Archive for the ‘Car and Hand Throttle’ Category

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks LVII

Tuesday, February 21st, 2017

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Technical Aids Tips and Tricks LVIII

Friday, December 19th, 2014

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Eigude Shame Part XXV

Thursday, July 31st, 2014

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Technical Aids Tips and Tricks LII

Wednesday, July 16th, 2014

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Visit to the Technical Supervisory Association

Wednesday, January 22nd, 2014

Frontpage

Like any other German car, my adapted car with its hand throttle and wheelchair loading system has to be inspected by the Technical Supervisory Association every other year.

Usually this is a bit annoying, but this time it was really funny.

The whole story started when I asked if I should drive the car myself into the hall due to the hand throttle.
They insured it wouldn’t be a problem… well then…

It was funny to see the inspector hopping like a kangaroo to the test stand with my car. It wasn’t so easy driving with hand throttle after all.

While I was waiting a display dummy attracted my attention which stood next to the reception desk. It was wearing a t-shirt

Without visible defects, Technical Supervisory Association (TĂśV-Hessen)

I was laughing with tears.

Of course I bought such a t-shirt immediately, but when I paid I couldn’t refrain from saying to the lady that my 24 inch aluminium wheelchair rims are not recorded in my identity card ;-)

My car passed the inspection without defects and got its sticker on the number plate.

I assume that the inspector wanted to have a closer look at my wheelchair loading system, otherwise I can hardly explain why I had to drive my car myself out of the hall. Or maybe he didn’t like my hand throttle??? ;-)

Translator BL

Winter tip

Monday, December 10th, 2012

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Prepare – put salt on the ground BEFORE the snow falls!

2 years ago I had the biggest difficulties in winter to get from my wheelchair into the car.

After the snow fell, it froze on the ground to a single layer of ice right next to my door. This caused my wheelchair during transfer to constantly slip which was terrible :-(

After my friends had removed the ice shelf next to my “Ferrari”, came the nice men from the county road service to clean the street and pushed a mountain of snow right next to my car.

So I still could not get in to the car!!!!!

Before the next snow fall I had all of a sudden salt already laying there next to my door for immediate defrosting. Miraculously, the salt seems to be falling from the sky, as there is hardly ever any ice and snow on the road next to my “Pole”…!!!!!

Translator BW

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XLVII

Friday, October 5th, 2012

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I have already introduced my car customized with hand throttle and wheelchair loading system (see older blogpost).

With a wheelchair loading system with sliding door you always have to consider how long the wheelchair is, otherwise it doesn’t fit into the car lifted upright (see older blogpost).

My wheelchair is rather short, and there is maximum 1 cm space left at the upper door edge when pulling the wheelchair in, otherwise the Astra would have been out of question as vehicle.

Therefore many wheelchair users have a minivan, like for example a VW Caddy.

An alternative is a wheelchair loading system on the roof, this looks a bit like a ski box.

A friend has such a box on his car, have a look yourself:

I have the yellow PLEASE-KEEP-DISTANCE-SIGN at the driver’s door as well!!!

 

A Jeep Commander is quite unusual on a disabled parking place, but with the wheelchair loading system it hypnotizes each pedestrian in passing.

You should see him jumping back into the car, he would easily win “Germany’s Got Talent”, wheelchair high jump unfortunately is not a Paralympics discipline ;-)

Translator BL

Football Euro 2012 Part I

Thursday, June 14th, 2012

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2nd win after 1:0 against Portugal.

My car is of course flagged with the “mirror socks“(see older blogpost).

Germany : Holland

2 : 1

Cheers, and bottoms up!

Go Germany…

Click on tag Football to read a lot of stories around the most wonderful pastime in the world.

Translator BL

 

Eigude Shame XVI

Friday, June 8th, 2012

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Yesterday, after a long time, I wanted to see a movie at the cinema with my wife.

The seat reservation proved to be a little difficult because this was only possible online, and although you could click on the “one” wheelchair place nothing happened.

I tried to call the cinema several times and learned that after around 30 times ringing you get kicked out the line by the telephone system.

We reserved the two seats next to the wheelchair place (apparently the places were next to each other) and drove with the car to the cinema.

Surprisingly there were actually all two disabled parking places at the rear exit vacant, whereas on one two pedestrians with lots of tools were standing who immediately made room for my “parking”.

I turned my car in a one-way-street and parked the wrong way round because at the pavement side getting off the car is hardly possible for me even with assistance, and my wheelchair loading system is not working properly.
For this purpose I made up an additional “permit card” so that our friendly officers hopefully won’t find a new parking place for me.

“Due to wheelchair loading system parking in opposite direction of travel.”

In the meantime a hired minivan arrived, parked on the other disabled parking place, and the two guys stored away their tools. I didn’t say anything, the loading couldn’t last forever.

