Staying safer in a Wheelchair – Tips for wheelchair users and those who love or work with them
Staying safer in a Wheelchair through COVID-19
Cleaning your Chair
Everytime someone different touches your chair, or you leave home or come back, you’ll want to have these bits cleaned with a proper disinfectant (baby wipes DO NOT CUT IT and will NOT kill the virus).
- Joystick
- Head controls
- Mouth controls
- Push handles
- Headrest
- Armrests
- Side guards
- Back of the wheelchair
Cleaning Other Assistive Equipment and stuff
Don’t forget other equipment you might use, like:
- Feeding and drinking equipment
- Walkers
- Crutches/sticks
- Bathroom and other rails
- Steering wheel and door buttons and handles on cars
- Any equipment that you handle or put near your mouth
- Oxygen tanks
- Transfer seats
- Medical stuff like bags/continence related needs
- Medication or other items in your home
- A backpack or purse that touches your chair
Staying Safe When You’re Out
You could think about:
- If you have plastic gloves wear them when you are out of your home.
- DO NOT Touch your face with the plastic gloves and always clean anything you have touched after you dispose of the gloves.
- If you travel in a taxi or bus etc, do not touch anything metal and avoid touching anything except your wheelchair.
Don’t forget that these tips are all ON TOP OF all the precautions that everyone should be considering – like disinfecting doorknobs, keyboards, remotes, computer tablets/ipads, phones, fridge handles, cupboard handles, light switches, taps etc etc – this is NOT an exhaustive list by any stretch.
Maybe now is a good time to get some voice controlled stuff set up in your home – lights etc can all be run without having to touch anything and if you are a wheelchair user looking for more independence and light switches are hard for you, I reckon you could claim those light bulbs (available at hardware and office supply places and even BigW etc.) from your core NDIS funds if you are self or plan managed.
To download the poster, visit www.thegrowingspace.com.au/covid19
HUGE thanks to Yellow Submarine for the poster and info – they share some cool stuff, so worth a follow!
Pis desc: A meme in light blue with the following words and a checklist:
Crip the Coronavirus
Keeping safe from the Coronavirus
These parts of my wheelchair should be disinfected any time a new person comes
into contact with my chair or when I leave and return from my home
Joystick
Head controls
Mouth controls
Head rest
Arm rests
Side guards
Back of the wheelchair
Push handles
Other
Remember – disinfect with a 70% alcohol based solution, wipe down
anything you touch, including in the car, medications, equipment and purses,
backpacks
Support workers, wear gloves during personal care
Yellow Sub Down Under logo and an image of Professor X from the X men, a white man sitting in a wheelchair with x shaped wheels
