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CASE STUDY
Foundation To Encourage The Potential Of Disabled Persons
The Foundation’s initial
contact with the British Community In Thailand Foundation
For the Needy (BCTFN) came on referral from the British
Embassy and through Mr. Liam Ayudhkij, former Vice President
of BCTFN.
  
click to enlarge
click to enlarge
In November of 2000, our
Foundation submitted a funding proposal to BCTFN to set up a
disabled managed wheelchair workshop in the city of Chiang
Mai. The initial proposal listed a start up project budget
of 217,275 Thai Baht and included the purchase of hand
tools; gas and electric welding tools; work benches and
tables; basic metal stock; supplies of wheels, tyres and
bearings; workshop annual rental; anticipated electricity;
and 6 months of student trainee subsistence wages at 3,500
Baht per student. On the 27th of March, 2001,
BCTFN forwarded us a cheque in the amount of 128,375 Thai
Baht. Receipt of this cheque marked the beginning of what
was to later mature into the Freedom Wheelchair Workshop.
Under the careful guidance of
retired British wheelchair engineer Mr. Geoffrey Thorsby,
these BCTFN funds were invested in equipment, a rental
space, and metal stock. Initial training included 2
paraplegic wheelchair users, a polio survivor, and one
non-disabled Akha hill tribe boy. Training was provided by
Mr. Thorsby in addition to teachers hired from the Chiang
Mai Technical College. Classes included welding, metal
fabrication, and mechanical drafting. Trainees were also
taught English and computer at the Foundation’s Chiang Mai
Disabled Centre.
 
click to enlarge
Early on, the Foundation became
acutely aware that in literally several thousand rural and
remote areas in northern Thailand, poor and needy disabled
children (as well as adults) had absolutely no access to
wheeled mobility of any kind. The fact that these rural poor
lacked the means to purchase commercial wheelchairs caused
the Foundation to establish its wheelchair sponsorship
program wherein wheelchairs would be made to order and given
away free of charge. This sponsorship program later matured
to include free home visitation, physical therapy,
wheelchair training, maintenance service, and the
Foundation’s publication of Thailand’s first and only Thai
language “Wheelchair User Manual”.
Over a 4 year period (March
2001-March 2005), the Freedom Wheelchair Workshop produced
mobility aids including 4 wheel standard chairs; 3 wheel all
terrain chairs, reclining cerebral palsy “buggies”, walkers,
wheeled walkers, crutches, ramps, hand rails, amputee skate
boards, and even wheeled walkers for disabled animals.
All of these mobility aids
were donated free of charge
During this same 4 year period,
the Freedom Wheelchair Workshop established itself as an
innovative mobility workshop by expanding its production to
include all manner of specially designed individual aids as
well as a complete line of PVC low cost mobility aids. The
workshop also established a close working relationship with
Special Education Centres and regional welfare offices in
all of northern Thailand’s provinces. As of March, 2005, the
geographical area covered by the Freedom Wheelchair workshop
now runs from Lee, Doi Tao, Omquoy, Kampang Phet and Mai
Sariang in the south; to the Burmese border on the north; to
the Burmese border on the west; to Nan, Phrae, and Piyao on
the east.
Our first disabled trainee,
Khun Mongkol Chumpookort, is now a highly skilled wheelchair
designer and our full time Manager.
Our mobility aids have now
matured to the point where they are as professionally
reliable as any chairs available in Thailand. Often our
chairs regularly include safety belts, safety chest
harnesses, seat pommels, special seating, head and neck
supports, padded foot rests, and removable activity tables.
Additional BCTFN Cooperation
During 2004, BCTFN
financially assisted the Foundation in its effort to publish
a bilingual (Thai/English) do-it-yourself PVC crutch, walker
and wheelchair publication which will be completed in 2005
and distributed free of charge all across Thailand.
During 2005, BCTFN financially
assisted the Foundation’s wheelchair workshop build and pay
for a motorcycle wheelchair access sidecar for our staff as
well as sponsoring 5 adult wheelchairs for partially
paralyzed elderly stroke victims.
Results
As a direct result of BCTFN support, the lives of more than
325 northern Thai, poor and needy disabled persons have
experienced major life change via access to wheeled
mobility. Mobility recipients have included Thais ranging in
ages from 4-72 years old, as well as minority recipients
including Lahu, Karen, Lisu, Hmong, Akha, and Yao.
Disabilities assisted have included amputees, victims of
stroke, paraplegia, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy,
hydrocephalus, birth defect, and polio.
www.freedomwheelchairs.org |
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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CAUSE FOR PAUSE
Wheelchairs from Freedom Wheelchairs 2006 (read
more about Freedom Wheelchairs here)
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