Folding Wheelchair Ramps - Accessibility Anywhere

| Sunday, May 22, 2011
By Chris Station


Folding wheelchair ramps are an essential tool for those who may need to use either a wheelchair or a mobility scooter. Wheelchair ramps allow easy accessibility to buildings, classrooms, restaurants, or the homes of family and friends as well as many other locations. When you have a folding wheelchair ramp, you right away have a lot more freedom to move around from place to place due to their ease of portability.

There are many different mobility ramps available today. They're useful when it comes to maneuvering up or down curbs or a set of stairs, and makes loading or unloading a scooter or wheelchair from a vehicle a lot easier.

Before you decide on a ramp, here are a few things you may want to think about.

The primary reason to get a wheelchair ramp is to provide assistance to persons with disabilities or the elderly, in getting around physical barriers. The ramp that you settle on should be selected based on what and where it will be used.

If it's primarily for use in or around a house, you might want to think about building a permanent ramp. However. if the ramp will be used in other places, then a portable ramp is going to be a necessity. Wheelchairs and scooters are heavy and cumbersome. You likely won't be able to lift some of them without assistance. Folding wheelchair ramps move easily and fold up easily for storage.

Then, it's a good idea to figure out the height that you're trying to maneuver, along with how steep the incline will be. For example, to load a chair into a minivan, you'll have less height to deal with than when you're loading into a pickup. You can likely get by using a smaller ramp if the incline is slight.

For those larger wheelchairs or scooters, you will probably need the ramp to be wide enough that it can comfortably accommodate the extra width. But if you have a folding wheelchair, you won't need a wider than normal ramp.

Finally if you'll be carrying the ramp from place to place, like inside a building, then you'll want a ramp that is fairly lightweight. An aluminum loading ramp would undoubtedly be the best choice. That's because aluminum is so much lighter than other metals used in the manufacturing of ramps, making aluminum loading ramps a lot easier to move around.

You'll have some options when you start looking at folding wheelchair ramps. These options include single fold as well as multi-fold ramps.

Single fold ramps like the name suggests, fold once and that's usually in the center. These ramps are no problem to move around. They can be set up with no difficulty at all. When folded, they're carried suitcase style.

A multi fold ramp has the added benefit of being longer than a standard single fold ramp. Multi folds are known for their versatility in part because they fold up into several sections. This makes it easy to cart them around from one place to another. But at the same time, they are built with enough strength to support a good deal of weight.

Folding wheelchair ramps are a wonderful mobility aid for those who must use a scooter or a wheelchair. With a folding wheelchair there is more opportunity for independence and freedom of movement.




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