Today I finally made it to the exhibition Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment – over an hour in line. Nadya says – look at that interesting wheelchair.
Nadya and I had been wheeling her dad around for many years. He fell ill, ended up without legs, and the wheelchair literally became an extension of him in everyday life. Just your “basic” wheelchair. We took him to the Black Sea by car several times, traveled abroad, and of course experienced all the “delights” of accessibility in Russia. Actually, I don’t even know how to translate “accessibility” into Russian properly. “Barrier-free environment”? It was not barrier-free, it was downright threateningly barriered. For example, we simply couldn’t get to the doctor at the clinic because the elevator was too narrow.
So, back to the wheelchair in the photograph. It’s the iBot by Mobius Mobility. It’s no longer customary to call them “wheelchairs,” it’s a “personal mobility device.” It operates both in balancing mode, where only two wheels are used — essentially, like a Segway, and in a four-wheel mode when terrain handling is needed. In two-wheel mode, the seat raises to a height of 91 cm, allowing the seated individual to be more or less at eye level with others. It also has a mode for climbing/descending stairs — that’s really cool. The range is 35 km in balance mode.
The iBot was invented by the same guy who invented the Segway — Dean Kamen. Overall, this startup is several years old, with several generations of the iBot already released.
Yes, the price of such a device ranges from 32 to 40 thousand dollars. Quite a lot. But it’s said that about half can be covered by insurance (still a lot, though).
There are a few people around us in wheelchairs. And there were few in Russia too. But in Russia, there were few because they just couldn’t leave the house, and each outing for the family or companion turned into a project that would be good to plan in advance. Here in the USA, there are few for another reason. Here, in case of problems, they don’t just hand out a wheelchair, they give a new leg or a new joint. And only if it’s completely irrepairable, then they resort to a wheelchair. Yes, such operations can cost a fortune for people without insurance, it’s a known problem, but usually, some charitable foundations are found.
For example, near our house is the organization ECHO (Every Citizen Has Opportunities). Besides helping financially with adjusting to a new way of life, they offer jobs to people who land in such trouble, they also provide free transportation (to work, to the store, etc.) and socialization.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 