User:Access123

Defining phrases such as Disabled access, Disabled lifts, Wheelchair lifts, Stair Lifts, Platform Lifts, and Wheelchair Users. http://www.wheelchairaccess.co.uk

As the world changes disabled access to the world must keep up. A vast range of disabled access barriers have been created and solutions follow, from disabled access being a blind person reading a brail book to disabled access being Oscar Pistorius, with two carbon-fiber prosthetic legs, breaking the 22 second barrier in the 2004 Athens Paralympics 200 meter sprint. It is important that one day people with disabilities do not have disabled access issues and there is no reason why that could not happen.

Disabled lifts come in all shapes and sizes, from portable disabled lifts to common elevator shafts; even bath, bed and vehicle aids can be classed as disabled lifts. Disabled lifts have been designed for public or domestic use, for indoor even outdoor use. Over history disabled lifts have been adapted to overcome all types of barriers to cater for the importance of individuals’ independent living. You can be assured that as new barriers are formed from developments in architecture, new ages and tastes etc, adaptations in disabled lifts will follow.

Wheelchair lifts are a separate type of disabled access aid where the wheelchair is lifted with its user hence “wheelchair lift”. You can not class a domestic lift, for example, where the user has to move out of their wheelchair into a seat as a wheelchair lift as the user leaves the wheelchair behind, and in many cases has another wheelchair on the second level. Wheelchair lifts usually take up more space, as a platform is needed for the wheelchair to sit on. Other types of lifts are used when the user is not always wheelchair bound but it is generally easier for a wheelchair user to use a wheelchair lift.

Sesame Access’ System will change the meaning of the phrase stair lifts. A disabled or able bodied person in the street would tell you that stair lifts are the contraptions that carry people up a set of domestic house stairs; “you know the stair lifts you see on T.V.” It is Sesame Access Systems LTD plan to create a Sesame System or stair lifts even, that will be affordable and practical for use in every household whilst still using the theory that our stair lifts remain hidden until a discrete button is pushed. Sesame Access Systems web site http://www.wheelchairaccess.co.uk

Platform lifts, on their own, are never the most aesthetically pleasing forms of access. You could even relate the phrase platform lifts to goods lifts. In many cases platform lifts are visible as an enclosed system with a gate as an entrance. We use platform lifts as a lifting mechanism but when the stairs are in the rest/pedestrian position you would need a trained eye to notice that platform lifts lays beneath.

It is believed that the earliest representation of wheelchair users was over one thousand years ago, an engraving was found in China of what appears to be wheelchair users sitting in a three wheeled chair. Wheelchair users had to rely on able bodied people to help in movement until Stephen Farfler invented a wheelchair with hand cranks in the mid 17th century allowing wheelchair users to move independently. According to the Department of Health 1994 there are around 1.2 million wheelchair users in the U.K. using all sorts of variations in design of wheelchairs which keep on improving including the iBOT that can carry wheelchair users up stairs, fantastic, but not too great for the wheelchair lift industry.

"ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Steven Lyons is a recognized authority on the subject of disabled access. His web site, http://www.wheelchairaccess.co.uk provides a wealth of informative articles and resources on everything you'll ever need to know about disabled access."