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Grassroots Open Assistive Tech - https://openassistivetech.org Grassroots Open Assistive Tech’s purpose is to document, curate, preserve, make accessible, and freely share assistive technology designs and information under open licenses.
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How To Make It Cheap contains easy to make plans for commonly useful low-tech adaptive devices like dressing sticks, furniture risers, and utensil grip modifications. This book is available nowhere else -- we have saved it from oblivion! #AssistiveTech #DIY #DisabilityJustice
Another groovy, 70s-tastic, DIY assistive tech book scanned and uploaded by the archivist team at GOAT! How To Make It Cheap, Vol. 1, by The Independence Factory of Middletown, Ohio. archive.org/details/chea...
From GOAT's scans of rare DIY assistive tech! "Good Junk" has detailed plans & materials lists for building control switches for electronics, out of common household objects. Build simple switch control devices for people with low dexterity, for VERY CHEAP.
archive.org/details/good...
Unreasonably amused by this headline. WE WISH!!!!! wheelchairtravel.org/lithium-ion-... #JetPacks #FlyingWheelchair #RocketPowerchair
If you've bought a Shoprider 'Vienna' powerchair you've probably noticed it start to creak, loudly, after a week or two. The cure (h/t Lewis Mobility) is to replace the pin through the seat pillar with an M8 50mm cap-head bolt, two 'repair' washers and a nylok nut.
Thomas Quiter, President & Board of Directors. In 2015, he was denied a suitable wheelchair despite Medicaid and private insurance. A crowdfunded solution showed the need for open source mobility equipment, bypassing restrictive IP laws and supporting the right to repair.
A screenshot of a facebook post from Liz Henry Coming up Feb. 22! Wheelchair/ powerchair maintenance workshop! LOVE YOUR RIDE Free workshop to learn maintenance for your mobility gear Wheelchairs, powerchairs, scooters, walkers, rollators, etc. Time: Saturday, Feb. 22, 2:00pm - 4:00pm Location: ILRCSF, 825 Howard Street - San Francisco FREE TOOLKIT AND INSTRUCTION MANUAL We will work with you to make a custom maintenance and emergency repair kit! You will get to take home a small, portable bag with tools and materials customized for you. There is also a workbook to fill out with information about your mobility device or devices, and we will look for service manuals and other information to give you. Please register by emailing info@ilrcsf.org, or call or text Vincent @ 415-609-2555. A joint workshop by Grassroots Open Assistive Tech and ILRCSF Liz Henry, liz@openassistivetech.org, https://openassistivetech.org Vincent Lopez, vincent@ilrcsf.org, Marisol Ferrante, marisol@ilrcsf.org, Nick Feldman Assistive Tech Lending Library
Attn Bay Area friends with mobility devices!
(a friend shared this on fb and since it's public I feel ok sharing here, since I know a lot of people are no longer using fb)
light blue background. Top right, blue/green DRC logo. Right in bold navy blue text: Webinar. Under, orange thin line. Image of a black male-presenting wheelchair user wearing a plaid shirt, behind him stands a black male-presenting individual with a tan sweater. Kneeling by the wheelchair user's wheel is a black individual. They're all in a white and navy blue living room with a gray couch to the left and a black bookshelf behind them. Under image, navy blue text reads: Habitability and Tenants' Rights. Under, with a navy blue background and white text reads: When: February 18th, 2025 at 1:00pm.
Have you had a repair or pest issue that a landlord just would not fix? This workshop will share red flags, best practices, and options for addressing an unsafe living environment while protecting your housing.
Register at the link: www.disabilityrightsca.org/events/habit...
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Read more about what Grassroots Open Assistive Tech is up to in our newsletter, GOAT Notes!
buttondown.com/GoatNotes/ar...
#AssistiveTech #RightToRepair #DisabilityJustice
And like, given this books, could I build this wheelchair lift? No. But given that a wheelchair van costs something like $40,000 USD, I could probably pay someone to make it, or something based on these designs, for a more reasonable cost.
Here's one of the scans we worked on today, Specifications and Drawings for a Wheelchair Lift, from 1977. archive.org/details/spec... #AssistiveTech #DIY
Our rare and useful books and materials with details of DIY assistive tech - how to build things ranging from low tech aids for daily living, to motorized wheelchair lifts for a ban, to powerchair components - will be housed at the Prelinger Library in San Francisco, available to the public.
For the life of me I can't figure out exactly why power wheelchair repair is so specialized. why can't I just go to the neighborhood mechanic and be like fix this like everybody else? why do I have to wait for repair orders and all this other stuff?
The lack of accountability in the industry is such a problem! I think Right to Repair laws are just one piece of the puzzle that may help better wheelchair repair ecosystems evolve -- much like we have bike or phone or care repair shops!
really glad I got the chance to write this. on the perfect storm of insurance BS, ableism and private equity that makes finding a good wheelchair nearly impossible www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/sole...
That looks like such a good idea, to go with the various wheelchair and scooter chargers!
GOAT also has a program to catalog and archive DIY assistive tech books, papers, construction diagrams, sewing patterns, and other material. Our catalog in progress is at www.librarything.com/catalog/open..., with scans uploaded to the Internet Archive. #AssistiveTech
Our next in-person workshop is for tinkering with, maintaining, and repairing mobility devices like walkers, wheelchairs, powerchairs, and scooters. Feb 22, 2-4pm, at the ILRCSF in San Francisco.
www.openassistivetech.org/love-your-ri...
#AssistiveTech #DisabliityJustice #RightToRepair
We're Grassroots Open Assistive Tech, a nonprofit org in the US, sharing free information on DIY assistive and adaptive technology. #AssistiveTech #DisabilityJustice #RightToRepair