What is Accessibility Equipment?

Accessibility equipment refers to a wide range of products that are made in order to help people who have physical disabilities or challenges live a more normal life by removing barriers to access. This can consist of enabling the person to be able to access buildings with raised steps, traversing up steep inclines to their home or in town, and stairs. Accessibility equipment is designed in order to mitigate these barriers to entry to let the challenged person go to public and private locations that would otherwise be difficult if not impossible for them to visit. Types of locations include work, government buildings, church, the home, and school. Similar to other consumer purchased merchandise, accessibility equipment comes in a wide-range of costs and capabilities.

Incline Platform Lift

An inclined platform lift is also known as a wheelchair lift (non-car). It is a platform that moves on a guide rail to help a person gain access between two elevated landings. These lifts are not solely designed for people bound to a wheelchair, however, as they can also be used by those who can not use stairs easily. Some locations that you will see inclined platform lifts installed include providing access to a second floor of a home, basement, or similar obstacles at restaurants, libraries, offices or churches. They are commonly installed when a ramp or conventional elevator install is infeasible.

Vertical Platform Lift

A vertical platform lift can be used inside or outside. They are freestanding accessibility equipment options that are smaller, and more cost efficient than incline platform lifts. A vertical platform lift can typically lift up to 750 lbs and it requires less space than other accessibility solutions such as ramps and incline ramps. They are considered to be another viable access solution by the American's with Disabilities Act and are increasingly popular due to their relatively low cost.

Wheelchair Lifts

A wheelchair lift is a critical piece of equipment for a physically challenged person who is wheelchair bound. A classic wheelchair lift is used to help transport someone's wheelchair in our outside of an automobile. There are two types of wheelchair lift available to purchase that include and interior and exterior stored lift. The internal lift is typically installed in the trunk in a car and the exterior lift requires a trailer hitch to be installed on the vehicle to store the wheelchair on the external part of the car. Wheelchair lifts can vary in price from $250 to $2500 USD depending on the model and means of operation (automatic vs manual).