It was not so long ago that people challenged by mobility or balance problems had more hurdles to jump and fewer resources with which to do it. Canes, walkers, and wheelchairs were often unwieldy, cold, and unattractive affairs that were rendered useless in inaccessible public spaces. Today, wheeled walkers in designer colors, zippy, all-terrain scooters, and voice-recognition software are common solutions to physical challenges.
You're probably wondering: How do I find these adaptive resources? What companies and organizations do I contact? What's available and how much do these products and services cost? Gratefully, there's a one-stop website that boasts a comprehensive database that can help answer these questions and many more.
Abledata.com is a federally funded project whose primary function is to provide information on assistive technology and rehabilitation equipment available within the U.S..
The ABLEDATA database contains information on more than 18,000 currently available assistive technology products. The database contains not only detailed descriptions and prices of each product, but also information on customized and one-of-a-kind products, and do-it-yourself designs. ABLEDATA suggests combining information from their database with professional advice, product evaluations, and hands-on product trials.
To help you find the information you need from their extensive database, you can conduct searches in 5 ways: keyword, product type, company, brand name, and boolean (tailored).
Resource Centers
ABLEDATA offers Resource Centers that are intended to provide you with Internet resources on a selected disability issue such as: Travel, Parents with a Disability, and Accessible Housing.
Listed below are just a handful of the resources I've found on ABLEDATA's site. They range from travel and vacation services, to web sites for the special challenges of disabled parents, to home modifications to make your house accessible.
Access-Able provides information about a wide variety of travel resources available to disabled travelers.
Disability Travel designs accessible holidays and escorts groups on accessible vacations exclusively for slow walkers, wheelchair travelers, their families and their friends.
Through the Looking Glass (TLG) has been been awarded a grant to be the first National Resource Center for Parents with Disabilities. TLG seeks to empower parents and potential parents with disabilities. Technical assistance is a major focus of TLG.
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