Tag Archives: quadriplegic

Reduced and no effort Advanced Quadriplegic and Paraplegic Driving Controls

We have installed Advanced Driving Controls, or “High-Tech Driving Systems”, creating options for wheelchair drivers with higher levels of disability for over 25 years. Our driving controls are truly a custom mobility solution for todays quadriplegic driver. As a result, the key components of these systems are combined, fitted and installed based on an extremely thorough process developed over decades of evaluation, prescriptions and fine-tuning experience.

We have installed quadriplegic assistive driving controls and adaptive mobility devices for individuals with disabilities with more severe higher levels of injury that require more sophisticated types of assistive technology to enable them to drive safely in hundreds of vehicles.
The mobility driving controls and technologies we install have been accepted by the Federal Veterans Administration Agency for sale and distribution throughout the United States.

We are a leading installer of adaptive driving systems in the New England Area. Automotive Innovations offers an electro-mechanical driving system that gives people with disabilities an opportunity to drive.
We believe independence is an important part of life, which is why we strive to build the best Adaptive Mobility vans on the market.

A quad servo driving systems can be installed into almost any vehicle. We can install systems into anything from a Lamborghini to a Ford. We always tailor our driving systems to meet the Independent needs of the individual. Each of our vans is designed for a specific individual and there adaptive mobility equipment needs.

Servo driving systems are designed with our customers in mind. All secondary controls (i.e.. heating, AC, windows) are on touch pads or toggle switch consoles that are within inches of your hands so they are easily accessible. The steering can be a zero effort, reduced-effort or servo steering system. This allows our customers the ability to make turns with very little effort. The Gas and Brake system is also a hand-controlled function, which is built custom for each customer’s unique needs.

Automotive Innovations has a long history of providing adaptive vehicle mobility solutions and modifications for quadriplegic drivers.

We install a variety of primary driving control options designed to operate the gas, brake and steering controls of a motor vehicle. In years past, we developed a number of independent driving systems such as the popular Electronic Gas Brake, Servo Steering, and Joystick steering.

Primary driving control system provides low-effort control and mobility solutions for your specific requirements to operate the factory gas, brake, and steering controls. A variety of unique interfaces to the control system are available and can be mounted nearly anywhere in the driver’s area of the vehicle. These “input devices,” as they are called, have the look and feel of factory driving controls, but are designed specifically for the purpose of maximizing your abilities.

Servo steering and servo gas brake utilizes a sophisticated design to convert your limited mechanical input into the ability to manipulate the factory gas and brake pedals and or the factory steering column. Whether you require just gas and brakes, or just steering, or gas, brakes, and steering, Automotive Innovations Bridgewater, MA has adaptive mobility equipment solutions for you!

Reduced Effort Modifications

Reduced effort steering systems. All the modifications that are done in Bridgewater, MA are used in conjunction with hand controls and other accessible adaptations to reduce the physical strength required to perform the operations of braking and steering. Reduced effort braking and reduced effort steering are modification packages that make the steering wheel or brake pedal easier to turn or push. The level of assistance or “reduced-effort” is adjusted to the level prescribed by the driver rehabilitation specialist, based on the strength of the driver.

Reduced Effort Steering

Reduced Effort Steering modification to steering boxes and steering racks are available for most all American vans and most cars with factory power steering. Standard factory power steering requires approximately 40 ounces of effort to operate. Steering modifications can reduce the required effort to 20-24 ounces (low effort) or 6-8 ounces (no effort). (These statistics will vary depending on model of car and tire size)

Reduced effort steering modification reduces the amount of effort it takes to move a steering wheel. There is low effort to no effort available depending on the model of car and tire size.

Low effort and no effort braking modifications significantly reduces the required pressure needed to press down on a pedal to brake.

Backup Steering Systems

Emergency power assisted steering if factory power steering system fails. Test circuits are provided which enable customers to check system prior to driving. Audio and visual alarms alert driver to factory power steering failure–backup system instantaneously activates. Does not require low or no effort steering modification.

Custom Steering Column Extensions

We install custom steering systems, columns, and extensions.

