Inspired by California facility, Push to Walk in New Jersey offers clients with SCI a chance for recovery on the East Coast.
By Anya Starykh

Jim Laughlin (right) gets some assistance on the Power Plate from trainer Eric Prol.
At 21, Darren Templeton of Kinnelon, New Jersey, has many accomplishments to boast of. A student […]

Compiled by Peggy Hathaway

Recent Congressional Action
Congress has been busy on legislation affecting people with disabilities. United Spinal Association is working on the following issues:

• Medicare Independent Living Act of 2007 Representatives Jim Langevin (D-RI) and Jim Ramstad (RMN) have introduced H.R. 1809 to help Medicare recipients obtain the mobility devices they need. […]

You can help your local cab companies find accessible vehicles, so they can help you find accessible rides.

By Terry Moakley
Recently, while listening to a conference speaker from the Taxi, Limousine, and Paratransit Association, a national trade group that represents these industries, I was surprised to learn that nearly two-thirds of the taxi companies in […]

By Bob Nunn

Dealers mingled at the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association (NMEDA) show in Tampa, Florida where new products making personal transportation more accessible to drivers with disabilities were exhibited.

When Carol Hawkins needed a rear-entry wheelchair van to transport her 37-year-old daughter, Joella, from Rhode Island to Florida, Hawkins turned to eBay. […]

How does someone with limited resources find an affordable adapted vehicle? Here’s one person’s story…
By Tiffiny Carlson
Note: Some of the terms used in the following article are specific to the state of Minnesota.
Four wheels. We can get them for free from the government if they’re on durable medical equipment, but when […]

By John M. Williams

For decades, people have been complaining about the high costs of assistive technology (AT) products. It is a repeated complaint that I hear every time I go to a conference on assistive technology. The voices are loud and angry as they demand, rather than ask, an answer from manufacturers, “Why can’t you […]

Hybrid Taxis at the Expense of Accessibility
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s announcement that the city’s yellow taxi fleet will become completely hybrid within five years (news article, May 23) callously ignores the immediate transportation needs of people with severe physical disabilities who cannot enter or exit currently approved hybrid taxi vehicles, as well as New York […]

Bill Lasher’s wheelchairs are stunning works of art.

Bill Lasher’s “Chopper Chair” (courtesy of Lasher Sport)

Bill Lasher Jr. makes beautiful custom wheelchairs for his company Lasher Sport (www.lashersport.com) out of a warehouse in Anchorage, Alaska. A United Spinal member, and longtime Alaska resident, Lasher became paralyzed during a skiing accident when he was in […]

United Spinal and other disability groups got a sneak peak at the accessible cabs of the future. The only item missing is a plan on how and when they will be made available.

By Terry Moakley

The Standard—the first purpose-built accessible sedan taxi—was a hit at an accessible cab summit held in New York City in April.

More […]

By Jenny M. Lieberman, MSOTR/L, ATP
As a clinician responsible for evaluating clients for wheelchairs for more than 10 years, I have developed an appreciation for and an understanding of the importance of a thorough assessment for those clients who are wheelchair mobile.
For each of my clients, multiple factors must be considered. The results of a […]

Women liberated by their wheelchairs are celebrated at the annual Rolling with Style Gala during Fashion Week in New York.
By Kelly Rouba

Wendy Crawford, chairwoman and founding member of Discovery through Design, rolls on the red carpet in a chair and outfit designed by Thom Browne.

Last month, seven women made history by […]

By John M. Williams
How would you like to have a single device that turned on your lights, changed the channel, regulated your home temperature, opened automatic doors, answered your phone, checked your e-mail, and helped you balance your checkbook? How would you like it if the device could be operated by voice, eye […]

I would like to propose a little test for all of us to take. Start when you get up in the morning. You will need something to write with and something to write on. Notice I didn’t say pen and paper, since some of us use other means to write, such as a computer or […]

People with SCI/D often develop very strong bonds with their “equipment,” because it is so much more than mere nuts and bolts––it is an essential tool for our hard-won independence. Regrettably, access to the tools we need––particularly power wheelchairs and scooters––cannot be taken for granted and this access is currently under assault by ever-more restrictive […]

Universities to Study Wheelchair Transportation Safety
The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) and three other university partners have been awarded a $4.5 million five-year federal grant to continue research on transportation safety and usability for people in wheelchairs.
The U.S. Department of Education’s National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research has renewed funding […]

Dean Kamen invented what he calls “the world’s most sophisticated robot” to transport people with mobility impairments places they never thought they could go.

By Lori A. Wood

A wonder of modern technology, the Independence® iBOT® 4000 Mobility System, allows people with disabilities to go places that they may have never imagined. “It took some of […]

Randy Kwapis’s Action Chair, which he invented for his son to play on grass and other difficult surfaces, is a modern marvel.
By Michael Lee

Matthew Kwapis sits in the chair his father Randy designed to enable him to play on grass and other surfaces unusable by ordinary wheelchairs.

Randy Kwapis, 43, inventor of […]

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 […]

It takes a team to raise a service dog.
by Linda A. Cronin

Dogs and their human partners establish strong working
relationships during a training at Canine Partners for Life.

The first time I saw a service dog at work, I was amazed at how smoothly and efficiently the animal picked up a set of keys. […]

By Lori A. Wood

“My son, Tom, was the company’s founder,” says Margaret Street, president of SEMCO, which stands for Street Electric Manufacturing Company, LLC, of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. “He passed away in June 2001 and that’s when I took over as the single member of the company.
“Tom had suffered an accident in October 1988, which […]