New Mobility’s Biweekly Newsletter – December 15, 2017


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NEWS

Accessible Vacation Rental Startup Accomable Acquired by AirbnbSrin Maipalli in front of Golden Gate bridge

Things move fast in the tech world. Just a few weeks after we reported on Accomable expanding its accessible vacation offerings to the U.S., it went and got acquired by the vacation rental behemoth Airbnb. You might be worrying that Airbnb is simply buying up a competitor, and rightly so, but there are some positive signs — including hiring Accomable’s staff and integrating more detailed accessibility features into its platform — that Airbnb may be taking accessibility seriously.

TRENDING

Power Chairs of the Future are for… Incomplete Paras?

If a wheelchair video is going to go viral these days, the chair has to navigate stairs, allow users to stand, or have some manner of ridiculously oversized tank treads. The internet’s latest offering, with 1.6 million views already, checks one and a half of these boxes. It does feature some innovative tech, allowing users to roll while (mostly) standing, go up big curbs and down shallow stairs. Drawbacks? Well, it’s an oversized, clunky looking power chair that looks to require significant trunk function to be able to use. Minor details, right? 

PRO TIPS

SCI and Diabetes: Ways to Improve Your Odds

’Tis the season for sweets and starchy vegetables, and as much as we hate playing Scrooge, it seems like a good time to mention that people with SCI are an estimated 2.5 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than the general public. Bah Humbug, for sure. The good news is that there are a few easy things you can do, like watching your carb intake and maintaining regular physical activity, to help improve your odds. As my mom used to say, “Sure you can have a cookie, but you gotta run to the shed and back first!”

Safe Disposal of Unwanted Items

If you’ve been living as a wheeler for a while, you probably have a whole load of stuff — medications, wheelchairs, medical supplies, adaptive equipment — that you don’t need anymore, but can’t seem to get rid of. Michael Collins gives you the resources to safely dispose of unused medications and find local organizations that can put your old equipment into the hands of those who really need it.

Quad-Friendly Recreational Flying

For Kary Wright, a C5-6 quad from Alberta, Canada, flying an adapted glider offers a chance at something that often eludes him on the ground. “Once airborne, I’m experiencing total freedom. In the glider I am a pilot, no longer the guy in the wheelchair,” he says. Gliders offer some of the lowest barriers to entry for any type of flight, and are surprisingly easy to adapt for use by those with little hand function. This look at a day spent chasing lift will have you searching for a soaring club near you.

FUN READ

Mik Scarlet Saves the Day

Actor, synth-pop rocker, disability activist, journalist, TV presenter — Britain’s Mik Scarlet can be called a lot of things, perhaps the most colorful of which is “Billy Idol on Wheels.” Aaron Broverman takes us behind the spiky red hair for a closer look at a man who has been a mainstay on British television since the late 1980s, continually challenging mainstream perceptions of disability and what a wheelchair user should look like.

 


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