So recently we took a trip cross country for John’s Make-A-Wish.  We were very nervous about flying since we read that nearly 2,000 wheelchairs were damaged over a 3 month period!!!  (See this article) 

So, we tried to come up with a solution we felt comfortable with to protect the wheelchair.  Here is what we did…

A — We have a Permobil.  Along the side of the seat is a rail that you can attach to.  Just slide a nut into the rail and you can screw a bolt into the nut.  As you can see in the picture, we attached an L-bracket to the rail.  (Note, the holes in the L-bracket didn’t line up with the rail, so we had to drill a hole through the L-bracket.)  So, we attached 2 L-brackets front and back and then we attached a 2×4 onto the two L-brackets.

B — We used bungy cords to keep the footrests in an upright position.

C — The cable to the joystick didn’t easily unplug.  So what we did was pull the joystick off the armrest and put it inside a shoebox.  We put bubble wrap all around the joystick.  Then we used the seatbelt to hold it in place.

D — Here’s where the magic happens.  We went to a place that makes iron railings and asked them to bend two bars for us.  They also cut a straight piece for us to join the rods together.  We bolted the bars onto the 2×4’s.  We figured these would act as roll bars to help protect the wheelchair.

E — On the permobil, you can lift off the seat back easily.  We lifted it off and took it into the plane with us.  Then in our case, the wheelchair couldn’t be higher than 33″, so we tilted the back until it fit the regulations.

F — We also took off the seat cushion and brought it into the plane with us.

After we got everything in place, we put a cover over the whole thing to protect it from weather.  (I just made the cover out of garbage bags that I duct-taped into the right size and shape.)

As far as procedure goes… John stayed in his wheelchair until we got to the gate.  We carried everything we needed to work on the wheelchair.  So, we had to send the wood, the metal bars, tools, nuts/bolts through security which was interesting.  When we explained what it was for they let us through.

At the gate, we sat John in another chair and worked on taking the wheelchair apart.  We definitely had to leave ample time to check in, get through security, and take the wheelchair apart.  We had instructions on the chair for common things they asked about — battery type, weight, and how to unlock/lock the wheels.  We talked with a technician about how to move the wheelchair and they took it away to load it on the plane.  I think they liked the way we packaged the wheelchair because they felt it was safer and they didn’t have to worry about not damaging it.

All in all, we are very pleased.  We traveled across the country and back and there was no damage to the wheelchair — which was the plan !!

This past winter John’s back began hurting.  Every time we would lift him it would hurt.  I could no longer transfer him myself from his bed or bath chair to his wheelchair.  I had to start using a lift.  I also could not lift him over my leg anymore to pull up his pants.  Getting dressed and going to the bathroom became a much longer task.  I had to use a lift to go from wheelchair to bed.  From the bed, I had to roll him back and forth while pulling down his pants.  Then use the lift to go from bed to bath chair.  After he used the toilet, I reversed the process to get back in the wheelchair.  His school didn’t have the resources set up to be able to handle this change, so for several months, we were picking him up from school and taking him home whenever he had to go to the bathroom.

I found a friend, Terry,  who sews and initially asked if she could put a long zipper in some pants with an elastic waist that we already owned with the thought that we could try to use a urinal instead of transferring out of the chair every time.  It didn’t work as well as we hoped.  There just wasn’t enough space to maneuver.  We went back and forth playing around with different ideas until we discovered the benefits of having a separating zipper down each side of the pants.

Our life changed dramatically!  For real.  We can now open up the pants and sit them on the wheelchair.  We can use the lift to sit John on the pants.  Then we just zip the pants up.  Amazing.  We don’t have to lie him on the bed and flip him from side to side while trying to yank up the pants.  And I’m sure this is much safer than when I used to lift him up and rest him over my leg while I pulled his pants up.  This has been such a timesaver for school.  He doesn’t need to transfer over to a toilet since he has plenty of access to use a urinal.  This has been such a help for when we are away from home, too.  Even if we have to transfer to a toilet, we still don’t have to worry about pulling pants up and down.   Because we worked from scratch we were able to add in a couple additional features.  The back of the pants are higher than the front.  It was hard to find pants that covered all of John’s behind.  I don’t know if it’s his body shape, or if it’s just because he’s always in a sitting position, but these pants cover everything they need to J  Also, it was helpful to make the pants lower in the front.  We found this to be more comfortable for him and it stays clear of his G-tube.

Visit instructables ( zipper pants ) for directions on how to make these pants.  There are two sections.  One for getting the pattern in the correct size and one for sewing the pants together once you have the pattern.  Thank you to Terry for providing the instructions on how to sew the pants together!!  I recognize that not everybody can simply run a python script to get a pattern, so if you are interested in making the pants, but don’t know how to run python, contact me and I can run the script and send a PDF of the pattern to you.  After that, if you don’t know how to sew, hopefully with the instructions and the pattern you can hire someone to make them for you.

I’ve just uploaded an instructable that shows how to use an Alexa echo to control a button pusher.  There are button pushers that you can buy, but this one was cheaper for me to make and it does exactly what I want it to.

I’m on a roll.  Working on the voice activated accessible shelf helped me enter into the world of ARDUINO.  And I’ve got a whole new set of ideas I’m working on.  While taking a shower (because that’s where I do my best thinking) — I thought about how many buttons and remote controls John uses.  And it got me thinking that if I could hack them and use an arduino to control them then John could have everything he needs in one place and access it all with a voice command.

This is step one in making that happen.

Take a look at this instructable to get an idea of how to control a remote control by voice.  And stay tuned, because this is just one step and there is much more to follow !!

I got some help designing and building this accessible shelving system.  See this instructable for what this is, how it came about, and how to make it yourself.