This is Not a Wheelchair

It’s no wonder the off-road adaptive device “The Rig” is seemingly everywhere on social media lately — Zack Nelson, the guy who built it, runs “Jerry Rig Everything,” a YouTube channel with 5.82 million subscribers. His wife, Cambry, has paraplegia and uses a wheelchair, and a couple of years ago he built her a homemade off-road device out of two electric bikes that he fused together and put a seat between. The pair immediately began working on ways to improve the design, and a few iterations later they launched The Rig (youtu.be/vuMg0QwKAGI). “Our whole goal was to design an affordable, capable off-road wheelchair and mass produce them,” says Nelson.

The Rig runs mainly off bike parts, has a top speed of 12 mph and a range of 10-20 miles, though you can upgrade to a two-battery system that can take you up to 35 miles. With a full-suspension model going for $4,750, The Rig is significantly less expensive than many other adaptive off-road vehicles. There are some tradeoffs though. On the positive side, it does well enough in dirt, gravel and grass that it would be able to handle whatever most riders need it to. Also, it has space and mounting racks to carry your wheelchair and packs up small enough to fit in a short-bed pickup or even a Subaru Outback. As far as drawbacks, it only has two-wheel drive, struggles with traction in soft sand, and has a fairly high center of gravity. For full details, check out notawheelchair.com.

Best Places to Work

The 2020 version of the Disability Equality Index is out, revealing the companies with the best practices when it comes to workplace inclusion and accessibility. According to the report, “the DEI continues to see an increase in year-over-year participation, with the number of top-scoring companies more than quadrupling to 205 in 2020 as compared to 43 in 2015.”

Companies were measured in a variety of categories that included culture and leadership, enterprise-wide access, community engagement and employment practices such as recruitment and retention.

Top-scoring corporations come from all industries — tech giants like Microsoft and Google, financial firms like U.S. Bank and Visa, retailers like Lowe’s and Walmart, and blue-chip manufacturers like General Motors and Johnson & Johnson.

The DEI makes sure to note that a score of 100 doesn’t equal perfection. It “means that a company adheres to many of the numerous leading disability inclusion practices featured in the DEI, but there’s still room for improvement.” To read the full report, go to: disabilityin.org/what-we-do/disability-equality-index/

Why Won’t You Date Me? — ‘Dating With Disability’

Nicole Byer, host of the popular podcast Why Won’t You Date Me?, recently had comedian, wheelchair user and NEW MOBILITY cover woman Santina Muha on the show. The hour-long episode covers everything from problems with the ADA to the unique perils of online dating with a disability to including disability in broader diversity discussions. The conversation is fresh, funny and doesn’t hold anything back. Go to bit.ly/2ZABUSD or search for it on your podcast app of choice.

Move SMOOV-ly

When it comes to attachable power assist options for a manual wheelchair, the SmartDrive has a smooth new competitor — correct that, a SMOOV new competitor. The SMOOV one was designed by Alber, a German subsidiary of Invacare, and has been available in Europe for the past year. As of July, you can get it in the States.

The unit looks very similar to the SmartDrive and has similar specs, with a range of 12 miles, 6 mph max speed and a weight of 16 pounds. There are some key differences though. Whereas the SmartDrive is controlled by a Bluetooth connected bracelet, the SMOOV has a controller that mounts on your wheelchair. You tap it to start and stop, and twist a dial to increase or decrease the speed, and the SMOOV’s motor is smart enough that if you grab your pushrims to stop, the unit will automatically shut down propulsion. Similarly, “If I’m doing six miles an hour going straight, and I enter into a turn, it will automatically adjust my speed downward,” says Bill Russel of Alber USA.

With these advanced drive features and app-based customization, the SMOOV one is worth checking out if you’re looking to add some power assist to your arsenal. It retails for $6,895. For more info and their online shop, visit smoov.com/us-en.

Watch

If you haven’t seen the Golden-Globe-winning Hulu Series Ramy, which features wheelchair-using actor Steve Way as the foul-mouthed best friend of the show’s creator, do yourself a favor and start your binge now. The series’ second season was released earlier this summer, and Way’s turn in episode 7 — in which Ramy has to help his friend with some, uh, “personal issues” — is already getting Emmy buzz. Read NM contributor Teal Sherer’s review of how Ramy is helping to push the boundaries of disability portrayal at: hulu.tv/2Wobmlh

Sitting Pretty

Rebekah Taussig — the force behind the popular Instagram account @sitting_pretty — is set to publish her first book, Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body. She says it “grew from my tenderest memories and most pressing questions attached to living life from this disabled body. It’s a memoir in essay form — each chapter covering a different topic, from romance to work, ableism to feminism, representation to accessibility.” Release is on August 25 from Harper Collins, and you can go to her website for info on how to preorder: rebekahtaussig.com/portfolio/sitting-pretty.

My Wheelchair Guide

Searching for the right manual wheelchair and proper components is hard, but a new mobile application from United Spinal Association and the University of Pittsburgh aims to change that. My Wheelchair Guide includes tools and resources to help consumers navigate through the wheelchair selection, delivery and maintenance process. “There’s a lot of information out there, but much of it is geared towards clinicians,” says Dan Ding, a researcher who helped develop the app as a one-stop shop for quality information in an easy-to-digest format. She hopes it helps users better advocate for their own needs when working with a seating clinic or DME supplier. The app is available for download from Google Play and Apple app store by searching “MWG Manual.”