At the cinema box office I got the explanation that it was possible to book the wheelchair place online, but sometimes it wouldn’t work. Great…!!
Nevermind, we just had to pay for one ticket, and the wheelchair place was still available.

At half height in the cinema, nobody directly in front, that’s quite nice.
The seat numbers were a bit strange, seat 13 and seat 91, but that would be right.
Some construction engineer has excelled himself. It was probably built according to the latest EU directive for inclusion (equal treatment of handicapped and non-handicapped). Ingenious, our own

wheelchair waiting zone in the cinema.

Praiseworthy, the emergency telephone on the wall and the spacious place directly next to an emergency exit.

Please note the especially high raised

Anti-Snogging-Wall,

which also prevents rigorously undesirable conversations with the companion during the movie.

There was actually just a wall between us and a romantic cinema date.

The movie was great, it even had a guy in a wheelchair.
It played in a country where traditionally fried, amputated amphibian extremities are eaten*.

When I was back at my car I was a little bit annoyed that the minivan was still standing on the second disabled parking place.

I know that the fire protection requirements in a cinema are strict, but

TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!!!

I am still a little unclear about what I should actually wait for in the waiting zone, there was not even anybody coming to sell ice cream.

*France, (frog’s legs) ;-)

Translator BL

Addendum Techncal Aids Tips and Tricks XLIX

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

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I am always happy when my blog is not only read, but if other tips are sent to me as well.

In my blog of 04.02.2012 I described (see older blogpost), how fast the disabled parking permit escapes in the car at forceful braking and vanishes into the ventilation slot of the windscreen.

A citizen from Potsdam involved in the problem has given some thought and developed a

Parking Permit Holder

.
This object is great and is awarded after a long-time test for several weeks by the unbribable (except for fresh nut slices), independent Rollinator test team, with the new founded

Roll-On Innovation Award on the Silver Axis

for technical aids. The parking permit holder is a holder made from Plexiglas in which the conventional disabled or resident parking permits can be inserted.

The holder has a dovetail on the lower part with which it can be put in the much dreaded ventilation slot. Thereby the construction turns upwards, so that the permit clamps in parallel to the windscreen.

The permit thus will be seen very well, but can be removed any time “tetra easily” from the holder.

It is a well-thought new technical aid which is not only functional, but has a reasonable price as well.

For more information see www.parkausweishalterung.de

Translator BL

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XXXVIII

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

Frontpage

My friend always tells me that I have a static like

Bernd das Brot

(German kids television character, an ill-humoured bread)

Long torso, short arms and short legs.

Therefore the transfer from wheelchair to car belongs – because I can’t stand and the door sills are becoming wider and wider – into the realms of fantasy.

This gap is insurmountable for me. Many wheelers have the same challenge (I have abolished all “problems” years ago, see front page) and use a slide board, with which they glide as elegantly as possible from wheelchair to car seat. To learn this there was once a

brand new car lifted with a tower crane in the 9th floor

of a hospital in Frankfurt which is standing since then in the corridor of the occupational therapy.
The car won’t be stolen for sure!!!

Almost all car customizing companies offer a permanently mounted foldaway slide board, with which one can transfer relatively save to the driver seat.

Why one is dragged at the trouser waistband into a car at rehabilitation fairs and the International Automobile Exhibition (IAA) in Frankfurt, because these “specialist companies” don’t even have a slide board with them, is incomprehensible for me. Usually a mounted slide board should be part of the basic equipment.

Only on demand I got an offer for a foldaway slide board.

Get yourself a

permanently mounted slide board

fitted if you also have difficulties with the transfers.

You can drive with the wheelchair directly to the transfer board.

As you can see perceived 2 kg key chains are normal for me!

Translator BL

Technical Aids Tips und Tricks XXXI

Saturday, March 19th, 2011

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In general I don’t give way to panic and usually am not even afraid when I am carried up or down a stairway, provided that the volunteers don’t have 1,5 per mill blood alcohol level and are able to stand on their own.
The only thing which makes me uneasy is to get in and out of the car in the dark – we wheelchair users are not always home after dark although this is the general opinion.
In this process the car door has to be completely opened for the whole time, and I don’t want to end up as figurehead of another car driver.
To be seen better in the dark by other car drivers and provide a nice view to passers-by I have decorated my

driver’s door type Christmas tree

a little bit:

  • Red plastic reflectors from car accessories attached to the driver’s door from the outside which are also visible from the front.
  • Red adhesive reflectors, stuck to the inside of the door.
  • A small battery-operated white LED lamp is stuck to the door with double-faced adhesive Velcro tape!
  • The absolute highlight is a blinking neon yellow-green battery-operated fluorescent bar.
    I have introduced this part already in my blogpost from 09.03.2011(see older blogpost).

