Hi, I’m Georgina from the inclusive travel and wedding blog, Disabled Travel with Georgina. You’ll notice on my Instagram that I am pretty quick to style my wheelchairs for various key occasions. I use different wheelchairs according to my body’s needs and I love to add a little fashion through decorating them and making the wheelchair a full extension of my outfit and personality. The way I see it, everyone gets to choose the colour and style of the car that they drive or the shoes that they wear, so why not add a little fun into the mix with your wheelchair decorations as well?!
Festival Wheelchair
If I was to style a wheelchair for a festival then, of course, I would be instantly thinking about bright colours, glitter and fairy lights! Most festivals are held on muddy fields at night so you have to find ways to decorate your wheels to stand out as darkness sets in.
I would possibly use a wheelchair similar to the MID Lectus since it has mid-wheel drive so is really manoeuvrable (you don’t want to run over dancing party-goers!) and you can also raise the seat higher for a better view. You can start by choosing your colour in this snazzy design or, at home, use an acrylic spray paint to add glitter or colour. I have seen stencils work really effectively on side panels but do be conscious that any spray paint may be hard to get off and you want to make sure it doesn’t get in the wheelchair’s inner mechanics.
Fairy lights are an amazing way to, quite literally, light up your life! You can buy these in so many different colours and even buy fibre optic lights that change colour periodically. Do bear in mind that many of these fairy lights can be designed for indoor use only so it might be worth buying outdoor lights if you’re thinking of giving your chair really cool light-up features in the long-run! A very vibrant way to add even more sparkle would be to use a foil lametta/ tinsel curtain along the top edge of your wheelchair seat as the metallic shimmer of the metal fringe would catch the eye of all of the fairy lights and have a really effective movement if you chose to dance too!
Holiday Road Trip Wheelchair
I know this seems like a very specific event to style a wheelchair for, but I wanted to look at adaptable style options that you could add to a chair that was perhaps folded and unfolded regularly. This would be great if you were an ambulatory wheelchair user who needed a wheelchair part-time. When I speak at conferences, I talk to many people who use wheelchairs for longer distance travel, especially on holidays.
Whether you are a full-time or part-time wheelchair user, you deserve to have the ability to add fun style aspects into your mobility if you choose to! There is a really fun crafting material called washi tape that you can buy online or in many crafts shops; the name literally translates as “Japanese Paper” and it is waterproof and heatproof. Plus, you can wrap washi tape around your wheelchair and then exchange your design within a few months if you get bored of it.
Ergo Lite weighs just 8.5KG which is great for transportation and caregiving.
If you find yourself within this category of wheelchair users who require a chair that is portable, foldable and affordable then the Ergo Lite might be a good option. You could also add fun cushions or rugs in bright colours if you had room in the car boot on your holiday road trip and wanted to add a little style, design and comfort!
I’m Georgina, a 27 year old award-winning disabled travel and inclusive wedding blogger on my website Disabled Travel with Georgina and through Instagram. I am so blessed to have an amazing community across both channels with over total 67k followers who follow my antics and support each other in their own inclusive travel, planning and wedding detailing.
My own disability and sixteen chronic illnesses challenge me; I’m a PEGJ tube-fed full-time wheelchair user. These things absolutely bring a different dynamic to my life but I still strive to help others plan their own travel experiences and weddings, no matter where their symptoms place them on the vibrant spectrum of disability. Despite this, my blog has gained great strength such as recently a 2021 Shaw Trust Power 100 placement and featuring in international wedding magazines and sites.