wheelchairs
Listen to an intervew with Russ Kane Chief Barker 2008 talking about Variety Club providing wheelchairs.
EASY RIDER WHEELCHAIRS
"The Easy Riders Wheelchair Programme has a simple goal: to give disabled children a better life."
Founded in 1988, Easy Riders have given custom-designed wheelchairs, trikes and buggies to over 3,000 children who are contending with a wide range of disabilities.
For a child confined to a wheelchair the world can be a place of walls and barriers, where the simplest of freedoms seem unattainable. Everywhere you go you have to push yourself along - if your disability allows it - or be pushed by someone else.
Imagine being confined to one room until someone moves you into another. A specially adapted wheelchair allows children to move about their home freely and helps them join in the daily life of their families, whilst meeting all their medical needs. Youngsters at school find it much easier to take part in classroom activities, leisure and sports. And of course, the physical burden on the family and carers is much reduced with a lightweight or electric wheelchair.
With a lightweight manual or electric wheelchair many of those barriers come crashing down, as disabled children are given the independence they crave - -independence we take for granted.
For children with disabilities such as cerebral palsy, using a special frike can improve their muscle strength, health and self-esteem. These trikes have specialist supports for the back, legs and body to keep the child in the best postural position. The special buggies enable a child to be taken out on trips to various locations -- some which might otherwise be impossible for them to ever visit.
A new wheelchair, buggy or trike will often give a child his or her first experience of playing in the park with other children or of going on trips with friends and family. Such simple pleasures can only be made possible with the gift of a mobility aid.
These children have all the spirit and determination they need to make the most of their world and their future. Variety Club tries to make their journey a little easier.
For further information and how to apply please contact the Wheelchair Co-ordinator.