Meru make some great products to help disabled children, from items to help their grips – hold things in place – help their mobility and more.
They have also been looking at the difficulties disabled children encounter when flying.
This is an article from their February 2012 Friends Update related to this problem.
Visit MERU website to see the wonderful things they make.
You can also see some of their products at The HUB in Epsom.
MERU FRIENDS UPDATE FEB 2012:
Thousands of disabled children are potentially being denied the opportunity to travel by air because not all airlines offer suitable postural support systems on board. There are around 400,000 children in the UK with 2 or more disabilities who need firm support to enable them to fly and MERU have the perfect solution – the Travelchair.
In 2006 the ‘1107’1 law was passed concerning the rights of disabled persons with reduced mobility when travelling by air, forcing airlines to re-evaluate the services they offer. Whilst this is a step in the right direction, information regarding the options to support moderately or severely disabled children remains scarce, and consequently many families believe they are not able to travel by air.
Graham Race and the design team at MERU have created a new Travelchair that offers firm postural support for disabled children between the ages of 3 and 11 (depending on the weight and height of the child). It has been developed with advice from the European Aviation Safety Agency the Civil Aviation Authority, several key airlines and parents with disabled children to ensure all needs are met.
Flying is not just about holidays - the Travelchair is invaluable for many families with disabled children as they often need to fly to certain destinations to obtain much needed treatment. Without the right postural support, flying is often ruled out – simply because they don’t know about the Travelchair.
Gilly, Mum of Roxanne, has used the Travelchair many times to take her daughter to Florida for much needed Dolphin Human Therapy and says, ‘Roxanne needed a product that gave her firm postural support for her head and body on a long-haul flight - the Travelchair was fantastic and without it, none of us would have flown.’
Virgin Atlantic, Monarch Airlines and British Airways have been using an earlier version of the chair for many years with fantastic feedback from cabin crew and parents. Parents simply advise the airline of their need to use the Travelchair at point of booking and the airline ensure it is on board for both outbound and inbound flights – all at no extra charge! Virgin Atlantic has been quick to purchase the new, improved version which will be available from summer 2012. They have placed an order for 22 new Travelchairs and will be the first to have them on board!
Graham and his team have been working hard to introduce the Travelchair to as many new airlines as possible so that families have a choice of which airline they use. They have had much interest and a press release sent to travel journalists is expected to result in features appearing in various magazines over the next couple of months. ….
