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The 411: The Ability to Stand and Meet a Person Eye to Eye
https://patient-innovation.com/post/1711
Anthony is paraplegic and passionate about golf. This is why he searched a way, during several weeks, to play golf again. After over a decade of research and development, he finally developed a special wheelchair which allows disabled people to stand up, called Paramobile.
In 1994, Anthony became paraplegic after a drunk driver hit him. Seemingly ending his days on a wheelchair, he decided to pick himself up, and invented The Paramobile. It takes the basic function of a wheelchair, and adds a lift that puts the rider in an upright position. This new wheelchair offers new possibilities for disabled people who love sports.
The Paramobile is able to traverse semi-soft sand and pretty much most places outdoors - and especially on golf courses, where it can easily navigate up to 27 holes on a single charge. This type of wheelchairs is available for $22,500.
Although the Paramobile was developed originally for golf, Anthony stresses that there are many other activities that are suitable for someone in a Paramobile. For him, one of the most important things the Paramobile gives Anthony, is the sense of being able to participate in being a Dad again. Despite of his disability, he is able to show his children how to play golf, he can use his Paramobile to walk his dog with his children, and even ride along the beach with them.
To distribute his innovation on as many golf courses as possible, he created his own foundation called “Stand Up and Play Foundation“.
According to Anthony, The Paramobile could be really useful for veterans who want keep their autonomy.
SHARED BY ELISE THIOLIERE ON 2017-06-02 16:17
The Paramobile was originally designed for disabled golfers, but can also be customized for use in other sports and leisure activities such as fishing or archery. With its strong chassis frame, the Paramobile can cope with gradients of up to 30 degrees and sideways inclinations of about 17 degrees. The Paramobile will turn automatically into a safe position should these limits be exceeded. The design allows for an absolutely secure footing in any position.
The therapeutic benefits of the golf game for physically limited players are immense. It stimulates the metabolism, stretches the muscles, reduces spasticities and enhances the mobility of their joints. The all-terrain Paramobile with its patented stand-up device combines practical know-how with innovative ideas for maximum playing fun. Its unequalled stability when the golfer is hitting the ball enables performance that is comparable to those of non-handicapped players.
Loving life with a handicap
Thanks to this piece of equipment, wheelchair users are discovering a new and unimagined level of freedom and independence. Being able to stand up boosts self-esteem – one can finally stand up facing others at eye level – and has a therapeutic effect. It promotes circulation and digestion, stretches tendons and ligaments, reduces spasticity and prevents joints seizing up.
The Stand Up and Play Foundation was formed to help wheelchair users and other people with impaired mobility have the opportunity to stand up and participate in sporting, artistic and other daily events.
The Stand Up and Play Foundation is a volunteer-based 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that is changing the lives of wheelchair users and other individuals with disabilities with a remarkable piece of equipment – the Paramobile – that allows them to stand up and play sports and engage in everyday activities. We provide the unique combination of the Paramobile, adaptive equipment and well trained volunteers to give users unimagined levels of freedom and independence.
Our goal is to make Paramobiles and other mobility devices available to all organizations, community centers, golf clubs and individuals nationwide. Please help us reach our goal.
ABOUT THE FOUNDATION
“When learning how to walk, you have to stand up once more than you fall down. This applies
for both a small child and an adult. It holds true for learning how to walk, but in a transferred
sense, also for life itself. With a handicap it is an even steeper challenge.
I have experienced that myself. For every physically handicapped person, the Paramobile is
an important and valuable tool that gives you a bit more freedom.” – Anthony Netto
Golf as a Therapy
Handicaps and sickness imply a number of limitations: restricted performance, a sense of
impossibility and, often as a consequence of these limitations, social exclusion.
As a result, many chances, possibilities, and perspectives appear to be inaccessible.
When applied therapeutically, the sport of golf has been proven to encourage a person’s will,
build self confidence, and provide a channel to break through this vicious circle. Although golf
is still viewed by most as an elite sport, when properly applied, it can serve as a very
successfully method of rehabilitation.
Golf as a therapy addresses the development of necessary coordination and the repetition of
precise sequences of movements. Further, the mental challenges posed by the game stimulate
one’s ability to focus and concentrate. Playing golf successfully raises a person’s self esteem
and vitality. Finally, golf is social and fun.
Especially for the wheelchair bound and those suffering from amputation, golf provides a physiologically useful therapeutic method to train and strengthen weakened limbs. Even those with severely impaired vision or the blind can benefit from the therapeutic advantages of golf due to the fact that the ball rests on the ground, and the player must act but does not need to react.
About Anthony Netto
Anthony Netto is an international ambassador for challenged golf and the best wheelchair
golfer in the world. He was born in South Africa in 1963 and has been using a wheelchair
since the early 1990s. He plays golf actively with the aid of the Paramobile, which he
developed with some friends. Anthony Netto is the ex-trainer of the German Disabled
Golf Team, acts as an consultant for handicapped golfers worldwide, and is the initiator of the
KidSwing program.
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