When it comes to classroom supplies, patient lifts and wheelchairs may not be the first things that come to mind. Nevertheless, they are crucial special education supplies every program needs. In order to ensure every students success, they need access to resources- including medical supplies! Many schools are hesitant to invest in higher ticket items like pediatric wheelchairs or electric patient lifts due to budget constraints, but these products can revolutionize the classroom for both students and teachers. How it benefits students For students, mobility can be a major obstacle in their daily lives. Aside from the obvious physical challenges, there are also many social challenges students face. Considering a majority of their peers are not physical impaired, it can be difficult for students with special needs to fit in. But with the help of certain equipment like wheelchairs and lifts, children may feel less restricted! Having the ability to move freely with little to no assistance can boost students’ self confidence and help them feel more similar to their fellow classmates. How it benefits teachers These products also benefit teachers because it protects them from injury while constantly moving children. According to studies performed by the CDC, “All workers who lift and move patients are at high risk for back injury and other musculoskeletal disorders”. It is crucial for education administrators to watch out for the well being of their teachers because they are truly a school’s greatest asset. When teachers are laid up at home with sprains and strains, students are left with substitute teachers who may have trouble connecting to them. This can hinder their education and overall success. If you want to better your special needs program for both your teachers and students, consider investing in the products we have rounded up below!   1) Invacare Reliant Plus 450 Electric Patient Lift 2) Hoyer Deluxe Electric Power Patient Lift 3) Excel K1 4) 9000 Jymni 5) Tweener Pediatric Folding Walker  

Planning your Halloween costume can be one of the major perks of fall! The holiday encourages unbridled ingenuity. For one night you’re allowed to dress like whatever you can imagine. Here are some types of costumes that specifically require wheelchairs. Let your creativity roll on! Wheelchairs can easily be modified to resemble other kinds of transportation devices such as racecars, spaceships, and trucks. They already have wheels, so a little cardboard and tape can accomplish a lot. If you want to incorporate a vehicle into your costume, consider choosing a character or historical figure that is closely associated with a vehicle. Pirates need ships; princesses need carriages; scientists need time-traveling machines. If you prefer career costumes to character costumes, think through what professions utilize vehicles. Firemen, police, conductors, soldiers, and astronauts all use specialized vehicles. Taxis and buses need drivers. But maybe you would rather go as the vehicle itself. If this is the case, animated films will give you some good ideas. Blinking windshields and emotional cars are animation staples. The vehicle doesn’t even have to have wheels. Who are your favorite moody machines? Robot costumes are easy to build over wheelchairs. If machinery is really not your thing, try an animal costume instead. Dress your wheelchair as a horse and go as a knight or cowboy. Don’t just think about creatures from earth. Do any of your favorite characters ride aliens on other planets? Or instead of dressing your wheelchair as the animal, wear the ears yourself. Dress as a rabbit and transform your wheelchair into a hat. Does your favorite animal live in a unique habitat? A wheelchair makes it easy to add a dam to your beaver costume or an aquarium to your fish outfit. If you really want to be an animal, you could even go half-and-half. Mermaid and centaur costumes are uniquely suited for use with wheelchairs. Your costume options are unlimited, but incorporating your wheelchair will make more complex costumes possible. Whether you choose to go with a traditional costume or incorporate your wheelchair using one of the ideas above, a little creativity can get you a lot of candy. Just make sure to keep your candy bag in easy reach. Don’t forget to leave space in your costume for treats!  

People who have always used a wheelchair, people learning to use a wheelchair for the first time, and even pro dancers, practice wheelchair dancing. At the beginning, Scottish therapists realized that teaching people how to use their wheelchairs was easier with music. Music helps people remember things better, while choreography helps train muscles to complete repetitive movements. Dancers mostly participate in the sport for fun, or as physical therapy. Used as a therapy, wheelchair dancers report greater balance, flexibility, and respiratory control. The constant movement strengthens their coordination and ability to move. Dance encourages celebration of the body in a unique way. Through grueling practice, the dancers are reminded of their physical capabilities and challenged to develop new ones. Many traditional dances are used in wheelchair dancing, including the waltz, foxtrot, and even the cha-cha. Groups of dancers dance in multiple categories. A “combi” is a partner combination where only one of the dancers is in a wheelchair. Two dancers in wheelchairs is called a “duo.” Even more people are required for “formation” dances, where an even number of dancers work together to form complex patterns. Both power and manual wheelchairs are used, depending on the demands of the dance. Though the sport developed in Sweden, championships are now held internationally. The UK selects their dancing representative at the European Championship by filming a reality tv show about the competitors. The couple that wins gets to compete at the next level. This has helped raise awareness and excitement about the sport. Check out this incredible wheelchair dancing: Even Gertrude Weaver, one of the top ten oldest people ever, participated in the sport until her death two years ago. At her age, she did it more for the therapy than for the competition. The daily practice helped develop her upper body strength, while the choreography kept her mentally sharp. She credited her wheelchair dancing as one of the things that helped her make it to be so old.   Many dancers, empowered by their new skills, have begun to wonder how to improve wheelchairs even further. How would wheelchairs with pre-programmed movements or balance controls change the way we use wheelchairs? Instead of just being a piece of necessary equipment, dancers and their supporters are beginning to dream of ways to incorporate the wheelchairs as an essential part of the dance. Dancers for Cirque Du Soleil and Broadway often use props as part of their dance routine. Wheelchair dancers have begun to ask how they too can use the wheelchairs as props instead of equipment. Their questions could result in new wheelchair designs as technology moves to meet the dream.   Wheelchair dancing provides a unique exercise experience for wheelchair users. By celebrating the body and challenging the participants, this form of dance empowers everyone to imagine new ways of thinking about wheelchairs

