20.12.2010
The Ultra-Light shines in the eyes of Vanessa Elster!
Vanessa Elster is an 18-year-old teenager living in Düsseldorf, Germany, where she is studying for her ‘Abitur’; the equivalent of the French baccalauréat or British A-levels. Like most young girls her age, Vanessa secretly dreams of falling in love and of becoming a professional model. While the former wish is unfortunately out of our hands, we were able to help with the latter, giving Vanessa the chance to make her modelling debut for küschall, in the 2009 Ultra-Light wheelchair campaign.
Vanessa suffers from a cerebral anomaly, which prevents her from walking correctly. Her parents quickly discovered her disability and she has been wearing orthopaedic shoes since a very young age. Today, Vanessa is mainly mobile thanks to her wheelchair. Recently she was interviewed by a German magazine – HANDICAP – and was happy to share her views on her own Ultra-Light. Küschall was delighted to read the article in which Vanessa positively describes the wheelchair and highlights the main benefits it brings to her everyday life. Here we reproduce a selection of excerpts from the magazine article.
“My wheelchair is like a very chic piece of clothing”
This is a seriously important argument for a young girl like Vanessa, for whom fashion and appearance play an important part in her life. Her wheelchair has become a part of her own personality and she loves to match it with her outfits. The wide range of colours and the “Color Power Set" option that küschall provides have enabled her to create a wheelchair which suits her own image and sense of style.
A lightweight wheelchair
Long afternoons spent shopping never pose a problem for Vanessa. With a total weight of just 10kg, the Ultra-Light makes it easy for her to get around, enabling her to undertake long journeys without suffering from aching arms at the end of the day.
A compact wheelchair which folds up at the touch of a finger!
Car journeys are not an issue for Vanessa, who can manage everything singlehandedly. The wheelchair can be stored in the boot of any car, which leaves Vanessa enthusiastic about the prospect of having a car of her own one day - even though it would probably be less spacious than her dad's. The Ultra-Light is a folding chair and also has a folding backrest, which means that Vanessa is 100% self-sufficient.
Improved stability
Ultra-Light is extremely stable, a fact that HANDICAP did not fail to notice. Vanessa also feels totally at ease in her wheelchair, even when it is mounted on a handbike. So if you happen to meet Vanessa in the streets of Düsseldorf she will more than likely be looking ultra relaxed in her Ultra-Light chair.
Many thanks to Vanessa and HANDICAP magazine for sharing their impressions of one of our models with us. The full article can be read online here (in German).
Vanessa Elster on the küschall Ultra-Light ambassadors page