Freedom For Families
When you are supporting a family member with accessibility needs, we can help you understand and access the right types of adaptations and equipment. These assessments are tailored to each person's requirements; we provide car seat or harness assessments for children up to 18 through car seat clinic days, or assessments for a Bugzi-powered chair. For any age, we can provide evaluations for wheelchair-adapted vehicles, mobility equipment, and accessible travel through a passenger access assessment or an accessible open day. You can find out more information here.
Car seat and harness assessments
This assessment will provide you and your family with the freedom to travel, knowing that your child is safely and comfortably seated in your vehicle.
For most children, standard car seats provide enough support. Some children and young people with additional needs may require more specialist seating or a harness to support their posture or keep them safe.
Knowing what is available and suitable for your child can be confusing, as there are legal requirements regarding height and age that must be met when travelling in a vehicle. To assist with this, we offer a specialist car seat and harness assessment service for children and young people with additional needs.
The assessment team includes an occupational therapist and equipment specialists. During the assessment, equipment can be trialled with your child to ensure a suitable seated position is achieved. The evaluation is around one hour long. Information about charities that may assist with funding can also be provided.
We conduct car seat and harness assessment clinics from our centres in Hull, Manchester, Oxford, and Solihull. We accept referrals from Healthcare Professionals and from families directly. Both referral routes are free.
Passenger Access Support
RDAC offers a range of approaches to accessible travel. You can attend one of our Accessibility Open days, where you will be able to see a range of adaptations for passengers, mobility wheelchairs and scooters and find more information about accessible transport for longer distances. You can book on these by emailing info@rdac.co.uk
You can also book a passenger access assessment for children and young people, where you are looking at a wheelchair-adapted vehicle or potential adaptations to a car, such as swivel seating or a boot hoist/ wheelchair storage. An Occupational Therapist will look at your individual needs in more detail, talk through potential options, and support you in making choices most useful to you.
Case Study
Bugzi: Empowering Young Children with Independent Mobility
Bugzi is a powered chair for children aged one to six or up to 25kg. It enables children with disabilities to experience independent mobility, providing them with the opportunity to explore and discover the joy of mobility. Fortunately, Bugzi has an off switch and speed control, so parents can keep them safe. Bugzi needs to stay dry and can only go over small bumps, but it is perfect for flat surfaces. It can be easily transported in a vehicle and used in your home, nursery, school, playgroup, play centre, or outside on drier, flatter surfaces.
Bugzi is loaned to families free of charge after an assessment with one of our Occupational Therapists. Applications for the free Bugzi loan scheme should be made with the support of a health professional and via the Bugzi website. We conduct Bugzi Assessments from our Head Office in Solihull.
I cannot speak highly enough of what Bugzi gives Ethan; he LOVES his independence. He took himself to the end of his Papa's lane today to watch the cars whizzing past! Ethan loves the freedom it gives him to go wherever he wants. It doesn't bear thinking about if we couldn't offer him this opportunity to explore. Thank you so much, Bugzi!!" (Ethan's Mum, 2019).
How To Book
RDAC is a charity, and we want to support families by keeping assessments free for children under 18. If you would like to help us by donating, you can do this on the front page of this website or by calling us on 0300 300 2240.
The cost of a complete passenger access assessment for anyone over 18 is, unfortunately, not fully covered by funding; to be sustainable, we do need to charge a fee. If you are referred through the NHS, the referral cost is £75.00; you will need a health professional to do this for you.
A self-referral carries a fee of £150, which will be taken when we call you to book an assessment following the submission of this form. If you cancel your booking within two working days, we cannot offer a refund. If you cancel more than two working days before your booking date, we charge a £20 admin fee.
Get Involved With RDAC
As a charity, RDAC relies on grants and donations to fund the critical service it provides. We are always grateful for the support of the public, and if you would like to donate, we ensure that contributions go directly to front-line services.
If you are interested in talking to us about commercial partnerships, becoming a Trustee or volunteering with us, please contact us at info@rdac.co.uk. Thank you.
