Platform lifts are lifts that are designed for people in wheelchairs to help them access building floors that are above the ground level. These type of lifts are typified, as the name suggests, by a platform onto which a wheelchair can ride on and be raised and lowered to a different floor in a building. The main benefits of this type of lift are that they can be accessed easily by wheelchair users and disabled people and that these lifts can give people a new sense of independence.
This can be a really liberating benefit to some people that are otherwise restricted to the ground floor of buildings. It also means that people do not have to be manually carried up stairs and it also means it is much easier to use than the stair lifts which require the user to climb out of their chair.
Platform lifts can be a positive method of reducing the levels of frustration that wheelchair users sometimes experience.
They can provide people in wheelchairs with a new lease of life that does not mean that they are limited to certain areas of a building. In recent years the government has acted to make access much easier for people in wheelchairs and as a result there are an increasing number of people that are able to have adequate access to buildings. The government has made it the law that people in wheelchairs must be able to access all government buildings freely.
This means places such as libraries, government buildings and parks must all have access for people in wheelchairs. This means that these people can benefit from the services that are offered in these places. This is a much fairer system and fortunately it has been well enforced across the country.
Recent laws have also made it necessary for many privately owned buildings to offer disabled access.
Government initiatives operate to make sure that people in wheelchairs are given access to their workplace. As a result employers must have adequate facilities in place to accommodate a disabled person. One of these initiatives has been to introduce a law that means that all multifamily buildings that have four units or more must have adequate access for a disabled person or a wheelchair user.
This means that many of these new buildings have to have doorways that are wide enough to incorporate a wheelchair and there are also a number of things that must also be in place for the building to be considered suitable for wheelchair users.
The building must have reinforced walls in the bathroom that are capable of holding grab bars that are used by the disabled person to help them get in and out of the bath.
There must also be free access throughout the dwelling for a person in a wheelchair. This means that there must be wide enough corridors for a wheelchair to pass through and all rooms must be accessible by wheelchair.
Another rule that must be adhered to is that the controls for the amenities must be accessible by someone in a wheelchair.
This means that someone in a wheelchair can have full access to the environmental controls without needing any support. These developments are all designed to provide a wheelchair user with a greater level of autonomy and independence so that they can live without requiring the help of anyone else.
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About the Author (text)Shaun Parker is a disablity and platform lifts expert with many years of experience in this industry. Find out more about at http://www.axess2.co.uk
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