Plans for wheelchair accessable furniture

[Bob Weisner]

Hi:

Does anyone know if there are any plans that show how to make wheelchair accessable furniture?


Thanks,

Bob

[Dave Richards]

Bob, I haven't seen anything in particular however I doubt you'd have trouble making modifications as needed to pieces such as desks and tables to accomodate a wheeler.

Is there anything in particular you are thinking of making? What sort of chair does the user have? A hospital clunker type, sports type lightweight or powerchair?

Lightweight and ultralight chairs are commonly low enough that nothing special is needed for knee clearance. If the chair has armrests some accomodation might be needed but you have to be mindful of the user's abilities. If you make a top that is high enough to clear the armrests on a chair, it might be too high to be comfortably used.

One concern for powerchair users is that they avoid conflicts between the furniture and the chair's joystick.

[Bob Weisner]

Dave:

The wheelchair is most likely going to be an electric wheelchair. Is it possible to make a computer desk that would allow an electric wheelchair to
be used with it?

Can woodworking tools be outfitted so that they could be used by someone in a wheelchair?

Thanks,

Bob

[Dave Richards]

Bob, it is certainly possible to make a computer desk accessible to a powerchair user. The primary thing you'd need to be concerned about is clearance under the desktop. It would be wise to take measurements from the user and the chair to determine clearance needs. There are a number of different seating options available for powerchairs that result in the user sitting at different height. You need to also determine what the user can do. For example if the user is a high quad they might not even need to be able to roll under a desk. If they operate the computer with voice recognition software or a mouthstick, it might be enough to have the monitor and keyboard mounted out at the edge of a "desk".

If, on the other hand, they have full use of their hands and arms, you might consider a more normal looking desk with some added height for knee clearance. Fnid out if armrests would be an issue. Maybe the desktop won't be able to have an apron on the front. You might also consider a corner or Ell-shaped desk that allows the computer to be on one leg of the Ell and an open workspace on the other.

As to making woodworking tools accessible, yes it can be done. Some tools are better suited to it than others. Scrollsaws for example are much problem. Maybe you just need to make a cantilevered support so the user can roll in close enough to use it. A drill press could be similarly set up as could a router table. A tablesaw would be more of a challenge.

There are powerchairs with standing mechanisms that get the user into more of an upright position and thses could make using some tools such as a bandsaw easier but I don't think I'd be coomfortable with using a tablesaw even with a stander.

If needed tools like hand drills and routers could be fitted with some sort of counterbalancing arrangement so they could be used handheld by someone who doesn't have the strength or endurance to support the tool's entire weight.

Dealing with large pieces of wood while seated in a powerchair (or manual wheelchair for that matter) would be difficult at best. I would expect the chair user would need assistance in getting larger pieces of wood cut down to workable sizes. Fortunately there's almost nothing that would be impossible if the right creative minds attack it.

[Steve Cox]

You might want to search for "universal design" on hte web. This has been a trend in kitchen design to make kitchens accessible to young, old, wheelchairs etc. The design guidelines should give you some idea of clearances needed and also ideas to incorporate into your designs.