Mobility and More!

[The Rat Lady]

Mobility Camp is thrilled to be back in center Camp at 7:30, where we will be providing Wheelchair accessible Art Tours 4 times a day...possibly more.
We will have possibly 3 vehicles that are accessible for tours and the major burns..stop by and sign up!

Can you imagine yourself doing Burning Man in a wheelchair? on crutches? Stop by and find out what it's like on our new Obstacle Courses!

Is your battery powered C-pap running low? Have you traveled into Center Camp on your mobility scooter and realize you don't have enough power to get back home? Is your oxygen concentrator running low on power? Stop by and recharge! We have a public charging station for medical equipment only.

Wednesday Noon is our Workshop on how to be more Handicapped friendly on the Playa!
Want to volunteer with us? Stop by Monday:)
If you have an accessible or wheelchair friendly activity, please stop by and add it to our Accessible Activities list!

Got friends who always wanted to Burn, but thought you couldn't do Burning Man in a wheelchair? Come on by and talk to us!

and of course, like always we also have our BookCrossing Zone, Temporary Tattoo Station, and Gifting Box open to all.

Can't wait to see you all in the dust!

[lucky420]

You are now on my list

[maladroit]

You all kick ass...your enthusiam and education is inspiring. I have plenty of friends with no mobility issues or health concerns who still think the dust and heat is too much to handle.

[Molotov]

I was (visiting) at one of our state institutions for the developmentally impaired and they had, for want of a better term, a "wheelchair wrecker." It was a little flatbed trailer like you haul riding mowers with, and they had adapted it to be hitched to a 4 seat golf cart.

When one of the clients custom made mobility devices or power chairs would die, they would dispatch the wheelchair wrecker to the location, load the client into the rear seating area of the golf cart (usually with an attendant), transport the client back to their residential unit, and haul the non-functional mobility device back to their shop for diagnosis and repairs. All the mobility devices were owned by the state, and they were responsible for keeping them running. Many of the devices weighed several hundred pounds, and sometimes took a hand operated boat type winch to get it on the trailer.

They also made custom molded foam support cushions adapted to a specific clients body to prevent pressure sores when they were in their power chair/cart.

It would be fascinating if somebody could build one of these pick-up trailers for your camp to use to render assistance to the stranded.

[Meat Hunter]

Sheik,

I just love those Royal "We" and Royal "Somebody".

Sheik, you are a "somebody", so why do you not build the wheel chair wrecker and donate it to them?

[Molotov]

a. I have the mechanical skills of Jerry Lewis
b. I don't have a way to haul it 2100 miles to the playa
c. I would be glad to contribute what I can to somebody who can make it happen.
Golf carts seem to be fairly common on the playa, so I was thinking of something like this...

[The Rat Lady]

It's actually having the huge stockpile of parts that would be needed...and having a mechanic who knows about all mobility equipment, both old and new that would be the biggest problem.
Anyone who would like to volunteer those things....talk to me:)

Rat Lady

[Molotov]

You are spot-on Rat Lady. It doesn't do a participant with a broke down device any good to just transport them back to their camp and dump them-with no prospects of repairs. I'm going to make a point to stop by Mobility Camp and visit with you on this.

[maladroit]

Does Mobility Camp often run into situations where some small special-shaped plastic doohickey has broken and needs to be replaced for the equipment to work properly? Let's say brackets, bearing mounts, pieces of controller, etc?

[jasonwentcrazy]

Last year was my first time back in a decade and one of the most amazing changes that I saw was the effort from the folks at Mobility Camp. One of my great friends uses a chair and years ago I remember discussing the possibility of him going some year. And, sadly, it just wasn't possible for him to go ten years ago. Or at least not possible for him to have anything close to an experience that an able-bodied person may be able to have. [You know what I mean.]

Anyway, I was just so moved by seeing the presence of Mobility Camp and the incorporation of accessible ramps around the playa. It was something I immediately reported to my friend when I got home. I'm sure it's something that has and will change a lot of people's lives.

I send you hugs now and will deliver some in person when I see you in August.

[The Rat Lady]

Does Mobility Camp often run into situations where some small special-shaped plastic doohickey has broken and needs to be replaced for the equipment to work properly? Let's say brackets, bearing mounts, pieces of controller, etc?

Most common is a charging issue, either a charger cord /power supply bit the dust or
It often would be connectors that got playa dust in them. (Look on our website mobilitycamp(dot)org for how to prepare your chair)
or a motor burned out because it was overloaded in the dust. if it's an electrical issue...could be anything.
Chairs work better if they can be programmed for the conditions, but that requires a special "programmer" for each type of chair.

[some seeing eye]

I was fortunate to help out in a very, very minor way at an earlier mobility camp. Changed my burn. Thanks Rat Lady and all the volunteers and participants!

I would urge any high net worth individuals or interested corporations that love BM to support the mobility camp. Their needs are not large, but their karma and emotional narrative is pure and beautiful.

Early history:

[maladroit]

Does Mobility Camp often run into situations where some small special-shaped plastic doohickey has broken and needs to be replaced for the equipment to work properly? Let's say brackets, bearing mounts, pieces of controller, etc?

Most common is a charging issue, either a charger cord /power supply bit the dust or
It often would be connectors that got playa dust in them. (Look on our website mobilitycamp(dot)org for how to prepare your chair)
or a motor burned out because it was overloaded in the dust. if it's an electrical issue...could be anything.
Chairs work better if they can be programmed for the conditions, but that requires a special "programmer" for each type of chair.

The connector prep instructions were great, I read them just to make sure you recommended packing the connectors with dielectric grease Do you find that many of the connector failures you see are due to ungreased connectors, or does the playa dust still get inside? I have some electric car tech on the playa every year and haven't had too many problems.

I asked about the random mechanical part failure because I was considering whether a 3D printer capable of creating strong nylon parts would be useful.

[The Rat Lady]

Since we have no parts really, we only see stuff on an emergency basis at this point. It just depends...If you are going to have one on site, stop by and see me with your location and I'll keep that tucked away for future reference, just in case we do need something:)

Rat Lady