wheelchair stay intact and not get stuck at the edges of the step and make the wheelchair fall. This ramp is also easily portable but can be used only for small distance coverage. However, threshold ramps are mostly used in homes to prevent injuries to wheelchair users.
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8) ADA STANDARDS FOR WHEELCHAIR RAMPS
Wheelchair Ramps are considered as one of the most important requirement to be included in a house plan. These ramps help mobility disabled people to navigate freely within the house. Wheelchair Ramps are also installed in many offices and social places to enable wheel chair users to have the freedom to visit these places with no difficulties. Since the wheelchairs used by most people come under the same standard design, The American with Disabilities Act, also known as ADA in the US, stated a set of specifications that are to be followed when one constructs a wheelchair ramp.
The Wheelchair Ramps constructed by any company or brand must meet the ADA specifications and this has been made mandatory. A low rise long tread type ramp was first proposed by a few construction engineers and consultants and was found to be safe and an easy variation for wheelchair users to use the ramps. The low rise ramp provided an advantageous strong grip to the ground when compared to the slope ramp. However, when a wheelchair is to be driven over this ramp, the wheelchair is required to be tiled a bit backwards, thus lifting the front wheels of the wheelchair. This would negotiate to the rise of the ramp and make the movement of the wheelchair smooth and easy. These Wheelchair Ramps are hence mostly used in hospitals with wheelchairs that require an attendant to push through.
The main specifications of the ADA are to make the slope of the ramp have a size of one inch maximum size after every twelve inches of the ramp length. The surface of the ramp must be chosen such that it is hard and stable. The surface must have the capacity to withstand weight and also have a regular smooth face for easy movement of the wheelchair. Soft surfaces such as carpets and wet clay must be avoided for making the surface of the ramp. Also, irregular faces such as cobblestones must not be used in making ramp surfaces according to ADA. ADA strictly recommends that the ramps must be constructed by Pressure treated methods for wheelchair ramp construction.
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9) CHOOSING A SAFE PORTABLE WHEELCHAIR RAMP
Portable Wheelchair Ramps are widely used by people who use wheelchairs since the ramps can be carried to any place easily. Portable ramps are considered as the best way to provide an easy way for wheelchair users to move up and go down the staircases of a building or get into a car. However, when choosing a portable wheelchair ramp, it is important to note a few issues that must be given importance while choosing portable ramps. Ramps must be selected in a wise manner such that it suits the needs of the wheelchair user and the environment where it will be installed. Hence, the first thing to be noted is to check for any incompatibilities that the ramp may cause when you start using it.
The first issue is to check if the ramp has any kind of edged surfaces or corners that may cause damage to the wheels of the wheelchair or the person who assists the wheel chaired person. The quality of the ramp must be checked first along with the way finishing has been done. Many low quality ramps have a poor finishing touch which often leads to injuries to the caregiver and the wheelchair user.
When you use portable ramps that are foldable, make sure that you take caution when folding the ramp. If fingers get in the way of the fold, it can cause serious pain due to the hard material the ramp will be made of. The ramps must be designed suitable to have a leveled surface and also have a perfectly smooth level end of the platform so that the wheelchair user can be transferred smoothly to the street from inside the house. Edge protectors are also extremely important in Wheelchair Ramps since it effectively prevents the wheelchair users to fall off the ramp if they go off the side ends of the ramp anytime. The ramp must also have a stiff attachment to the ground so that the ramp does not move when in use. These issues must be addressed properly first before installing and using a ramp in order to have a safe wheelchair ramp in use.
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10) TIPS TO BUY WHEELCHAIR RAMPS
Wheelchair Ramps offer a great life of freedom to wheelchair users since it provides them with a will to move to different places of the house and to the streets without the need of an aid or a helper. However, choosing a wheelchair ramp is a very serious and important job and proper care must be taken in choosing the characteristics of the ramp r the ramp may lead to danger of the user’s life.
In choosing a wheelchair ramp, there are four major properties of the ramp that must be given importance: the length of the ramp, its maximum weight limit, the width of the ramp and finally the rise or inclination of the ramp relative to the ground.
Length of the ramp: Length of the ramp is a very important characteristic of the ramp since the steepness of it increases as the length decreases. When you have a short ramp length, the ramp would be too steep and the speed of the wheelchair may go out of control and cause injuries due to fall. Thus choosing a length to provide the right steepness is extremely important.
Ramp Width: The width of the ramp must match the width of the wheels. This is also an important characteristic of ramps and one must make sure the wheels have enough space to make the wheels stay on the ramp always. For specific wheelchairs which have wider dimensions, a wider ramp would be required. Thus, the width of the ramp must be chosen suitably to accommodate the wheelchair.
Maximum Weight Limit: The maximum weight limit of the ramp must be sufficiently higher than the summation of the wheelchair and the wheelchair user along with any person who may be on the same ramp helping the wheelchair user. This must be the minimum weight that the ramp must bear and the maximum limit can be anything sufficiently higher than this.
Rise: The rise of a ramp is the maximum height the ramp connects from the ground. The steepness can vary for two ramps of same rise and hence one must select a proper rise for a ramp to avoid injuries due to steepness.
Selecting a ramp by considering these characteristics will help you to find the safest wheelchair ramp for your needs.
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