Wheelchair Lift, a Reliable Companion to a Wheelchair

by Melissa Reurink

When our parents died when we were teenagers, I knew I’d have to grow up fast and help take care of my sister, Jess. She’s a quadriplegic and has been in a wheelchair she was born. As her older brother, I’ve always had to look out for her, and I never minded it much because the truth is she looks out for me, too. When I finally got my license, Jess was overjoyed. She said that she had not seen much of the world since she was confined to that chair, but now she wishes to see all the wonderful places. I didn’t mind bit my kid sister tagging along with me most places I went. The only thing which gave me a tough time was loading and unloading that huge wheelchair of hers. It’s one of those motorize jobs and must weigh about a hundred pounds. Either that or i am not too strong. Anyway, of course I couldn’t say anything to Jess. But I started looking into buying a wheelchair lift right away.



Shopping for a wheelchair lift is like shopping for anything else—you wouldn’t believe how many different models they have! There are basically two type of wheelchair lifts that can be used for you vehicle—an internal wheelchair lift and an external one. An internal wheelchair lift is secured inside the trunk of your vehicle and it slowly hoists the chair into your trunk, while the external models attach to the hitch of your car or truck and lift the chair into the trunk. I opted to go with the internal wheelchair lift because of the storage issues.
Jess smiled when she saw her new lift. It turns out she had also been worried about me loading her wheelchair in and out of the van for quite some time.




“That’s sweet,” I said. But you need not worry about me.”



“I wasn’t,” she said, and smiled. “I wondered if you intended to drop my chair.”



We both laughed for a long time. Then we got in the car and went out for a bite to eat. With our new wheelchair lift loading and unloading her chair is a cinch, just like the stair lift we installed at home. I can’t believe I spent all that time struggling with it in the past. But thats what big brothers are supposed to be meant for.



Source: http://mylittleautoshop.com/?p=1709



Tagged as: disabled · handicap · handicapped · lifts for the disabled · Stair Lift · Wheelchair lift · wheelchair lifts