Recent comments in /f/UpliftingNews

kgruesch t1_j3fyb53 wrote

Reply to comment by Capital_Shock_886 in A new wheelchair from the inventor of the Steadicam by AmethystOrator

It's true, wheelchairs are glacially slow at technological progress. That's how the industry wants it because changing technology means updating billing codes.

I work for a company that makes the only smart sensor system on the market for power wheelchairs (think collision avoidance, curb detection, cloud data connectivity) and we've received nothing but pushback from the two largest industry players in the US. They've bought up and shelved so many innovative products over the past decade because they might upset the apple cart.

What it boils down to is the major players in the industry essentially saying "disabled people don't deserve the best technology we have to offer because we don't make enough money off it," and I want everyone to be as pissed off about that as we are.

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ThinknBoutStuff t1_j3fw736 wrote

Reply to comment by Mary_Pick_A_Ford in A new wheelchair from the inventor of the Steadicam by AmethystOrator

I'd encourage you to dig deeper, they have lots of videos on the website with lots of different people of various conditions using the product (including someone with 1 leg).

Plenty of people out there are on the edge of walker/wheelchair that could benefit. As you suggest, everyone's medical history and capacities are different. But not sure where the "need to test this on people who rely on wheelchairs and walkers and not people who don't need them" comes from. Pretty clear that's happened.

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