We’ve come a long way, baby, from the “devices” of yesteryear to today’s technology.
By Terry Moakley
Was assistive technology really around 60 years ago, Santa? Yes Virginia, it was, but we didn’t call it “assistive technology” way back then. We just called it a “device.”
One of the earlier devices was developed by one of our predecessor organization’s charter members, John M. Price, and it was an innovation based on need. You see, Mr. Price was also the original editor of The Paraplegia News magazine, and in its December 1946 issue, there is an illustration and brief description of this unique device which, when strapped on its quadriplegic users’ hand and forearm, enables one to write. It is amazingly reminiscent of the splint that first allowed me to put pen to paper after injury.
Less than a year and a half later in the same magazine is a photo of a power-operated wheelchair created by an Osage, Iowa, company. Was it the firstever such chariot? Probably not, since the Everest & Jennings wheelchair manufacturers were around from the early 1930s, but it sure was different-big wheels up front, low back rest, sort of a cross between today’s scooter and a golf cart. No price was listed, but it looks very high-end for that era.
Technology Boom
It wasn’t until the late 1980s that our association began its own Assistive Technology program, housed for many years at the James J. Peters VAMC in the Bronx. One of its more outstanding achievements was the acquisition and use of a computer that measured seating pressure. Eventually, this service turned into a traveling seating clinic throughout the Northeastern states.
Our veteran members could have their seating pressure checked, and then either through adjustment to the personal wheelchair or a prescription for a better cushion, be empowered to sit in the wheelchair appropriately. “Weight shifts” in the chair every 15 minutes are still highly recommended by therapists (by mine just two weeks ago), but I’m betting that seating pressure computer saved our members thousands of days of bed rest, having prevented many pressure sores.
Today, United Spinal Association is the home of the USA Tech Guide, www.usatechguide.org, just about the best resource database on the planet for wheelchairs and other assistive technology. Thinking of acquiring a new wheelchair? Check out our Tech Guide to see if your model of interest is reviewed. Or when you get your new wheeled mobility device, write your own review of its performance and post it on our Tech Guide. You will also find there an incredible amount of information on every imaginable piece of equipment.
As for me, my “fav” device remains the Papermate Flair Pen! I think of it as a device because I am able to hold a ballpoint pen, but it slides all over the page when I try to write with it. My trusty Flair, on the other hand, literally glides over the page. Truth is, I’m inputting this article on my computer, but when it’s time to write out those holiday cards, I’ll be signing them with my green or red Flair pen.
Terry Moakley, Director of Special Projects, is United Spinal’s official historian.
