Abstract: An electrically operable wheelchair includes a pair of support wheels coupled with a pair of drive motors, one of a plurality of different types of user-operable input devices, and a controller responsive to input signals from the input devices for controlling the operation of the motors and thereby the movements of the wheelchair. The input devices include, for example, a proportional control joy stick and sets of one, two, three or four switches, and are operable for producing different types of input signals characteristic of the corresponding devices and representative of desired wheelchair movements. The controller is operable to respond to the different types of input signals provided by the devices for producing outputs to the motors for effecting the desired wheelchair movements.