Equipment blog

- January 03, 2016

Hello,

I'm writing this blog to help people with disabilities or parents with children with disabilities. These pieces of equipment have helped me through the years to try to support me and make mine and my parents lives easier. All of these pieces of equipment have helped me walk, transfer to one place to another and get to things safer, quicker and easier. Without things like the wheelchair, walker, stedy standing frame, parallel bars etc I wouldn't be as independent and will find everyday tasks harder.

This is my David Hart walker. It focusses on training the brain how walking feels like as it's all about you and what you do in it. As you can see theres no handles or bars to lean on or rely on, you need good balance to walk in it and strength to move the walker. These come in all sizes and can be adjusted to suit the child or adult's size or ability as the company can add or take away straps as suits. It is really safe however should be only used on flat surfaces i.e on wood flooring or in shopping centres. Its safe for the person to walk in it independently but it takes time to get used to it so may need supervision while in it. The best option about getting in and out of it is taking the frame that the person stands in out and lay it on a chair or a bed as its easier to strap the person in while they are sitting or laying. This walker is good for people that have tight hamstrings as it stretches them while they walk. It has helped me a lot and its a good and helpful piece of equipment.

This is a Stedy frame which helps with transferring to the toilet from wheelchair or to other equipment. Its a helpful tool as it saves lifting the person. I use it for getting on and off the toilet, bed and in the shower. People can just put the steady in front of equipment the person is on and move to wherever they need to go. Also it is useful if the person just wants to stand, they can just hold onto the bar and just stand. They will be safe as the flaps go down to stop you falling making sure they firmly sit on the flaps. Im not sure if they do different sizes you would need to find this out in your local services.

This is my Meyra walker, it's a very sturdy walker with a seat which helps as you can walk for longer and if you need a rest you can sit down and then carry on. It is safe as it's very sturdy and there are anti-tips on the back wheels. This walker can suit different heights as it can be adjusted as and when the person grows. It can go on pathways, flooring, roads and can be safe over different types of surfaces. The person can go in it both ways, they can hold on to the handle bar and walk or if they want to do something on a work surface, they can get in the walker back to front so they can get closer to the table.

This is parallel bars. They are good for getting balance when walking as the person can get used to transferring weight from each leg and arm. The person just needs to move their arms along the bars and step. It comes in different sizes and you can get smaller ones for children.