Tracy Morgan Hurt in Deadly Accident In June 2014, Tracy Morgan, comedian for Saturday Night Live and versatile actor, was in a car accident. A tractor trailer swung into the vehicle he was in, causing one death and multiple injuries. Morgan’s injuries have prevented him from walking over the last few months. It is uncertain how long these effects will last, but Morgan has been struggling to make a full recovery. Morgan’s recent injuries reminded us of other famous people, past and present, in wheelchairs. Their efforts have brought encouragement to all of us. Through their hard work and passion, they show everyone that limited mobility doesn't have to limit your life. Franklin D. Roosevelt - President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president who pulled the United States out of The Great Depression and participated in World War I, performed many of his duties from a wheelchair. Prior to his presidency, he contracted an illness that led to paralysis from the waist down. While many speculate on the precise nature of his disease, the onset was fast. Afterwards FDR never walked without the aid of heavy iron leg braces. He taught himself to move this way, developing his upper body muscles to a point where he could maneuver his body weight by pulling and swinging himself forward. He delivered speeches by bracing himself against the lectern. Frida Kahlo - Artist Frida Kahlo, a Mexican painter best known for her self portraits in the 1900s, also struggled with illnesses and injuries that prevented her from moving without assistance. These began when she was in a bus accident as a teenager. While Frida’s health issues were impermanent, many surgeries and complications reoccurred throughout her life. She often painted her best works while lying in bed, unable to move the lower half of her body. Ralph Braun  - Inventor Ralph Braun is a more recent example of a famous person in a wheelchair. At fourteen Braun began using a wheelchair because of his muscular dystrophy. Within a year, he had invented a motorized wagon with his father to help him move more easily. By the time he was twenty years old, Braun had invented a motorized scooter with parts he found on a relative’s farm. For a while he drove this scooter to his job as a Quality Control Manager, but when the facility moved further away, Braun decided he needed to invent something else to get himself there. He converted a van into a scooter accessible vehicle. Soon, other people with disabilities began hearing about his machines and asking him to build more. Braun converted and sold his inventions from his parents’ garage until there were too many orders. He then quit his job and began selling his machines full time. Sudha Chandran - Dancer Sudha Chandran is another contemporary example of a celebrity who has persevered through mobility issues. Before she was twenty years old, Chandran developed an infection in her leg that resulted in amputation. Through the use of a prosthetic foot, Chandran slowly learned to move again, and then to dance. As she began to dance throughout her home country of India, she gained fame and honor. She traveled the world, dancing and winning awards for her performances. There are many, any examples of strong, gracious people who have contributed so much to the world, despite the limitations they dealt with.  Some limitations are physical, some are not, regardless of the limitations, watch the video, and be inspired to change your world in some way! All these people went through different health issues and responded in unique ways. They grew through difficulties and become stronger. Their disabilities resulted in a greater creativity to overcome obstacles and a determination to achieve great things

Eyeball to eyeball Please don't let my disability get in the way of really connecting. Please do engage me in conversation. And for the love of all things good - look at my eyes when you're talking, just like you would when talking to some one, you know, normal. Too many times people act like they don't know where to look when they talk to me - I think it may be due to the height imbalance (sitting in a wheelchair vs. standing up), plus the medical devices add an unusual element. Just know - I'd prefer you look at me in the eyes when conversing. I'm happy - yup, totally happy. I've learned that happiness is possible - even with less than perfect situations.  Don't pity me - just love me, and respect me.  Please don't tell me that you don't think you could go on living with my disability. It takes courage to keep living, but it's freeing to discover that real happiness doesn't depend on external circumstances. True happiness doesn't depend on external circumstances. Get some perspective. Living with disabilities makes everything a little tougher. That power wheelchair that ran out of battery, and left me sit a qu arter mile from any electricity? That perfect restaurant that is just too tiny to wheel into? Been there, done that. Starbucks running out of Pumpkin Spice Latte's before your afternoon caffeine bender is just not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Celebrate the little things. Disability can take so much from us, but I've learned to celebrate the little things. Take a moment to note the small joys. Each day could be the last - we're not promised anything. That chance to whip together some ridiculously good chocolate chip cookies with your niece? Do it - make the memories. A defiant spirit of joy in the face of challenge is a very precious commodity.  Nurture it.  Life is hard, stick together. Being disabled makes you acutely aware of your need for other human beings! While we all value 'alone time' and time to pursue our own interests, making the extra effort to invite someone along for the journey is totally worth it! That great book you're reading? Give a copy to a friend, and meet for coffee to discuss. Go the extra mile to return that phone call or email to nurture that relationship. Don't get so busy and sure of yourself that you miss out on experiencing the little joys of life