“The Wheelchair Check helped us understand the shortcomings of our son’s wheelchair. Moreover, it helped us to improve his wheelchair and now he is smiling because he goes much faster in it.”
In practise we often encounter numerous unnecessary wheelchair problems within all Dutch wheelchair advisory teams. This prompted us to develop the Dutch Wheelchair Check (which can be found on the Checkjezit website). Heliomare Rehabilitation took the initiative and with funding from HandicapNL the website and screeningtool were created.
Occupational therapist/Human Movement Scientist Linda Valent (PhD) is the driving force behind this initiative. Willemijn Faber (MD Heliomare) and David Gobets (MD Heliomare) are on the Medical Committee. Elmar Kal (PhD, Brunel University London) and Janneke Nachtegaal (PhD, Heliomare) are on the Scientific Committee. Robert Boerdonk (PhD)and Paul White are involved as peer experts. More members will be added here shortly helping us with the international implementaton.
The Wheelchair Check is based on scientific literature and experiences with wheelchair users diagnosed with conditions such as Spinal Cord Injury, Multiple Sclerosis, Muscle Disease and Cerebral Palsy. We observed that, despite varying diagnoses, wheelchair-related issues can be common among wheelchair users with different conditions.
The questions in the screening tool are derived from a previous publication on wheelchair users with Spinal Cord Injury by Linda Valent and co-authors.
The Dutch Wheelchair Check tool has received very positive ratings from wheelchair users filling it out:
