The bitmap drawings below show an early model scooter type wheelchair:

Earlier Scooter Wheelchair Side View

Earlier Scooter Wheelchair Top View

The Role Of Earlier Scooter Wheelchairs

Scooter type wheelchairs appeared on the scene after both manual wheelchairs and the earlier powered / rehab wheelchairs had been present for some time.

Once these earlier scooter wheelchairs appeared on the scene, wheelchair users were no longer limited in their choice of powered wheelchair type to the earlier power wheelchair or earlier rehab wheelchair. Acceptance of these scooter wheelchairs on the part of many medical professionals and others in the field of work with and for people with disabilities took some time. Indeed, it could be said that there was an "establishment bias" for quite some time in favor of the earlier powered wheelchairs. Many professionals pointed to the tighter manuevering characteristics of the earlier power and rehab wheelchairs and/or to their adaptability.

Despite the initial widespread -- and sometimes still persistent in some cases -- "establishment bias" in favor of the earlier power and rehab wheelchairs, scooter wheelchairs gradually gained acceptance -- even on the part of those who initially refused to consider a scooter wheelchair a true wheelchair. For the most part -- albeit that there are still some government and private insurance programs that have difficulty in viewing a scooter wheelchair as a wheelchair -- scooter wheelchairs have now gained widespread acceptance.

Some wheelchair users prefer scooters because of the presence of the handlebars and front wheel housing in front of them. With no handlebars or front wheel housing in front of them in the case of a non-scooter type wheelchair, some wheelchair users fear falling forward out of the wheelchair or for that matter being thrown out of it, despite the presence of a seatbelt in cases in which a seatbelt is present.

Scooter Wheelchair Characteristics

Scooter type wheelchairs are generally operated in a standard configuration with minimal modifications. Unlike their powered / rehab wheelchair counterparts, scooter type wheelchairs are not designed or intended for use with extensive modifications.

Some early scooter type wheelchairs -- including some of the first Amigo models -- have front wheel drive in the sense that the motor and drive wheel are located in a steerable housing to which the steering tiller is attached. The rear wheels have no drive mechanism attached to them but often have an operable manual parking brake.

Other scooter type wheelchair models are equipped with rear wheel drive and some are equipped with magnetic parking brakes that are engaged when the tiller potensiometer lever is not being activated by the user. These brakes' magnets activate -- and thus release the brake -- only when sufficient pressure in either direction is applied by the user to the tiller lever.

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