At the NRA conference, I sat in on a session with John Hancock from the Kentucky AgrAbility Project and Carol Weber from the KY Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. As a city dweller, I have almost no experience of rural life, let alone farming. I’m reasonably familiar with the usual assistive technology, accommodations, and modifications made for people with disabilites in offices, homes, and public settings, but I wanted to see what kinds of mods and equipment these guys work on.

Wow!

First of all, did you know that about 500,000 farmers and agricultural workers in the US report having some physical disability that interferes with their ability to farm? Did you know the average age of farmers in the US is now around 56? Did you know farming is consistently ranked in the top three most dangerous jobs along with mining and construction?

Farmers with disabilities have an excellent resource in the AgrAbility Project. There’s a national office at Breaking New Ground at Purdue University (http://cobweb.ecn.purdue.edu/~agenhtml/ABE/Extension/BNG/Resource%20Center/resourcecenter.html) and individual offices in about 40 states (http://agrability.org/contact-list/index.html). The AgrAbility Projects work with local offices of vocational rehabilitation to provide technology and training. They modify farm equipment, help to purchase vehicles, and provide additional support to farmers with disabilities.

Ms. Weber showed off some really impressive modifications to tractors, lifters, movers, and combines. These allow farmers with back injuries, arthritis, prosthetics, and other conditions to continue working on their farms.

For more information, please visit the websites above or give AgrAbility a call at 800-825-4264.