These are the stories of consumer experiences with assistive technology. Find out:
There are currently 61 stories.
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Jennifer would like to return to work in a factory as a part of a team assembling large mechanical parts. However, she currently has her hands full planning the construction of a new house, which involves contending with the insurance company that is financing the project.
When she was first injured as a teenager, Catherine was sure that marriage and a family “would never happen”. She now lives with her husband and two children in an accessible home in the country.
Phillip is an engineering professor who recently returned to work following his spinal cord injury. In the two years since his injury, he and his wife have completed major renovations to their home and adapted the family car with hand controls.
Ray’s chronic lower back pain, which limited his freedom and mobility for five years after rehab, was dramatically lessened when he switched from a manual wheelchair to an electric one with tilt/recline functions.
Simon and his wife have not hesitated to take matters into their own hands when acquiring the equipment they need to live the kind of life they want. They have learned that they need to be smart consumers and discern quickly who is going to provide the type of service they expect.
In the 30 years since his injury, Howard has developed a practical approach to assistive technology. He prefers not to rely on “a lot of gadgets” because he doesn’t want to be dependent on anything that he can’t take with him when he travels.
Hal was an auto mechanic before his injury. Nearly twenty years after his spinal cord injury, he is now a successful businessman who races trucks and consults with auto racers who want to improve the performance of their cars.
Al has always maintained his own chairs and does much of the maintenance work in his five-storey hotel. His skill with fixing cars is one of the many talents he has to barter with friends who help him with his assistive technology and his hotel business.
Coop’s industrial experience helps him to live alone in the country. He doesn’t hesitate to modify his assistive devices, or any other equipment that he uses, to suit his rural surroundings.
Since having her accident not long after her eighteenth birthday, Sarah has completed a university degree in mass communications, got married and is now raising two daughters.
Like many people who have spinal cord injuries, Joe has to be creative to acquire and maintain all the equipment he needs without going broke. Having skilled tradesmen in the family—brothers skilled in carpentry, machining and mechanics—has cerainly helped.
John Andrew is determined to overcome the physical effects of his spinal cord injury, which happened four years ago. Much of his equipment, such as his gym which is equipped with parallel bars and practice stairs, was purchased to support his mobility goals.
In the nearly twenty years since Bradley’s injury, he has raised two children from a previous marriage on his own, and is currently raising six-month-old twins with his wife.
Don, who was injured three years ago, lives with his two young sons in an accessible house. He goes on hunting trips to his native reserve with his brother from time to time, and is exploring a return to school.
Mary lives with her family in a rural area, and doesn’t want to have to rely on them all the time. Motivated by this desire for independence, she and her family have done a great deal of work incorporating a wide variety of assistive devices into their lives.
Tim was an active person before his spinal cord injury, and he still is to this day. His primary focus after his accident was getting mobile.
Rich is, in his words, an “active guy”. In fact, he is a skilled athlete who competes at very high levels. He says that early in his rehab, “Sports was the question I needed answers to.”
Since leaving the rehab center, Dan has tried numerous sports including wheelchair rugby, tennis, snow skiing, jet skiing and hand cycling. He feels that participating in sports helps you spiritually, emotionally, functionally and with your personal relationships, and helps you to believe in yourself&emdash;to realize that you can do more than you think you can.
Since his injury, Jack has been able to complete three master’s degree programs, keep a full-time job and manage his personal care system.
In the few years since his injury, Shawn has focused a great deal on mobility. His insurance company approved the purchase of a high-end, lightweight wheelchair as well as a pick-up truck with all of the needed accessibility modifications.
With the help of assistive devices and other adaptations, Terry has either returned to or is well on his way to returning to work, driving, and enjoying hunting and fishing around the rural area where he lives.
Ted doesn’t use a lot of assistive technology, partly because he finds it too costly. For example, he has his wheelchair and a porch lift, but he has not installed hand controls in his car.
Rodger was injured more than 20 years ago, so he has seen many changes in assistive technology and in the availability of funding to buy it.
Toby’s house, which could be considered one big piece of assistive technology, is set up to take full advantage of voice-activation technology. He can control most devices in his home through simple spoken commands.
After his injury, Alan was determined to get back to his passion of composing and producing music professionally. Having very limited movement below his shoulders though, Alan knew that he would have to use some ingenuity to achieve this goal.
Robert lives in the country, and with the help of assistive technology he pursues the outdoor activities that he loves: camping, fishing, snowmobiling and riding through the bush.
With the encouragement of his wife and the aid of assistive technology, Cole works full-time and lives an active life with his wife in an accessible house that he had custom-built.
Although Charlotte was recently injured, she has already set herself up in an accessible condominium. In fact, she was able to oversee the renovations, with all the fun and hassle that involves.
Pascal has a passion. He was a chef before his spinal cord injury, and he was determined to be a chef afterwards. His pursuit of this goal led to his being involved in designing a standing chair.
Brenda is a busy, creative person who enjoys painting and sewing, and is always looking for ways to be as independent as possible. She uses various pieces of equipment, many simple and homemade.
With the help of his technology, François is able to work in the garden and keep a few animals. Indoors, a stand-up chair allows him to put his construction skills to good use in modifying his country home.
