Taking Back the Road
by
Robert P. Bennett

 

 

 

When I lost the use of my legs in 1991 I was amazed at how easily I could get behind the wheel of my Grand Am again.  All it took was some simple modifications, the addition of hand controls and a spinner knob, and I was off. 

Millions of vehicles travel the nation’s roads every day.  With 54 million people with disabilities in the United States it’s a safe bet that the car next to you on your morning commute to work could be being driven by someone with some form of disability.  Like me, other people with disabilities are finding the tools they need to be able to access the road.

According to the Census Bureau, in 1999 roughly 8 percent of Americans aged 17 to 75 -- some 14.8 million people of driving age -- had physical disabilities that limited their mobility.  About 5.5 million of these people use wheelchairs, scooters or other mobility devices, according to Jack McNeil of the bureau's disabilities data unit.

The automobile modification industry is small.  Out of the millions of vehicles produced each year only about twenty thousand of them are modified for use by people with disabilities.  According to Becky Plank, executive director of the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association (Tampa, Florida), the modifications are made by roughly 800 conversion companies throughout the United States.  About half of these are members of NMEDA.  This is important because there are no federal guidelines on the installation of adaptive equipment and NMEDA is the only organization that offers a certification program.  Members provide proof that they have qualified mechanics and NMEDA engineers do site inspections twice a year to insure that the member is building things to code.  Unfortunately only eight states require all dealers to go through a Quality Assurance Program Certification.  “We’ve been fighting for years to make sure the dealers are trained properly,” says Plank.  “We started 10 years ago with 15 dealers.  The goal was to write standards for the industry.  We started out by assisting the state of Florida first, then we became national.”

Different people need different kinds of adaptation.  Some need hand controls others need a device to help open and close the doors.  And those adaptive devices need to be checked periodically to make sure they are still operating in accordance to factory specifications.  NMEDA recommends that everyone who has equipment installed get it checked annually but there are no laws on the books to require it.  In fact there is no government agency set up to test these devices at all.  The problem is that there isn’t enough adaptive equipment in use to warrant government intervention.  However, private industry is undertaking the task.  “Currently,” says Plank, “we are doing testing in Canada on the various equipment to see how safe the devices are.  We use the federal motor vehicle safety standards and go with the worst case scenario.  In our opinion the devices ARE safe.”

As hard as it may be to believe, there is a plus side to the lack of testing and federal safety regulation.  If the federal government were to walk in and say they want all the equipment tested much of the devices would be taken off the market because it’s very expensive to test everything that’s out there.  And, according to Tom Egan, President of Access Unlimited, an adaptive equipment manufacturer in Binghamton, New York, “a person with a disability has to look at the safety aspects of the modifications that would need to be made to the particular vehicle he wants to drive.  He wouldn’t want a law to tell him he couldn’t do those modifications if he needed them to be able to drive and if he wanted them done.”

Adaptations not only make it easier for people with impaired mobility to get in and out of cars, trucks and vans, they also make driving possible for amputees, sufferers of severe arthritis and the hearing-impaired.  But before any permanent adaptations are made to a vehicle, before a vehicle can even be selected for modification, the individual has to take responsibility for getting both a driver evaluation and proper driver training.  This is where the Association of Driver Rehabilitation Specialists comes into the picture.  As its name implies, the Association, which has existed since 1977, is comprised of those who teach disabled individuals how to drive and assesses their needs for adaptive devices.  The majority of their 520 members are in rehabilitation hospitals.  “Most states,” says Ric Cerna, the Association’s administrator, “have requirements for high school driver training specialists and private school instructors.  However, if a person becomes a driver rehabilitation trainer there are no requirements.  People who train the disabled fall through the cracks.”

Five years ago the Association started a certification program for driver training specialists.  The purpose of the program was to try to bring some standardization and a common knowledge base to those who were teaching and evaluating disabled drivers.  Previously there were no guidelines or standards and, in some states, people could hang a shingle and call themselves a driving rehabilitation specialist without any kind of certification.  “They wouldn’t know anything about disabilities and that is the argument we use,” says Cerna.  “The questions we ask on the exam deal with disability and driving and how the medical aspects of disability effect driving.”

