Sesame System Stairlifts, Wheelchair Lifts: Disabled Access Systems
The Sesame System gives the wheelchair user an independent wheelchair lift solution to the short rise steps that can inhibit disabled access into or within a building. It is ideal for disabled access into listed buildings and those of architectural merit, it is also ideal where space may be at a premium as when the lift is not in use, the full width of the staircase is available for pedestrian passage.
The Sesame System stairlift or platform lift can be fitted internally or externally. The system blends into its surroundings as the steps can be clad in whatever material matches the area. Consequently, it is not obvious like the standard stair lifts associated with disability access and this benefit coupled with the independence the Sesame provides is extremely popular with the users.
As the world changes disabled access to the world must keep up. A vast range of disabled access barriers have been created and solutions come with it. From disabled access being a blind person reading a brail book to disabled access being Oscar Pistorius, with two carbon-fiber prosthetic legs, breaking the 22 second barrier in the 2004 Athens Paralympics 200 meter sprint. It is important that one day all people with disabilities do not have any disabled access issues and there is no reason why that can not happen.
Disabled lifts come in all shapes and sizes, from portable disabled lifts to common elevator shafts; even bath, bed and vehicle aids can be classed as disabled lifts. Disabled lifts have been designed for public or domestic use, for indoor even outdoor use. Over history disabled lifts have been adapted to overcome all types of barriers to cater for the importance of individuals’ independent living. You can be assured that as new barriers are formed from developments in architecture, new ages and tastes etc, adaptations in disabled lifts will follow.
Wheelchair lifts are a separate type of disabled access aid where the wheelchair is lifted with its user hence “ wheelchair lift ”. You can not class a domestic lift, for example, where the user has to move out of their wheelchair into a seat, as a wheelchair lift as the user leaves the wheelchair behind, and in many cases has another wheelchair on the second level. Wheelchair lifts usually take up more space as a platform is needed for the wheelchair to sit on. Other types of lifts are used when the user is not always wheelchair bound but it is generally easier for a wheelchair user to use a wheelchair lift .
The Sesame System puts a whole new meaning to the phrase stair lifts . A disabled or able bodied person in the street would tell you that stair lifts are the contraptions that carry people up a set of domestic house stairs; “you know the stair lifts you see on T.V.” It is our plan to create a Sesame Systems or stair lifts even, that will be affordable and practical for use in every household whilst still using our design where our stair lifts remain hidden until a button is pushed to call the lift.
Platform lifts, on their own, are never the most aesthetically pleasing forms of access. You could even relate the phrase platform lifts to goods lifts. In many cases platform lifts are visible as an enclosed system with a gate as an entrance. We use platform lifts as a lifting mechanism but when the stairs are in the rest/pedestrian position you would need a trained eye to notice that platform lifts lays beneath.
It is believed that the earliest representation of wheelchair users was over one thousand years ago, an engraving was found in China of what appears to be wheelchair users sitting in a three wheeled chair. Wheelchair users had to rely on able bodied people to help in movement until Stephen Farfler invented a wheelchair with hand cranks in the mid 17th century allowing wheelchair users to move independently. According to the Department of Health 1994 there are around 1.2 million wheelchair users in the U.K. using all sorts of variations in design of wheelchairs which keep on improving including the iBOT that can carry wheelchair users up stairs, fantastic, but not too great for the wheelchair lift industry.
