When a farm worker's mobility is taken away, his or her livelihood can go with it.
It doesn't have to be that way, according to organizers of the Assistive Technology Expo, held April 5 at the UGA Tifton Campus. The event showcased technological developments that allow farmers with physical limitations to resume their normal work and life activities.
"The whole purpose here is to help farmers who have disabilities get back to farming, however they got it," said Jimmy Hill, engagement director for Farm Again/AgrAbility at UGA. "It could be a loss of limb or it could be a disease it could be anything. Anything that impedes them from being able to farm."
The numbers of farmers with disabilities in Georgia, or nationwide, are not readily available, though estimates show a substantial need for assistive technology on the farm. The estimate used by the Institute on Human Development & Disability at the University of Georgia was between 14 percent and 19 percent of the total farm workforce, based on 2006 statistics reported in the Journal of Agromedicine. Using those numbers as a guide, the institute estimated Georgia's number of farm workers with disabilities ranged from 11,655 to 16,151.
Limitations range from weakness associated with arthritis to complete paralysis of a person's legs. If the Assistive Technology Expo is any indication, the solutions appear to have an equal range.
For example, people with arthritis, for whom exiting or entering a pickup might be difficult, now have access to remote-controlled farm gates to allow them to stay in the truck. The expo had one of those.
There were technologically enhanced hand tools designed to increase leverage and reduce the force needed to use them.
On the other end of the spectrum, mobility gear was the most eye-catching category of tools at the event. Visitors tested motorized chairs designed to handle farm terrain and chair lifts that facilitate mounting farm equipment or entering elevated tractor cabs.
Jeff Vance of Carroll County, who broke his back in a 35-foot fall while working on a billboard, rolled around on an Action Track chair, which had tank-style tracks for wheels and a multiple position chair to give its user a variety of capabilities.
"It helps a lot," said Vance, who offered a photo of himself in the chair digging a post hole. "I hunt out of it, work out of it, do all kinds of stuff. Just anything I used to be able to do. Standing in it I'm a little taller than I used to be, so I can change light bulbs in the shop, stand up and weld. Shoot skeet. You can do anything."
When he got hurt, his first thought was that he has kids and he couldn't quit. Then, it was figuring out how to overcome challenges.
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