Wheelchairs sabbatical

[magid]

Just before Shabbat, I dropped food off with [woman who had a C-section two weeks ago], and in the course of conversation she mentioned finally being able to walk to Inman Square, a bit less than half a mile away, though only in one direction.

Which got me to thinking, later, about wheelchairs. With an eruv, her husband could push her to my house for a meal. But without an eruv, I assume a non-self-propelled wheelchair is the same (halachically) as a baby stroller, and therefore considered carrying (problematical on Shabbat without an eruv). A self-wheeled chair, though, would that be different? Is it more like a walking person's shoes, helping them get around, or a carriage? Does it make a difference whether there are handles on the back for a potential pusher?

[If self-wheeled chairs are not carrying even without an eruv]
There are some opinions that if a child old enough to walk decides not to, one is permitted to carry the child, whether or not there's an eruv. Would a situation where someone who usually wheels zirself for some reason needs someone else to wheel them? (Would it matter whether it was health or another reason?) Or would that just be if there were a particular obstacle?

(This ignores the question of motorized wheelchairs entirely; I assume there are a different set of considerations involved.)

Comments

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

AFAIK, if a wheelchair is the only way a person can get around then there is no eruv problem with it. A non self propelled wheelchair is like a stroller, but of course anything can be waived if there is a health reason, say, the person has to be seen by a doctor or something, y'know, pikuach nefesh.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, if a wheelchair is the only way someone can get to a doctor, sure (though I'd think an ambulance would likely be more useful...).

It makes sense that a self-propelled wheelchair is fine on Shabbat, though I could also see it being lumped in with bicycles or something else I haven't thought of.

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

Well, if the person can't walk without it then it's fine. (Like crutches, or a cane)
However, if the person just needs if for extra assitance, they shouldn't use it. (For example, a friend of mine with MS, who only needs one when she tires.)
A goy can push the wheelchair, also.

And as for Inman Square, isn't that part of the North Charles Eruv?

Although I'm assuming most of Somerville isn't in an Eruv because of problems with I-93 not being a Karmelit?

[magid.livejournal.com]

My impression is that around here, people are less likely to find non-Jews to do things for them on Shabbat on a regular basis. Just an impression, though.

Inman is part of the eruv. In fact, most of Somerville, or at least a good chunk of it, is (it gets tricky to navigate Powderhouse Sq., partly in and partly out).

(The originally proposed boundaries were reworked to avoid having to deal with the municipal governments of Watertown and Medford, but there was no way anyone would suggest an eruv without Somerville.)

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

Oh, about motorized wheelchairs, there is a Shabbat wheelchair:
1. Turning the wheelchair on is done with a grama switch. Once the battery power is on, it stays on.
2. The control (a joystick) never makes or breaks a connection; it only changes resistance in some semiconductors. The DC from the battery is converted to a 18khz square wave. When the joystick is in the neutral position, the duty cycle is 50% (i.e., the motor gets kicked forward by the positive
bit of the wave and gets kicked back equally by the negative part of the wave equally, and the chair doesn't move. Move the joystick, and the duty cycle changes ... and the chair moves. Tzomet asked R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, R. Yisraeli, and R. Neuwirth about the halakhic equivalence between changing voltage levels (clearly permissible rabbinically) and changing duty cycles; all agreed that it was permissible. [There remained a question about whether changing from the 50% duty cycle might be equivalent to completing a circuit, since it started the motor. To avoid that issue, the chair creeps forward when the joystick is
in the neutral position, and the user must apply a brake.]

See also this (http://www.emunah.org/magazine_comments.php?id=P216_0_4_0_C) article about the institue that designed the wheelchair.