First Wheelchair Van

How to Buy Your First Wheelchair Van

The emotions associated with our ramps, lifts and van conversions are often interesting and many times surprising.

After all, what we do is simply a very clever and sophisticated use of steel and hydraulics. It's just mechanical equipment. Over the years it has become safer, regulated by the government, and more complicated than the simple lifts we first built. But, it's still just steel or aluminum, motors or hydraulics, carpet, and paint.

Yet, when you put it in the hands of a human being, this hardware becomes more than the sum of its parts. Just like a brush only delivers an artist's paint, and an instrument only delivers sound, our equipment is only the tool for our customers to achieve mobility. What they do with this mobility is what is important.

Wheelchair Vans - Their Jobs

Vehicles with our lifts take children to school, adults to work, someone's grandmother to the doctor's office for a critical appointment, sick patients to dialysis, and family members to a reunion.

Nowhere is there more emotion than when someone receives their first wheelchair van. Even journalist John Hockenberry recounted in his memoir "Moving Violations" how good it was to get back to driving after his spinal cord injury. Driving a wheelchair accessible vehicle symbolized freedom at the end of a grueling rehabilitation process and the start of a new adventure.

At BraunAbility's facilities and in the shops of our dealers, we have seen new beginnings many times. If we are lucky, we get to see how our customers have grown and prospered through the years. Sometimes they visit us for repairs on their wheelchair vans, or even better, we learn about their successes.

Knowing we are part of the fabric of the lives of many people is important to us. It's part of the reason we developed Drive for Inclusion a global movement for accessibilty for those living with mobility challenges and their caregivers. We enjoy hearing from folks who are using our lifts and wheelchair vans for their mobility because it's a pleasure to be there with you.

What emotions did you experience when buying your first wheelchair van? How has increased mobility impacted your life? Tell us about your BraunAbility experience as a member of The Driving Force Community!

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