Foot Steering Systems
For those customers without arms or the use of them, the foot steering system is usually combined with sensitized steering and adaptations for other dash controls. Automotive Innovations understands that most items concerning foot controlled steering need to be customized and built to and individuals specific needs.
Automotive Innovations Bridgewater, MA can install your custom foot steering system. Call us today 508-697-6006 and speak with one of our mobility experts.  We recommend mid- to full-sized American cars and some minivans for this modification.

Servo Hand Controls

Gas Brake Hand Controls in the advanced driving aid category are of course more advanced and are typically for individuals with very limited mobility and strength for operating a vehicle. A slight touch of various adaptive devices allow the car to accelerate and brake with ease.
Electric Gas and Brakes are operated from an electric servo in the form of a joystick, Tri-Pin or lever input device. Individuals can then use their hands to control their speed and to brake.

Servo Steering Controls

Servo steering allows the steering control to be located almost anywhere to assist the operator and can be fitted with a miniature or small steering wheel.

Horizontal Steering Systems

Horizontal Steering System accommodates a limited range of motion when the driver cannot use a conventional steering wheel.

The horizontal steering system is customized to meet the needs of those with high-level spinal cord injuries and all others who experience limited arm strength and range of motion. It is usually used in conjunction with our servo hand controls.

How To Really Move On When You Can No Longer Walk

There are a lot of nightmare scenarios no one wants to personally experience. One is getting a phone call that someone you love is hurt and another — permanently ending up in a wheelchair. Many people say they’d rather be dead if this happened to them, but oh how things change when you actually find yourself in this situation.

Keep Newey Mobile - VMi New England Wheelchair Vans

Simply put people don’t want to die, so they deal with it and move on, but it’s never that easy.  And for some even, they’re never able to, so forever languishing in a living hell.

To truly see how it is possible to move on after becoming a wheelchair-user and be enlightened, read on for seven awesome insights.

Accept that you must reinvent yourself.

One of the first things to know when you become a wheelchair-user is that you are no longer who you were before.  If your body is different after going through such a dramatic injury. A lot of people fight against this, wanting to hold onto their previous able-bodied self, but the fact is they will never be that person again.

Instead of desperately holding onto someone you once were, embrace this as an opportunity to reinvent yourself.  If you no longer do tree work, get that engineering degree you always wanted and finally feed that part of your brain from here on out.  A serious bodily injury can really open new doors.

Find out how to still use your body as much as possible.

It can be so difficult no longer being able to use your body like before, but don’t give up on moving your body just because you can’t use it 100 percent.  Instead, push yourself as much as possible.  If you can’t move your legs, you can try electrical stimulation to the legs.  If you can’t transfer yourself but you get really close, try for years until you finally get it.  Never give up on your body’s strength and pushing it (safely of course).  Even if you move your body involuntarily, knowing you’re still utilizing all four limbs in some way is a must for the soul long-term.

You should also be working out on a regular basis. Serious cardio and strength training is a must when you use a wheelchair since getting your heart rate can be a great way to boost endorphins in the brain.  When you’re not getting the cardio you would otherwise get from regular able-bodied activities, like walking all the time, you must find another way to get it. It’s a huge must.

Develop a negative thinking coping mechanism.

It can be almost too easy getting into a negative train of thought when things aren’t going well as a wheelchair-user.  The tendency to blame the wheelchair for all of your problems is almost too easy.  Whenever you find yourself angry because you need a wheelchair, try to click your mind into a positive place; a place you’ve created just for this.  Maybe it’s a happy memory or a place you absolutely love.

Take on the “survivor success” mentality. 

I love this one. Never forget that you are a survivor for living life sitting-down.  This is an existence that challenges a human both mentally and physically.  Whenever you feel empty inside because you can’t use your god-given legs, remind yourself that you are a  survivor in the exact sense, and let that feed your ego if you must.  Not many people can do what you do and do it so well. Yes, you do rock.

Learn to love yourself.

It can be easy being jealous of everyone that can walk when you can’t, but if you learn to love yourself completely, you’ll be a lot happier.

If you have a hard time finding things you absolutely love about yourself, make a list and ask friends and family their input.  You’ll be surprised at what you hear and chances are it will make you feel awesome.

Appreciate your unique perspective.

