New Hope for Parapalegics

Posted by Merv and Merla Watson

It is a constantly humiliating experience to be confined to a wheel chair all the time. Because of the number of people in Israel confined this way, a small high tech company has come up with a suit that allows a parapalegic to walk upright and look at people at eye level not just looking up to them. This is an enormous boost in morale for a person who has lost the ability to walk. According to Radi Kalof, who has been in a wheel chair for 20 years, there is no way to express the joy of joining the normal walking public down the streets of Tel Aviv. The inventor of the “REWALK” (as the device is called) Amit Goffer, was paralysed in 1997, and since he does not have use of his arms, he cannot use his own invention. However, his satisfaction comes from knowing that he is liberating others from wheel chair confinement. The invention is controlled by a special computer placed in a back pack and controlled by a small remote wrist band which is set for different actions of the user. Sit, stand, walk and climb stairs are among the controlling settings that the walker uses when he leans forward to set himself in motion.

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