As you prepare for a summer of fun — from traveling to enjoying your backyard to theme parks — be sure to take advantage of all the written, visual, and audio resources that Permobil offers to make your wheelchair-friendly activities as seamless and memorable as possible. We aim to innovate for individuals wherever they are and whenever they are, especially during the summer.
Read
The most stress-inducing part of traveling with a wheelchair is wondering how airlines may improperly handle your wheelchair, leading to missing parts and an all-around damper on your vacation. Thankfully, we have a resource collection filled with downloadable PDFs that can help you navigate air travel with a wheelchair.
This resource collection includes a travel checklist, with check boxes to remind you to charge your batteries, contact your airline ahead of time to make sure your wheelchair will fit the dimensions of the cargo door, switch off the circuit breaker ahead of boarding, shrink wrap your seating system, and more. A pre-made printable sign is also available in this bundle, that includes a place for your contact information and warnings on how to handle the chair, such as lifting it as a team, not placing it on its side, and using care when releasing the brakes. More detailed travel tags are also available.
In addition to the above, a trip planning guide lays out several steps to complete before you start out for your final destination. This includes packing, planning your itinerary, research, communicating your needs, and navigating airport accessibility. Finally, you can look up the exact measurements of your Permobil power chair to ensure it will fit in the airplane.
The U.S. Department of Transportation also plans on updating its rules around travel to strengthen the rights afforded to people under the 1986 Air Carrier Access Act. While many of these rules would take several years to implement, the hope is that it makes traveling more dignified and stress-free for wheelchair users in the future.
Listen
If you want to learn more about traveling from firsthand experiences, make sure to listen to Wheelchair Nerds podcast episodes 10, 11, and 12, which features guests Kristy Durso, owner of travel agency Incredible Memories Travel and a full-time wheelchair user, and Jerod Nieder, who runs an accessibility consulting firm Positively Paralyzed and also uses a Permobil wheelchair.
Going beyond travel to the fun that you’ll have when you get there, check out the latest episode on Morgan’s Wonderland, the first ultra-accessible theme park, complete with wheelchair swings, a fully-accessible Ferris Wheel, and waterproof rigid, power, and tilt and space wheelchairs for its waterpark. Two employees from the park give an overview of the attractions and tips on how to assess the accessibility of other amusement parks.
Watch
You can follow along with patient advocate Pernilla Becker as she travels with her Permobil F5. In this video, we see Becker navigating the airport while explaining the unique challenges that wheelchair users face during air travel.
Aaron Baker uses a slightly different set-up to accommodate his C4/6 spinal cord injury when he travels. On a trip to Santa Catalina Island off the coast of California, he used a TiLite equipped with SmartDrive to navigate various ramps and uneven terrain. You can follow along here on his scenic trip.
For a slightly different type of travel, you can watch Amy travel across the country in her RV using her TiLite wheelchair and ROHO cushion.
Do
With summer heat at its peak, with some places in the U.S. hitting triple digits, you’ll also want to make sure to keep yourself safe with the following tips.
1. Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of water throughout the day.
2. Wear loose and light clothing: Opt for breathable fabrics to help keep you cool.
3. Reposition regularly: Change positions often to prevent pressure sores and improve circulation.
4. Chill your wrists and neck: Running cold water over your wrists and neck can help cool you down.
5. Protect your skin: Seek shade, wear sunscreen, and invest in UV protective clothing to prevent sunburn.
6. Know the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke: Symptoms include dizziness, nausea, rapid heartbeat, and headache.
Don't forget to check out cooling products like vests, portable misters, and evaporative inserts to help you stay cool on the go. You can also share your own tips by contributing to the conversation on our Facebook page.
Hawken Miller
Content Marketing Specialist
Before joining Permobil as content marketing specialist, Hawken was a content strategist for the nonprofit CureDuchenne, creating blogs, emails, and social media content for the Duchenne muscular dystrophy community. For most of his life before that, he worked as a journalist, writing feature stories for BioNews, and reporting on the video game and esports beat for The Washington Post. Following his passion for writing, Hawken graduated from journalism school at the University of Southern California.