Seven Holiday Gift Ideas for Wheelchair Users — $100 or Less


colorful illustration of family surrounded by holiday presents. A white female wheelchair user hugs a Black man wearing a santa hat. A girl sits on the couch playing with a wheelchair-using Barbie.

1. Slippers for Your Wheelchair

manual wheelchair with beige covers on its wheels and casters

Love or hate winter, we can all agree that wheelchair tires and cold, wet weather don’t mix. Stop worrying about tracking mud and debris indoors and make the season a little easier by getting a pair of “wheelchair slippers” from RehaDesigns. Sure, they look a little silly, but they are supereasy to slip on and will significantly reduce your tire-wiping and floor-cleaning time over the winter. Besides, you’re at home — who cares if your wheelchair is wearing pajamas?

Available for $54.99 from Living Spinal. They come in 22-inch and 24-inch sizes, though 24’s easily stretch to fit 25-inch wheels.

2. Fast Tires, For Less

cross section of black mbl tire

A quality, lightweight tire can make your manual wheelchair a whole lot easier to push. But who wants to pay $155 for a pair of Schwalbe Ones only to have them wear out just as fast as any other tire? The new MBL Speedlite tires tick all the “fast wheelchair tire” boxes: lightweight, low profile and high pressure. Plus, they have a minimalist tread pattern that’s surprisingly grippy while maintaining a low rolling resistance.

They normally retail for $47 per tire, but right now DME Hub has them on sale for $27.50. It’s a great deal on a quality tire — get them while you can.

3. Limited Grip Gaming Controller

shot of round Playstation controller with joystick

PlayStation announced its first adaptive controller back in February and it’s finally hitting the market just in time for the holidays. The new controller is composed of a pair of circular gamepads with buttons around the perimeter and an analog stick that can be adjusted to be closer or farther from the gamepad. To create a system that suits your needs, it can be combined with other PlayStation controllers, and features 3.5-millimeter ports so you can add third-party buttons and switches if you need. Now we just need a Tony Hawk-style WCMX game.

Available starting Dec. 6 for $89.99 from the PlayStation store, and includes alternate joystick and button caps so you can figure out what works best for you.

4. A Rain Jacket for Your Legs

white male wheelcahur user pushing outside in the rain. he is wearing a black Kinetic Balance rain jacket and a Raindek  rain shield over his legs.

Yes, this is a thing, and it’s glorious. If you’re a wheelchair user who lives in a rainy part of the country, you’re probably used to the tops of your pants getting soaking wet, because the poncho look isn’t for everyone and who wants to wrestle rain pants on and off? The Raindek from Netherlands-based Kinetic Balance is a waterproof garment that secures around your waist and under your knees, to snuggly cover your knees and thighs. It’s simple to put on, won’t get caught in your wheels, and stores in its own small bag.

Available for $69 from Twisted Spine. Also available in a full leg version for $89.

5. Portable Electric Air Pump

black recentagular air pump with digital display on front.

This is the present your parents want to give you. Airmoto’s electric tire pump is tiny and much lighter than the old Campbell Hausfeld portable air pumps. It comes with a USB charger and will inflate up to 120 pounds per square inch, making it useful for everyday wheels and most high-pressure sport or handcycle tires. Plus, it has a big enough battery to handle vehicle tires.

Available for $79 directly from Airmoto.

6. Heated Vest

Black puffy vest with illustration of heated coils around belly and upper back.

Add reasonably priced heated outerwear to the long list of things made possible by cheap, powerful lithium batteries. If you’re cold all the time during winter, go with a heated vest. It’ll keep your core warm, and you won’t have to replace the whole thing when you blow out the sleeves rolling around outside. There are countless options on Amazon, but TideWe’s Lightweight Heated Vest scored well on Travel + Leisure magazine’s review, and has a water-resistant shell and slim cut that shouldn’t rub on your wheels.

Women’s vest retails for $89 and men’s retails for $99.

7. Easy-Pour Electric Kettle

electric hot water kettle with a hand tilting it on base toward a mug.

There are few better ways to cozy up from the inside out than sitting in front of a fire, or space heater, enjoying a cup of hot tea. Electric kettles make the water-boiling part of tea-making quicker and safer than dealing with a pot on the stove. But pouring can still be tricky for anyone with limited balance or weak arm/hand strength. Enter the Uccello Easy-Pour Kettle, which has a mechanism in the base that lets you pour by tipping the kettle instead of having to lift it.

Available for $85.


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Kathy Stice
Kathy Stice
2 years ago

I love the MBL Speedlite tires on my new chair! Thanks for the tip on the sale.

Arthur Torrey
Arthur Torrey
2 years ago

UK and EU electricity is 220V / 50Hz, US is 110V / 60Hz. Most modern electronics devices are designed to work with either, but motors and HEATING appliances often will have problems… I’d be concerned about whether this kettle would be able to heat water in a reasonable amount of time when running on 110V. Note that the description on the Active Hands site does NOT suggest that the kettle will work on 110V…. Did anyone from NM actually TEST this kettle on US power before suggesting it?

A neat idea, but may not be suitable in this version for use in the US….