Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, has collaborated with Phoenix Medical Systems and come up with a 'standing wheelchair that enables persons with disabilities to shift between standing and sitting positions independently¡¯, according to The New Indian Express. Standing wheelchairs are available in our country, but they are quite expensive and mostly imported.
The standing wheelchair made in India is being called ¡®Arise¡¯. According to the Managing Director of Phoenix Medical Systems, V Sashi Kumar, told The New Indian?Express?it will be sold for Rs 15,000.?
According to The New Indian Express, Arise comes in four sizes:? small, medium, large and extra-large, and this standing wheelchair can also be customised to adjust to user¡¯s body type by making simple adjustments.?
EPS
Union Minister, Thaawarchand Gehlot, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, was present when the wheelchair was launched in Chennai, along with the students and faculty of IIT Madras.
"In the last five years, I have seen a lot of modern technologies in India and abroad but have not seen such a good standing wheelchair anywhere in the world. I am very happy and impressed and I congratulate IIT Madras and its partners for coming up with such a nice wheelchair, which is multipurpose and beneficial for health also, besides being cost-effective," The New Indian Express quoted him as saying.?
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Representation Image/United Spinal
The standing wheelchair has been developed by the TTK Center for Rehabilitation Research and Device Development (R2D2) at IIT Madras, headed by Prof Sujatha Srinivasan in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Most of us do not take into consideration the difficulties?faced by people who use wheelchairs. Sitting continuously for a long period of time can lead to health problems such as pressure sores and poor blood circulation. Most of the wheelchair users require a lot of effort, help and assistance to get to a standing position, and that is why a lot of them do not stand as often they would want to, or even need to.
United Spinal
With the help of Arise, people can get up from their seated position to a standing stance and vice-versa, quite easily.?
However the users of standing wheelchair will not have any mobility. "The feature was not added as we kept safety as a priority. If a user tried to stand and move on a slope, it may lead to instability," TNIE quoted Sujatha Srinivasa as saying.
Reportedly, Arise can even be used efficiently by people with spinal cord injuries.?
This is really good news for people using wheelchairs; with the help of an affordable standing wheelchair, their life might just get a tad easier. Initiatives like this one go a long way in making public spaces and society at large, more inclusive, and it is commendable that there are people out there who are actually putting their money where their mouth is.