Ok, you’ve gotten yourself tested and evaluated.  And you have a prescription in your hand for the types of adaptive devices you need to get on the road.  Now it’s time to get your vehicle modified.  Or is it?  Here is where an important mistake can be made.  Many uninformed consumers believe that any vehicle can be modified to hold any kind of adaptive device but this simply is not true.  Most foreign-made minivans, for example, do not have the room to hold a ramp or lift.  And, depending on the way their bodies are constructed, it may be impossible to drop the floor or raise the roof.  The experts agree that the wise consumer should talk to a modification expert to make sure that their dream vehicle can accommodate the kinds of adaptations they require.  Most dealers of adaptive equipment have a list of which devices can be fit into which vehicles.  Before you go out and buy a thirty thousand dollar minivan doesn’t it make sense to make sure you’ll be able to modify and use it first?

It may surprise people to learn that the automobile industry has worked closely with the adaptive equipment manufacturers and installers over the years to make sure that people with disabilities have a wide selection of vehicles from which to choose.  Things like wider doors, lower door sills, and larger control knobs are becoming commonplace.  Every one of the major automobile manufacturers conducts focus groups to test their designs on a wide array of potential consumers.  General Motors has gone one step further.  Paul Ulrich, Manager of GM’s Paragon Project, says his group handles accessibility issues for people with disabilities and those individuals who are 50+.  Their goal is to lower the effort needed to operate primary and secondary systems in the car.  “People don’t particularly care for small buttons or sliders.  Our climate controls are three knobs (speed, temperature and mode) as opposed to small buttons or sliders.  Once you understand the function of each knob you can adjust those knobs without having to lift your shoulder from the seat.  The ignition switch is on the instrument panel not the steering column thanks to the involvement of one of our team who is post polio with a lot of upper body involvement.  He found that he could only operate the ignition switch effectively with it placed on the panel.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that even a half inch change in the lowering of a van floor can affect a driver’s ability to use equipment or to have an unobstructed view of the road.  Consumers have to be mindful of several important issues.  They need to take the time to find a qualified dealer.  The NHTSA recommends that consumers begin with a phone inquiry to find out about credentials, experience, and references.  They suggest asking questions about how different devices operate.  Does the dealer work with evaluators?  Will they look at your vehicle before you purchase it?  Do they require a prescription from a physician or other driver evaluation specialist?  How long will it take before they can start work on your vehicle? Do they provide training on how to use the adaptive equipment?  These are all very important questions to ask.

Vans and minivans are the vehicles most people with mobility impairments drive because of their ease of use and their ease of modification.  In fact, Scott Davies, Northeast Regional Sales Manager for Independent Mobility Systems (Farmington, NM), says that about half of the disabled driving population uses a minivan.  “It is estimated that approximately 10,000 minivans are converted nationally every year.”

If a van or minivan is to be used lifts are the first kind of adaptive equipment that most people need to consider installing.  Lifts come in two major categories, those that carry only mobility equipment and those that carry both people and mobility devices.  Director of Sales and Marketing, Jack Sheehan, says that Bruno Independent Living Aids (Oconomowoc, Wisconsin) is the market leader in lifts that bring adaptive equipment into vehicles.  Bruno manufactures more than 18 different lifts with a maximum carrying capacity of up to 300 lbs.  Prices for their products range anywhere from $800 to $2800 depending on the kind of lift needed, the size and the carrying capacity.  Company leaders make it a point to create products that can adapt to a wide range of vehicles.  They stay on top of the automotive market because the number of vehicles we can put a lift on changes from year to year.  Some of the variables that are considered in designing lifts are the vehicle’s floor strength, width and height of door opening.  “There’s a constant flow of new mobility products and new vehicles on the market and an adaptation company has to be on top of all those products to see what adaptive equipment will fit both the vehicle and the needs and abilities of the user,” says Sheehan.