It can take several years to get to the mindset of enjoying the interesting perspective of  living life sitting down —  the people we meet, the lessons we’ve learned through our struggles, the way it helps us look at life differently, perhaps even better.  When you have a body that doesn’t respond like it once did, you have no choice but to look at the world differently. This without question, sharpens the mind.

Be grateful for what you still have.

Each moment you’re able to breathe is a gift whether you believe it or not, and when you use a wheelchair this is even more true since so many of us have had near death experiences. It may sound cliche, but yes, do count your blessings. 

Life is too short to wish for unicorns and golden tickets in chocolate bars. The here and the now is all we got. Enjoy your ice cream before it melts.

How have you been able to move on after becoming a wheelchair-user?

 

 

Keep Newey Mobile!

Join us at our Mobility Center this Saturday to help Keep Newey Mobile

Keep Newey Mobile - VMi New England

This event – a Craft and Vendor Fair is being held by the Bridgewater Community Lions Club to benefit the Keep Newey Mobile Campaign.

The Keep Newey Mobile Campaign is a fundraising effort for Josh Newey of Bridgewater, MA. This was created to raise funds to replace his current mobility van; a rusty and unreliable ’99 Caravan with 210,000 miles! We welcome your participation by attending this event, and/or through online donations.


Bridgewater Lions Club
When:
Saturday, October 19, 2013
10 AM -3 PM

Where:
VMi New England Mobility Center
1000 Main Street
Bridgewater, MA


Vendors:

Silpada, Tastefully Simple, Mary Kay, Lia Sophia, Thirty- One, Pampered Chef, and Scentsy.
There will also be various crafters.

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Josh’s Story

Growing up in a rural town in western Massachusetts, Josh always loved adventure and the outdoors. He was an active member of the Boy Scouts and a motorsports enthusiast. Josh couldn’t get enough of go-karts, snowmobiles, dirt-bikes, radio controlled toys, tractors, trucks, and anything else with a motor! Some of Josh’s favorite projects as a child and teen included rebuilding small engines and restoring snowmobiles. Josh attended a vocational-agricultural high school and was planning a career in equipment operation, maintenance and repair.

January 11th 1997 is the day Josh describes as the “best and worst day of his life”. Josh was 19 years old and in northern Vermont doing one of his favorite activities, snowmobiling with friends. As nighttime approached and the weather turned poor, visibility was low. Unfamiliar with the trails, and trying to maintain pace with the others in the group Josh came to a bend in the trail and was not able to make the turn quickly enough. He went off the trail and his head collided with a tree branch, breaking his neck and compromising his spinal cord. Josh also suffered a severe compound leg fracture. Josh’s accident was far out in the woods and although he never lost consciousness, it was only because of exhausting efforts by some of the others he was riding with that his life was saved. They knocked on doors seeking a phone to call for emergency help while others stayed behind to stabilize Josh. With the help of good Samaritan locals using a ladder as a backboard, he was carried to the back of a pickup truck, and transported to a location where an ambulance could finally take him to the hospital.

After being diagnosed with a C5/6 incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI), Josh was left a quadriplegic. He has paralysis from the chest down, with limited use of his arms and hands. He spent 4 months in acute rehabilitation learning to care for himself, transfer to and from his wheelchair, and how to embrace this new lifestyle. He moved to the South Shore of MA to live with his father so he could be closer to the medical resources he needed including outpatient therapy. The next several years were spent striving towards living an independent life again. After 3 years and some generous donations, Josh was physically as well as financially ready to drive again with the use of an accessible van and hand controls. The very same van we’re trying to replace with this campaign. (After 13 years & 206,000 miles it has served him well but it is used up!)

Josh attended Bridgewater State College and graduated in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in Communications. He was a member of the Peer Leadership Program, the Public Relations Student Society of America, and he managed the swim team. He later returned to school for a post-baccalaureate certificate in Graphic and Web Design.

Today,  36-year-old Josh lives on his own in Bridgewater MA., works part-time as a marketing specialist, and strives to lead an active, healthy lifestyle. He is completely independent and a social creature by nature. Josh enjoys live music, traveling, visiting with friends and family, and anything related to motorsports!

Josh is an amazing human being who has overcome so many obstacles while maintaining a positive, upbeat attitude. He takes every day as it comes and his favorite expression is “Let the Good Times Roll”.