Wheelchair lift

A wheelchair lift, also known as a platform lift, or vertical platform lift is a fully powered device designed to raise a wheelchair and its occupant in order to overcome a step or similar vertical barrier.

Wheelchair lifts can be installed in homes or businesses and are often added to both private and public vehicles in order to meet accessibility requirements laid out by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). These mobility devices are often installed in homes as an alternative to a stair lift, which only transport a passenger and not his/her wheelchair or mobility scooter.

In the United States, the ADA required that all new mass transit vehicles placed into service after July 1, 1993 be accessible to persons in wheelchairs, and until the 2000s, this requirement was most commonly met by the inclusion of a wheelchair lift. Low-floor transit vehicles (buses, streetcars, light rail cars) – fitted with ramps or bridge plates rather than lifts – later began to become more common than lifts for heavy-duty transit vehicles, while lifts continued to be used in paratransit vehicles.