Safety instruction: The fluorescent bar causes nausea and insanity in the long run.
As you can gather from my words I am already beyond saving for years!

Translator BL

I will only travel by bus soon!

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

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It is time again for my favourite subject:
The disabled parking place and its consequences for my blood pressure.

I have sufficiently explained in older blogposts that I need to open the driver’s door completely to get in and out of the car.

When I am parking, I leave on the driver’s side as much space as possible, even on big disabled parking places. You never know what may come to some people’s mind.

Additionally I have a big

”Please keep distance” label

next to my driver’s door.

Today I was ambulant in hospital and was happy that even two disabled parking places, even next to each other, were still free.
I decided to take the right one and leave in old manner enough space on the left side to get out. The blue car on the left applied the same method on the passenger’s side. Have a look what I had to experience when I wanted to go home.

Irrespective of the impertinence to park between two disabled parking places, this matchbox car has a disabled parking permit on the windscreen and a label on the driver’s door:

“Please keep door width distance”

The driver can only hope that he or she will never meet me in person. This person will be really disabled then, namely deaf.

How I came back into my car is kept my secret. Even as pedestrian you don’t manage to come into the car with half-opened driver’s door due to my foldaway slide board. To slide over from the passenger’s seat on to the driver’s seat is not possible either due to the hand throttle system! Additionally I have a metal plate in front of my pedals.
I don’t know if the wheeler has ever made it into the blue car.

Translator BL

Please keep our disabled parking places free!

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

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At this stage I would like to ask all pedestrians NOT to park even only short-time on disabled parking places.

You get a disabled parking permit only when an exceptional walking disability is entered in the handicapped ID. We exceptionally disabled can’t walk anymore at all or very bad and thus are reliant on short ways.

Except for the old and frail people it could also be somebody out of the around 100.000 people in Germany who have the neurologic disease MS (Multiple Sclerosis) and are still able to walk a little bit. This disease can hit anybody.
Then there is also the fraction of para- and quadriplegics like me. I had a car accident through no fault of my own.

We para- and quadriplegics almost all can only get in and out of the car when the driver’s or front passenger’s door is opened completely.

This is the reason why disabled parking places are that big.

I totally understand that such a parking place with its wide is quite appealing when you drive with your SUV which is an absolute must in Frankfurt to the groceries.

Please imagine the following situation:

I am driving with the car to the post office at the train station. When the two disabled parking places are occupied it’s tough luck.

It absolutely doesn’t matter if somebody is parking 5 minutes
or 3 days on a disabled parking place.

I don’t see if there is a disabled parking permit displayed in those two cars and if the drivers might be gone by train to Munich, or if they will walk out of the post office in 5 minutes.

Thus there is nothing left for me except looking for a normal parking place.

I might find one eventually which is wide enough, another car is parking next to mine.

So far so good.

I am coming back to my car, but in the meantime the car next to mine has changed.

It is now parking 5 cm closer to my car, and I can’t open the driver’s door completely any more.

So much for that!!!

If it would be my “way” I already had abolished all disabled parking places on supermarket parking lots, then I wouldn’t get upset that often any more.

On those parking lots everybody can park as he likes. It is private property, and Mr. Aldi or Lidl are not interested who is parking there.

Address the people and explain it to them. Shouting unfortunately doesn’t help.

Click on tag Handicap Parking, to read more or less odd handicap parking stories .

Translator BL

 

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XIII

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

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At some time somebody told me something about his

car wheelchair

I have to admit that I haven’t understood at that time why you need a special wheelchair for driving a car.
Actually it is very simple, it is all about the

Wheelchair Loading System (see older blogpost)

In the meantime, I have such a system. The wheelchair is folded, docked to the loading system, tilted by 90° upwards and then pulled behind the driver’s door.
In order to make this possible, the wheelchair should not be too long, because otherwise

it would not fit through the car door any more.

I was lucky, my wheelchair is quite short with its roundabout 85 cm length. It just fits into my

dove-shit-grey-metallic-coloured car from RĂĽsselsheim.

(translator’s note: In RĂĽsselsheim is the German head office of Opel)

At

Rehabilitation fairs

the loading of wheelchairs looks always so simple at the exhibitors and operates error-free.
The demonstration car is never standing at a hillside, a curb, a busy street or on cobble stone.
Have a closer look at this picture:

The footrests

were removed so that the wheelchair would fit into the car.

Have fun when you are levitating out of the car and remove and attach the footrests all the time. Where to put these things?

I doubt that even the employer’s liability insurance sponsors in addition to in- and outdoor, sport, standing and beach wheelchairs, a car wheelchair as well.

Translator BL