Carrying Things

One thing you rapidly discover is how difficult it is to carry things in a wheelchair. Both hands are required to push the chair. Attempting to push with one hand moves the chair in a circle and pushing with something in your hand is virtually impossible. Most things you wish to carry eventually get places in your lap. This is a barely adequate solution. Frequently, things will fall off and in the worst case break.

I have come up with a number of solutions. On the back of my chair I carry a back back strapped to the arms. While this is not very convenient to get at, it is a good place to put things which will be carried for hours, days or weeks.

Under the seat I have another pouch, perhaps more difficult to get at but fairly large and well protected. I use this for carrying things I want to be with me for a long time as well as things I need to carry during long, uneven rolls when the odds of falling off my lap are high.

One useful thing that I made is a simple tray bolted between two pieces of plastic pipe that fit well over the arms of the chair. This gives me significant space to carry fairly large items in a space significantly larger, flatter and more stable that a lap. I can, for example, clear a table dishes by stacking then on the tray.