Seventeen members from Tamil Nadu Wheelchair Women Basketball recently received the gift of a wheelchair, thanks to Temenos, a global technology major with a presence in Chennai. This wheelchair is no ordinary one. It can morph from an indoor wheelchair into a road machine. It allows individuals with mobility-related challenges to run their own errands or go to work without reliance on anybody else.
“It is like having my own legs,” says Malathi Raja, a wheelchair basketball player who runs an inclusive travel firm.
Malathi also has a standard wheelchair but the nature of her work and frequent travels mean the mobility aid lasts for only two years.
Malathi notes that modifying a wheelchair would cost a minimum of ₹75,000 and many cannot afford expenditure of this proportion. “I own a manual wheelchair in standard format which is not the best for my body type but I have no choice,” says Malathi.
The Madipakkam resident is still lucky to own a wheelchair.
