Dan Okenfuss – Public Policy Manager, California Foundation for Independent Living Centers It’s summer! Time for vacations to faraway places! Whenever I fly on a pleasure trip, I am usually renting a car at my destination, especially when visiting friends who live far from reliable public transportation. That way, I can comfortably drive with my…
Andy Arias is on the move. He’s a Policy Advisor at US Department of Labor, a very active advocate in both the disability and the LGBTQ communities. Also, he’s known an actor whose credits can be found on IMDb, also known as Internet Movie Database. None of these roles would be possible for Andy without the…
Can a quadriplegic, someone paralyzed from the neck down, drive a car? Race car driver Sam Schmidt’s career came to an abrupt end when a crash in 2000 left him paralyzed. After 17 years though, project SAM (Semi Autonomous Motorcar), a car with various modifications, has helped Sam get back on the road. Here is…
By Kevin Hansen, CFILC’s DLL & Reuse Manager The Ability Tools Network recently purchased some new equipment for our Device Lending Libraries (DLL). The DLLs loan assistive technology (AT) to consumers for 30 day trial loans, free of charge. Below I describe some of our newly acquired equipment. Vgo My favorite new item is…
by Mike Monticello, for Consumer Reports, March 2016. Original article in its entirety located here. Teresa Favuzzi is a good driver; it’s everyone else around her who is a maniac. Favuzzi’s partner is legally blind, so the 54-year-old independent-living director from Sacramento, Calif., is used to taking the wheel of the family car. She makes…
Written by Monique McGivney, Marketing Director for Ability Center Here at Ability Center, we get calls daily for people who want driving aids installed in their vehicle or to just buy a ramp to get their scooter/wheelchair into their vehicle. There are so many variations and things to think about when we think of adaptive…
By Aimee Sterk, LMSW, MATP Staff, from Michigan Assistive Technology Program My relationship with my husband had it roots in cars. Stickshifts and Safetybelts was our dating theme song. We spent a lot of time in our cars–he lived 45 minutes away–and we liked to go on drives together. We very much appreciated his bench-seated…