Wheelchair Terms and Definitions
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Service Delivery
Health care jargon that refers to the way an organization sets up the processes and procedures they will use to get their services delivered to you.
Side Slope
A slope that is traveled "across" rather than up or down, where one wheel of the wheelchair is higher than the other.
Third Party Payers
The term that applies to anyone other than the consumer or the end-user who pays for a piece of rehabilitation or durable medical equipment. A third party payer could be a private or public (like Medicare or Medicaid) health insurance corporation or a charitable organization like the Multiple Sclerosis Society or United Cerebral Palsy.
Tires
The solid rubber or air-filled rubber/synthetic part of the wheel that makes contact with the floor.
Wheelbase
The distance between center of front caster on the wheelchair and the center of the rear wheel.
Wheelchair Accessible
The characteristic of a building or a public place that lets a person using a wheelchair to move around without interference and with access to all the features of that place.
Wheelchair Standards
The terms, definitions, design requirements, performance requirements, test methods and disclosure requirements of wheelchairs that are agreed upon and formalized by a national or international standards organization.
Wheelie
Balancing on the two rear wheels of a manual wheelchair. This skill is useful for dealing with obstacles such as curbs or uneven surfaces like ramps or hills.
Source: University of Pittsburgh and the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Wheeled Mobility.