Lifting both people and their mobility devices requires a different kind of engineering technology.  That’s where Braun Corporation steps up to the plate.  Braun has been in the business of getting people and their devices into vehicles since 1964.  Today they manufacture many different lifts for the consumer market.  Prices range from $3,500-$10,000.

A van or minivan isn’t always the way to go.  Some people don’t want their disability to dictate the kind of vehicle they drive.  Access Unlimited’s Tom Egan understands that.  “What our company does is look at the kind of vehicle you want to drive and we find a way for you to do it.  Instead of the company telling the user what kind of vehicle he has to drive, we want the customer to tell us what he wants to drive and we find a way to get him in it.  We manufacture alternative access devices.”  Egan believes that the best vehicle to modify is the one the customer wants to drive.  Their Multi-Lift ($4000), for instance, is a multiple-use transfer device that can be moved from vehicle to vehicle.  Their Glide and Go ($3000), allows someone to transfer onto a flip-down seat which then lifts them into a truck.

It’s been said that the only people who can’t drive these days are those who have severe visual disabilities.  But no matter what kind of vehicle you want to drive getting inside isn’t the only thing you have to consider.  Other adaptive devices must be used, and they come in a wide variety of designs and functions.  The first adaptive device that comes to most people’s mind is hand controls, and there are two varieties ranging in price from about $300 to about $800.  The one you choose will depend on your level of functioning and what you feel most comfortable with.  Right-angle controls, which require a downward motion to accelerate and a forward motion to apply brakes, are generally considered the least complicated and most comfortable. However, for people with limited upper-body strength, push-pull controls are best.  Steering mechanisms also come in several forms. Those with good upper body strength, mobility and dexterity can spend $60 to install a simple spinner knob that is clamped to the steering wheel and pivots as the wheel is turned.  For those who need a bit more support to hold the wheel, like quadriplegics or those with severe arthritis, a three-pin device that holds the hand in place is available.  And, because it’s sometimes difficult to take your hands off the wheel especially if you use hand controls, if the driver needs help accessing the wipers or the radio those kinds of controls are available as well.  Many companies manufacture and sell devices that route the control of secondary systems to a panel that attaches to the steering wheel.

When I lost the use of my legs the question most people asked me first was ‘Can you drive?’, to which I replied, ‘I live on Long Island, I have to drive.’  The fact that I could get behind the wheel of my car again surprised many people.  But the truth of the matter is that being disabled does not rule out the possibility of driving.  All it means is that you have to find alternative methods than were used before.  Fortunately there are many alternative methods available and there are many people who are ready, willing, and able to assist people with disabilities to find their place on the road.  Like many things in life, the consumer has to spend time learning what is available and deciding how best to access what he needs.  With little exception there is no reason why the majority of people with disabilities need to depend on an able-bodied person to get them from place to place.

Tom Egan, President
Access Unlimited
570 Hance Road
Binghamton, NY, 13903
(800) 849-2143
www.accessunlimited.com


Ric Cerna, Administrator
Association of Driver Rehabilitation Specialists
PO Box 49
Edgerton, WI 53534
608-884-8833
www.driver-ed.org
 

Troy Schultz, Sales Manager
Braun Corporation
P.O Box 310,
1014 S. Monticello
Winamac, IN  46996
(219) 946-6153
www.braunlift.com

Jack Sheehan, Director of Sales
Bruno Independent Living Aids
1780 Executive Drive
PO BOX 84
Oconomowoc, WI 53066
800-882-8183
www.bruno.com

Paul Ulrich, Manager
General Motor’s Paragon Project
810-986-9037

Scott Davies
Independent Mobility Systems
4100 W. Piedras Street
Farmington, NM 87401
800-467-8267
www.ims-vans.com


Becky Plank
National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association
11211 N. Nebraska Ave., Suite A-5
Tampa, Florida 33612
(800) 833-0427
www.homestead.com/nmeda/nmeda.html


National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
1-888-327-4236
www.nhtsa.gov

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Please contact RBennett@Bennet-Tec.Com