4 stage planning for wheelchair skills
Planning a trip to get out and about using your wheelchair can feel daunting. In this blog we will look at a simple tool you can use to help plan your trip and hopefully reduce anxiety.
There is an extensive list of wheelchair skills that we’re able to use to get around different inaccessible environments when we’re out and about. I remember the sense of being overwhelmed when I first saw them all written down. I felt the same way more recently when I wrote out the list of the wheelchair skills videos that I wanted to make!
In time and with practise, wheelchair skills will become second nature and you’ll be able to do the skills on an almost subconscious level. Until you get to that stage, it can be helpful to plan out different scenarios and understand which skills you need to deal with anything that gets in your way.
For any situation we find ourselves in, it’s likely that we’ll only need a handful of the full list of skills to overcome specific obstacles that are in front of us. Breaking down the individual barriers that we are going to face and then deciding what skills can enable us to get past those barriers can make things seem much more achievable.
Using the idea of matching wheelchair skills with the barriers faced, I have developed an easy to use four-stage goal setting process shown in the tool below.
This tool can be used for any event whether you’re planning to meet up with friends for a coffee, go to a gig or a shopping trip out of town. If it’s a bigger goal like going away on holiday then you can break it down into smaller goals (getting to the airport, going to the beach, visiting tourist attractions etc.) to make this tool more digestible.
Starting in the centre is you setting your goal, which you then write in the outer circle. You then work through the concentric circles to reach your goal.
You can find videos of the wheelchair skills you will need on our YouTube channel here or TikTok channel here.
This tool is designed to be completed in as much, or little, detail that makes you feel comfortable in having the information you need to achieve your goal. If there is not enough space on the diagram, then make notes on a separate sheet of paper.
1. Goal setting – think about what you would like to do, is it to go somewhere new or try a new activity? Write your goal on the outer circle of the planning tool as this is what you are aiming to reach. Think about areas of your life where there may be specific goals that you want to achieve; social, lifestyle, health, sport, travel. Try to come up with goals that require 4 or 5 skills
2. Research – gathering information is a key part to any trip and even more important as a wheelchair user. You will need to find key information including opening times, what access is like at the venue and how you will get there. The good news is that this can be done quickly with a quick Google search, with many venues having access information on Google maps. You can also check their website for information on their FAQ or dedicated access page. If you still have any questions then give them a call.
3. Barriers – once you have planned out the trip you are going to take, you will have a better understanding of what it will entail and you can start thinking about what barriers you are likely to face. To get more ideas, you can watch YouTube videos featuring that (or similar) venue, look at images on social media or look at wheelchair skills videos to think about which ones might be useful.
4. Identifying skills – when you know what barriers you will face on your trip, you can start to think about the wheelchair skills you will need to overcome those barriers. Look at the wheelchair skills videos on our YouTube channel to see if these will help overcome barriers.
Below are a couple of examples to show how to use the tool that you may find useful.
