2 Most Important Factors To Consider When Purchasing A Wheelchair Accessible Van
Posted on: 6 November 2017
Share
If you or a loved one is confined to a wheelchair, transportation can be much more easily achieved with a wheelchair van. Here are three important factors to consider when looking into purchasing a wheelchair van.
#1 Who Will Be Driving
The first thing you want to think about is who will be driving the van. This is a very important factor to take into consideration. If you are looking for a van that someone who is in a wheelchair can drive, you are looking for a very different type of van than one that is just designed to transport someone in a wheelchair.
If the person in the wheelchair wants to drive the van, you are going to need to look for a van that has been set up with adaptive driving capacities. The driver will also need to decide if they want to drive while sitting in their wheelchair or if they want to be able to transfer into the driver's seat. These types of driving require different van set-ups. If you are not sure, the driver should take an adaptive driving class with a Professional Driver Rehabilitation Specialist before purchasing a van to determine the type of driving set-up they will need.
If the van is for transportation issues, the driving set-up is not that important. You just need to take normal considerations into account when looking at how easy the van will be to drive.
#2 What Type of Access You Want
Second, you need to determine what type of access you want and what type of access would work best for your home set-up and the places that you go. Do you have space where you park to pull a ramp down out of the back of the van so that the wheelchair user can roll their chair up and get into the van that way? Or do you have more sideways space where a ramp coming out of the side of the van would be easier?
Depending on the wheelchair user's mobility, maybe a ramp is not the best choice. Would a wheelchair lift work better? If so, you would need to find a van with a lift on the side.
Perhaps you want both a ramp and a wheelchair lift. This would give you the most versatility for access to the van.
The two biggest questions you need to ask yourself when purchasing a wheelchair accessible van is who is going to be driving the van and what type of access you need. Once you know the answers to these questions, you can determine what other types of features you want your wheelchair accessible van to have.