Practical Wheelchair Skills

Duration 3hrs

Course aim and learning outcomes:

The purpose of this course is to give the practitioner a chance to experience some of the challenges faced by wheelchair using clients and to practise wheelchair skills techniques for overcoming these challenges. There will be a strong focus on how to teach these techniques to younger clients and how wheelchair games, sports and dance can help to encourage independent mobility. The course will cover how to ascend and descend kerbs independently, coping with slopes and ramps and emergency evacuation techniques, including use of evac chairs.

We will discus how the set up of the wheelchair, in particular the position of the rear axle can affect the user's experience, as well as looking at other influencing factors such as castor size, tyres (solid verses pneumatic) and frame type (rigid verses folding).

Attendees should be aware that this is a practical course and that a reasonable level of fitness is required for some elements. They should also be aware that although the training aims to educate, it is also likely to be good fun and great for team building.

Instructor: Roy Wild is therapy manager for the north team of AWC and is responsible for running the charity's wheelchair skills programme throughout the north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Roy has also run many workshops for Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists.

Previous to this post Roy worked for RNIB as social care worker and physiotherapy assistant at Rushton Hall, a residential school for young people with visual impairments and additional disabilities. Roy is qualified in a number of complimentary therapies including aromatherapy, reflexology and Indian head massage and used these skills as part of the therapy team at Rushton Hall. Roy has also been involved in devising and implementing mobility programmes for young people with visual impairment and in Sherborn developmental movement programmes and Haliwick swimming therapy sessions.

Roy has worked on projects for children with disabilities in Romania and has also worked as a youth worker, an inclusion worker for NCH and on music projects in special schools.