Wheelchair Freedom | Skills | Life

Stuart was friendly and a very genuine guy who made the session fun while providing valuable knowledge based on his own experiences.

I knew back-wheel balancing would unlock a lot of valuable techniques for me, but didn't feel very stable doing it. Stuart really helped me identify what needed to be tweaked to continue safely.

Stuart is friendly, & encouraging and explains techniques thoroughly. One-to-one training is very beneficial to my learning style.

This was a fun bit of training to improve and gave me new techniques to safely and effectively use my wheelchair and give me more confidence.

I really enjoyed my wheelchair skills session. I feel more confident in my chair which will give me a lot more independence.

Did you feel more confident after the training? Yes

We had enough time to practice the skills Stuart demonstrated until he was satisfied the skills had been learnt sufficiently well.

Did you learn new skills? Yes

The ability to smooth out the path of travel so that inconsistencies in the pavement, including kerbs, did not prove to be too disruptive.

Stuart (Freedom Wheelchair Skills) is a very experienced and skilled tutor who demonstrates from his wheelchair what is achievable and then improves the abilities and confidence of his students, in a relatively short space of time,

The training was in a friendly, supportive environment. I felt much more confident after learning new skills like balancing, negotiating kerbs and doors, and the correct pushing technique.

As an Occupational therapist student, I was fortunate enough to see Stuart supporting a patient with learning the basics with a new wheelchair user. His down to earth, patient and interactive way of teaching people is a real asset and really put the user at ease. It’s a brilliant service and learning by an experienced wheelchair user can really provide that peer support needed. I would thoroughly recommend Stuart

Meeting Stuart and going to a freedom wheelchair skills session was one of the most helpful things I have done since becoming a wheelchair user. As a 19-year-old, my independence is essential to me. Just over a year into life as a wheelchair user, I noticed that I was missing out on so much due to not feeling confident about my wheelchair skills.

During my session, I learned many useful things, from optimising my pushing and carrying a cup to getting up and down a curb. Before my session, I was nervous about leaving home to go to university, but now that I know, I can do more skills. I feel confident that if I come across grass, cobblestones or if there are no dropped curbs will be ok. 

Not all the skills came easily to me. But I found the session helped me build the basics and knowledge of the skills and confidence to continue practising at home. Overall, Freedom Wheelchair Skills has enabled me to go to new places as I’m no longer worried about a little curb or strange terrain and has given me more confidence as a wheelchair user.

Functional Neurological Disorder (FND)

I met Stuart where he booked a community centre to carry out the wheelchair skills training. We spoke several times on the phone prior to meeting and Stuart kept me up to date on the booking throughout, also carrying out an assessment on the phone, identifying the targets I wanted to achieve. I attended the training with my support worker (Hayley) and I was concerned that she may end up sitting around watching all day, but this was not the case. Stuart fully involved Hayley in the training which was really good as she can now support me in developing my skills. Stuart is an excellent trainer, being friendly, supportive and extremely knowledgeable around how to teach new skills. What was particularly good was Stuart's understanding of how learning new skills can be difficult and tiring, so ensured lots of variety and if something was proving difficult I'd try 3 or 4 times and then rather than having to keep trying and there being a risk of becoming despondent, he would get me to try something different, then come back to the skill that was particularly difficult later. The venue is excellent for learning new skills, having different doors and plinths, steps, a great hall, gravel outside, slopes, cobbles, grass, gates etc - it's absolutely perfect. Stuart taught me loads of new skills and techniques and I am considerably more confident in my chair, having now gone round the shops on my own, something I would never have done before. The skills he taught have also reduced the tiredness I would feel and specific techniques have totally stopped the neck and shoulder pains I was getting. I think the whole package - Stuart, venue, knowledge, skills and personality make this training exceptional and I would recommend any person needing to use a wheelchair either permanently or when required attend this training, it far exceeded my expectations and is affordable. I would happily have paid double the money as it's helped me so much.

Stuart tailored the session to the stage of my ability and set me realistic achievable goals. I feel confident to practise the skills I have learnt with him. The session felt relaxed and easy going, however, Stuart kept it on track ensuring all skills were covered. Stuart is a friendly and approachable person who is always safety conscious.

WOW. Had a one on one training day with Stuart. At first was not exactly sure how much this would benefit me. I must say this is one of the best choice's i made to do this. Started off doing basic wheelchair skills and Stuart corrected me on the smallest things i was doing wrong which straight away improved my technique. From doing basic skills to more advanced just got better and better. By the end of the session i was going up and down kerbs and also came down some steps backwards in my chair.

I would highly recommend anyone to go to Stuart and have some lessons. You will benefit from his expertise. Once you have done it i can guarantee you will feel more confident in your chair and feel you can go anywhere feeling confident of not getting stuck anywhere.

Stuart puts you at ease right from the start and is a very friendly guy. Thanks Stuart.

As some of you may know, my husband Dave Samuels is pretty much fully reliant on his wheelchair now and because of this we found going to new places very stressful.

The world in our eyes started to become a very small place.

Dave has been looking for some kind of help to improve his wheelchair skills. We came across Stuart from Freedom skills. We had a 3 hour one to one session with him yesterday, starting from the basics of gliding in his chair, to up and down curbs to finishing even going down the stairs backwards!!!!!

I felt so overwhelmed and emotional watching my husband yesterday, he’s not perfect at it yet but picked it up so fast. For the 1st time in a long time I felt he could have some independents back and for me I can now walk beside him rather than behind him pushing him up kerbs etc.

If you know of any chair users that might benefit I recommend Stuart at freedom skills massively, not only is he super patient and a great teacher he is also really fun and a really nice guy xx

Skill wises - I’m doing pretty good. Mastered the kerbs - on even grounds. As the grass - lifting the front caster has really helped a lot especially when it comes to watching the nephews weekly when he’s playing football, but only on dry grass. Good pushing technique on the rims has saved me so much energy.

I’m off to start the wheelchair races next month - pretty excited. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Stuart came to see one of our residents for an outdoor wheelchair driving lesson. He devised a comprehensive learning plan, carried out an excellent training session and gave good feedback. His follow-up phone call a month later was also welcomed. I now feel far more confident in supporting our resident to practise his skills in the local area.

I have been getting on really well since the training with Freedom Wheelchair Skills. I have not fallen out, balancing better, so well in fact my rear wheels have been brought forward. I have been getting out more and cobbles don't deter me. I feel a lot more confident.