Modern wheelchairs are a big improvement on the first wheelchairs, which were just wheelbarrows like the ones we use in the garden. Professor Stephen Hawking’s wheelchair, for example, is a vehicle, an office, and a domestic servant, all in one.
The first real wheelchair was owned by King Philip of Spain in the sixteenth century. It had the latest technology-removeable arm rests and leg rests-and was made of wood. Modern wheelchairs are made from the same strong, light metal as aircraft, and electric engines mean that user don’t need to use their arm or have someone to push
Wheelchair design made a big jump forward with the invention of a computer program that responds to voice commands. For user who cannot speak, computer technology aiso makes it possible to manoeuvre a machine by small movements of the head, hand, tongue, and breath