"We probably see someone out in public using a wheelchair, and we don't think too often about the technology of the chair. Occasionally you see someone getting pushed on an old fashioned wheelchair. But more often we see a pretty high tech device with an electric motor. What that did, and this is a mid-1960s invention, the initial ones actually were just this funny little motor unit that you stuck onto the back of the typical old wheelchair and just souped-up a regular wheelchair."
"There's an incredible lack of privacy by always having somebody take care of your physical mobility, and when you could suddenly be the person who says, "Yes, I'll go get the beer" or "Yes, I'm coming across campus to this party" they were thrilled. I compare it to the early 1900s, maybe 1920s with the automobile and where suddenly there's a privacy for young people in the family automobile to get away from the house."
Mid-1960s motorized attachments transformed ordinary wheelchairs into powered devices that allowed people with disabilities to travel across campus without attendants. Gaining motorized mobility created privacy, personal autonomy, and the ability to participate socially without constant assistance. The technology resembled earlier mobility revolutions such as the automobile, offering young people a new sphere of independence. Increased independence and mobility helped catalyze organized disability rights efforts aimed at creating access in physical spaces, services, and laws. Activism emphasized accessibility as a broad concept encompassing technology, infrastructure, and social policy to secure equal participation for people with disabilities.
Read at Streetsblog
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