WheelchairDriver

hi there, I am disabled and also severely partially sighted, my husband needs to be able to guide my wheelchair for obvious enough reasons. I have tried to use a scooter, but even in Jersey I found it so stressful to try to cross roads. we have just looked at the optima Mayer 2 but we need to have duel controls. apparently this isn't possible, so to happen upon this site has been really great, my husband Bob is an electrical engineer so he loves to work on making things better, for example putting power onto my ordinary wheelchair, then adding a platform on the back of it which he stands on, and we go places as best we can. I hope that reading the forum I may find someone in the same situation who can perhaps offer some advise. many thanks Judie and Bob

Hi there!

Should be simple! Almost every rehab type power chair control system has the option for an attendant joystick controller to be added. Probably with the one exception you already found!

Do you mean the Meyra Optimus 2. The Optimus 2 uses R-Net controller which definitely has an attendant option, but its not offered on the Optimus 2 because that chair with it rwar-wheel steering is probably considered too big/powerful/fast for attendant driving. Its offered on the smaller/lower performance Meyra iChairs however, option 851.

That's not to say it couldn't be retro-fitted, but you'd need to reprogram the R-Net controller to recognise the add-on joystick and that would invalidate the warranty.

No reprogramming is necessary to add an attendant joystick to an rnet system.

Hello!

I'm a newbie too so unfortunately I can't offer you any advice but would like to say hello. I'm sight impaired too, due to optic atrophy and I would have been terrified of using a scooter as many are so big and my depth perception and field of vision are restricted.

I have to rely on public transport as neither my husband nor I can drive so may appreciate som of your struggles in getting around, especially in busy and/or unfamiliar environments.

I hope you get the help you need with your chair.

My wife is severely partially-sighted and uses a long cane, or hangs on to my arm while walking alongside my powerchair. I was therefore very interested when a saw a lovely lady using a powerchair (electric wheelchair) with a long white cane. The important point is that she was using a powerchair, not a scooter, so there was no obstruction to her cane technique while she drove with her other hand on the joystick. She only travelled at a walking pace obviously, but she was Independent ! You couldn't do that in a manual chair, or on a scooter.
It is definitely possible, I have seen it, and she let me take a photo so my wife could see when back home - Sally has a giant computer monitor and often uses the camera to photograph things she can't see clearly, and then magnifies them enormously when she gets home.
Hope this helps, Mark and Sally