In the 21 years since his C1-level injury, Kevin has seen a lot of change, both in the medical treatment of individuals with very high-level quadriplegia, and in the assistive technology that plays such a central role in the pursuit of his dreams.
In addition to her full-time schoolwork, Helena travels, plays basketball and tennis, and has a very active social life.
In order to pursue his athletic and recreational interests, Ken has had to develop or adapt his own devices and notes that recreational equipment is not being made for high quads. Ken has always been able to participate by finding simple, inexpensive, and aesthetically appealing ways to modify devices.
From Matt’s perspective it is difficult for professionals, without disabilities, to really understand the circumstances associated with living with a spinal cord injury. So it is best to seek out peers, as a source of information and encouragement.
Jerry considers it important to be always looking for your own ways to do things - do not just accept what the rehab center has taught. Jerry has seen that for some wheelchair users "Once they do rehab, it’s like the way it is … they showed me how to do it and it’s the only way … but when you get out in the world you find out there’s different ways of doing things."
Chris recalls that it was a year and a half after his injury before he ran into someone who motivated him get himself going. He often considers, "What if I would have met that guy like a year and a half before?" That’s why Chris now puts himself in the position of being that person to others.
Steven is in the middle of the rehabilitation process following a C3/4 injury. His primary objective is to get equipment and strategies in place to enable him to get back to his job as an executive. He has recently made some big-ticket purchases, including a power wheelchair and a modified minvan.
Joan has focused a great deal of effort on designing an effective living space. Individual assistive devices are not as important to her as they way they are integrated into her overall living environment. In her words, "…the most important assistive thing is this entire [physical] space."
Since her injury ten years ago, Jeannie has continued raising her now fourteen year old daughter. Jeannie’s choices in assistive technology are influenced somewhat by a number of medical issues, including type-1 diabetes, arthritis, occasional bouts of low blood pressure, and migraine headaches.
Sandra has competed in three separate Paralympic Games as a swimmer, snow skis and rows regularly, and has raised a son. She prefers to only use technology when she has no other options, as the level of physical activity required to perform daily tasks helps maintain her functional capacity.
While dealing with both mobility and cognitive impairments, Marilyn finds that she has to spend a great deal of time and energy arguing for needed adaptations with her primary funder, the state. She is working to become an informed consumer, insisting on knowing all of her equipment options, regardless of funding issues.
Monica remembers not wanting assistive technology at all in the initial days following her injury six years ago, as she did not want to draw attention to herself by using a lot of "extra stuff". Gradually, "reality set in" and she began to explore assistive technology as a way of making life easier.
"That’s the irony of the whole thing … I'm going to be leaving work after twenty-nine years because the systems that were designed to make me a taxpayer … they're causing me to be a tax burden."
Over the years, Martin has come to believe that having a disability does not necessarily mean compromise. He says, "Your mind set has to be different … You have to think differently. Not the way everyone else thinks. And if you're newly injured… what you value and what you pursue is different, but don't stop pursuing it."
After his injury, Max and his wife Helen suddenly found themselves needing to make many life-altering decisions all at the same time. They turned to the professionals around them for assistance and found that "no one seemed to know what to do."
While Paul respects and looks to professionals for their expertise, he believes that the most honest, informed advice about assistive technology comes from fellow consumers. He has come to resent it when 'non-disabled people' presume to know more about a product than he does.
Jason strives to balance a job, a regular exercise routine, volunteer work, and interests such as painting with his deteriorating physical condition. He has had to become skilled in dealing with an increasingly complex bureaucracy.
Mike leads an active lifestyle and his choices around assistive devices revolve around their ability to support or promote his independence. He likes to travel and 'visit friends and be involved socially.'
Following his accident, Steve felt "isolated" and "withdrawn", but this changed when he first saw a racing chair. "Just because I was sitting in a wheelchair, I didn't need to be sedentary." Physical activity has since influenced many of his choices around assistive technology.
William’s gradual, steady loss in strength and motor skills have meant changes in the technology he uses. However, his ability to address his changing physical and technological needs has been greatly affected by funding.
John values his independence, and with his mobility and self-sufficiency as his guiding principles, John has adopted a simple, pragmatic approach in choosing technology - "minimize … the gadgetry."
Alex lives independently in his own home in a rural setting, and enjoys an active lifestyle. He prefers not to rely on advanced or complex technology, and is not afraid to ask others how they accomplish tasks independently.
Eric’s living arrangement is what "very few quads are doing in this whole country, probably." He lives alone in a fully detached house, in spite of no movement below his shoulders.
Anna points out that a lot depends on the people who are around you at any given moment of the post-injury process and on who you are as an individual.
James is a proficient driver of his own modified van, and lives independently in his apartment that he was fortunate to get while still in rehab.
The pressures of being a university student have made it necessary for Luther to become an expert in computers and computer accessibility. Luther’s computer system can now support his needs, unlike his other assistive devices which have largely missed the mark.
One of the most striking things about Bruce’s assistive technology is its variety. Practically anything can become an assistive device in his hands.
Sam’s independence is limited by a lack of many basic (but expensive) assistive devices. To complicate matters further, his health has been poor lately.
Jonathan acquired most of his assistive devices several years after he was first discharged from the rehabilitation center. He learned to use all of them on his own.
Tony looks at all of his assistive devices as tools to help him stay in control of his life and "achieve for what I perceive to be the best."
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