As a manual wheelchair user himself, Colorado state Rep. David Ortiz knows how critical timely repairs can be when your wheelchair isn’t working. Something as simple as a missing bolt can be the difference between independence and bed rest, yet those simple solutions can take days, weeks — even months — to secure because of insurance and provider complications.

“I don’t need pre-approval for every stupid little repair I need on my chair,” says Ortiz, the first wheelchair-using member of the Colorado General Assembly in that legislative body’s 146-year history. “We know that I have my chair, we know that it’s a critical piece of mobility device, and it needs to be repaired as quickly as possible.”

In hopes of making that possible, Ortiz was one of the prime sponsors of the Consumer Right to Repair Powered Wheelchairs, the first Right to Repair law focused on power wheelchairs in the nation. The law allows wheelchair users access to parts, software and manuals so they can repair their own power wheelchairs. Under the law, power wheelchair manufacturers could be cited for an unfair trade practice if they refuse to allow access to parts and manuals.

The bill passed the General Assembly with bipartisan support in the most recent session and was signed into law by the governor. It goes into effect January 1, 2023. A separate bill, also becoming law on January 1, aims to expedite service on complex rehab technology by prohibiting the state from requiring pre-authorization for repairs.

Ortiz is excited about the tangible benefits the new law will provide for power wheelchair-using Coloradans. “I think it’s going to open up more options to have our wheelchairs repaired,” he says. “What it’s going to do is increase competition and create a situation where either you repair in a timely manner or I go to a third party. I don’t need to go to you. You don’t have a monopoly on my parts and on my chair anymore. That’s my chair, not yours.”

The Beneficiaries

Oliver Giminaro and Sarah Metsch are two of many Coloradans who stand to benefit from the state’s new Right to Repair law. In spite of his 31 years as a wheelchair user and a background in mechanical engineering, Giminaro once waited weeks for his vendor to send out a technician just to confirm what he already knew: that a bracket on his chair was broken. “Yup, this part is broken, you’re right,” the technician told him. Giminaro still had to wait a few more weeks for the provider to replace and fix the part — all the while certain he could have fixed the problem if given what he needed.

“I have little sympathy for companies crying foul,” Giminaro says. “They put us in life-threatening positions every day on their decisions to make the repairs.”

Metsch, a lifelong wheelchair user and disability-rights advocate, has endured more than her fair share of repair-related issues, including a 3 1/2-month wait for a repair that took two minutes to execute. In that instance, the repair didn’t even involve replacing any parts.

She hopes Colorado’s law leads to a movement that effects change for all wheelchair users. “We’ll know it’s working when we hear far fewer disaster stories,” she says. “When it becomes a way of life instead of a fight, then we’ll know it’s working.”

The Movement

Colorado’s law is a big step for the Right to Repair movement. Since Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly supported a Right to Repair initiative focused on automobiles in 2012, more than half the states have introduced similar bills aimed at everything from farm equipment to cellphones and other technology. So far Colorado is the only state to pass a bill for wheelchairs.

Manufacturers and representatives from other industries have successfully argued they should not be forced to share proprietary information. In Colorado, wheelchair industry representatives testified against many of the provisions in the bill, with some suggesting that it might drive businesses away.

So will the new law promote sustained competition, or might it dissuade people from participating in the Colorado market altogether?

“Only the people we don’t want participating,” Ortiz says. “If they’re taking that long for repairs, and people aren’t using them, whose fault is that? If there’s a competitor who does it better and it causes them to go out of business, that’s on them.

“I’m not a believer in controlling competition. I do believe in regulating the market for consumer protections, but not to protect someone’s bottom line. I do not believe in regulation for that.”

Even with the new law taking effect, few believe the road ahead will be without its bumps and detours. Julie Reiskin, the executive director of the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, doesn’t expect the existing vendors and manufacturers just to roll over. She is skeptical that all manufacturers will supply the technical data, software codes, etc., necessary for third-party vendors and wheelchair owners to carry out repairs, as required by the new law. “Even the people who work in repair have to spend hours and hours on hold to get those codes,” she says. “We will probably need to litigate it.”

Ortiz, who is currently running for reelection, understands that change won’t come immediately, but he isn’t taking his eyes off the prize. “The ultimate success is when we see the time for repairs go down, that’s going to be the main thing,” Ortiz said. “That’s the end goal.”

— Additional reporting by Joelle Brouner.