CONSUMERS : Emphasis Is on ‘Able’ at L.A. Expo for the Disabled

If you’re disabled and have been searching for a particular product or service--or if you’re looking for something for a relative or friend--the best place to look in Los Angeles this weekend is undoubtedly Abilities Expo ’89 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

More than 200 exhibitors will demonstrate such high-tech items as a computer that helps a speechless person talk by responding to eye contact, a state-of-the-art wheelchair that can climb stairs or a device that can turn a regular wheelchair into a hand-operated cycle for exercise or racing or touring.

Now the largest such show in the United States, the exposition was started five years ago by Dick Wooten of RCW Productions in Encinitas. Wooten, who contracted polio as a child and has been in a wheelchair for 37 years, said he started the show in Los Angeles because there was no centralized place where one could go to see the latest products for the disabled. He calls the event one that “emphasizes abilities, not disabilities,” hence the positive name for his annual project.

This year’s exposition, to be held Friday, Saturday and Sunday, will include thousands of specialized products for people with motion, hearing, speech or vision impairments, plus art exhibits, sports demonstrations and workshops for the disabled, for senior citizens and for health care and rehabilitation professionals.

In the sports category, Mike Dempsey, three-time Paralympic Gold Medalist in Wheelchair Table Tennis, will give daily table tennis demonstrations, and wheelchair tennis champion Mary Jones will be at the show.

(Admission to Abilities Expo ’89 is $3 for adults; free for children under 12. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.)

Since introducing Expo, Wooten said he has received hundreds of requests from all over the country to duplicate the show. So for the first time, he and his wife, Pat, will take the Expo to St. Louis June 2-4.

“We hope in 1991 to move to the East Coast with a third show,” Wooten said last week at the Convention Center, as he demonstrated his new Dodge minivan conversion, which automatically lowers the entire van to the ground for easier access for a wheelchair-bound traveler.

Reflecting on changes over the years in products to assist the disabled, Wooten recalled that when he first became disabled as a youngster, technology wasn’t far enough advanced to make a folding wheelchair that could be loaded into a car.

“Now, the technology is amazing,” Wooten said. “At the show, people will see kitchen and bathroom cabinets and cupboards that can raise and lower to accommodate a person in a wheelchair, bathroom fixtures that raise and lower, workstations for disabled, a wheelchair that is run by voice commands, one that goes up and down steps, an Eyegaze computer that can type 120 characters a minute--that’s two letters every second.”

The Eyegaze Computer System, which Wooten noted will be officially introduced on the West Coast at the show, consists of a standard IBM-compatible computer with a keyboard of symbols on the computer screen. An infra-red camera reads the eye-movement of the operator across the keyboard. What the eye sees is formed into sentences and either printed out on a printer attachment or converted to speech by a voice synthesizer.

Eyegaze is expensive, however, as are most high-tech products that aid the disabled. The system costs from $48,000 to $70,000 depending on equipment required by the individual.

“Products for the disabled are pretty expensive, unfortunately so,” Wooten said. “I wish there was something I could do to lower prices. The only thing we do have is that some companies offer show specials, with discounts on items if they’re ordered at the show.”

Companies that exhibit at the show range from multimillion dollar firms to small mom-and-pop operations, often started by disabled people.

Abilities Expo also will feature displays of several van conversions with hand controls for driving and automatic lowering capabilities and, Wooten said, a local RV company will demonstrate the conversion of a motor home for disabled persons.

“We’ll be showing a coach with many options,” said Cheryl Almuina of Burbank’s National RV Inc. According to Almuina, the motor home conversion features “a wheelchair lift, a rear-bed modification--it’s an electric bed that raises and lowers--a roll-in shower, hand controls for driving, widened aisle-ways, a lower stove, sink and cabinets.”

Many products at the exposition would be of interest to seniors with physical limitations, the Wootens said, although they have had difficulty in getting the word out to older consumers.

One product for older people who may need assistance in walking is the Freedom Walker built in Los Angeles. With four wheels and a basket, it can serve as a shopping cart or convert into a chair if the person wishes to rest on the way home from the market. It also folds up for easy storage.

For the disabled interested in sports, there will be a variety of products that can help them participate in exercise or competition.

The Cycl-One attachment can convert an ordinary wheelchair into a hand-cycle for fun and exercise in riding. There are several models, some with extra gears for touring or racing.

There are ski products: Kan Ski, for disabled water skiers, and Shadow Mono-Ski, for snow skiing, both chairlike, single-ski devices. Another product can aid a disabled person in scuba diving. And there is a specially-built sailboat for a person in a wheelchair.

There also are many special exercise devices, including a rowing machine called Rowcycle, and a wide selection of athletic wheelchairs to be used for tennis, volleyball, basketball or racing.

“About four or five years ago the health care industry changed its philosophy toward the disabled,” said Wooten. “Before that the consumers were just sort of out there. The manufacturers only wanted to reach the dealers. They ignored the end user. Now the trend is to show us the products and help us to finally be able to make living better.”