Technology Helps Disabled Become Better Able to Cope : Expo: Hundreds of life-enhancing gadgets range from easily operated go-cart-like toy to custom van that mechanically lifts and stores a wheelchair.

Kids today have their Big Wheels, their scooters, their dirt bikes. Only a few have the CooperCar.

The go-cart-like toy can zoom forward with the wiggle of a toe, the turn of the head, even the flicker of an eye. It could rival the high-tech store Sharper Image in gadgetry, but it is many times more practical.

That’s because the product was one of hundreds on display Friday at the Abilities Expo in Anaheim, a showcase for the latest technology designed to make life easier for the handicapped, as well as their families, teachers, employers and health-care professionals.

The expo, which continues through today in the Convention Center, was founded eight years ago by Richard Wooten, a San Diego rehabilitation consultant who had trouble finding products to help the disabled.

“I thought, ‘If I’m having problems, certainly others are as well,” said Wooten, 55, who was stricken with polio as a teen-ager and has been in a wheelchair ever since. “It’s a difficult population to reach. We’re scattered all about the country, in all segments and all age groups and ethnic groups.”

Now, the market is growing. The Anaheim expo has about 190 exhibitors, almost double the number it had when it began in 1985. Three more expositions are planned in other parts of the country this year--in Chicago, Dallas and Edison, N.J.

Exhibitors say they are filling a need that has been overlooked in the marketplace. R. J. Cooper, the maker of the CooperCar, had sales of just $110,000 last year from the vehicle and software, so he depends on the expo to help spread the word about his product.

“These kids cannot use their arms or legs the way you or I can,” said Cooper of Dana Point as he demonstrated the mini-vehicle. “I have created computer software for the kids, but I wanted something more concrete, where they can press a button and they will have no mistake knowing what is happening.”

The vehicle has seven speeds, a timer control, joystick, a wireless remote and a child-size control device called Magic Arm. There are about 400 different switches to select from, all depending on a child’s physical abilities. The entire package could cost from about $600 to $1,000. Pricey, but Cooper has sold 300 CooperCars since it was developed two years ago. He also has a competitor, a former employee who makes a similar product.

Elsewhere, athletic types stopped by at the Petrofsky Center’s display of a shoe-box-sized computer which produces electric shocks to tone muscles and even stimulates them enough for walking.

“My legs were once just skin and bones,” said Dean K. Maccabe, 30, of Orange, who started working for the Irvine-based center after his initial therapy last year. “Since I play wheelchair sports, I wanted to build them up. I’ve worked out to a point where I never thought I could before.”

Maccabe, who was paralyzed in a diving accident 10 years ago, demonstrated how electrodes are isolated on muscles, stimulating the area for 15 to 30 minutes at a time. The center’s founder, Jerry Petrofsky, and his associate, Janni Smith, also developed a Walkman-sized device that can be attached to the waist, which enables some disabled people to walk.

“Just because you’re in a wheelchair doesn’t mean you have to act like it,” Maccabe said. “We all want to be in good shape. We all are a little vain.”

Like any other marketer, exhibitors were also touting the improved convenience of their wares.

“Every year there is something new,” said Howard Burkett, sales and service engineer at the Huntington Beach plant of Braun Corp., which makes vans and other vehicles accessible to the disabled. “Back in the old days, things were pretty archaic. You just concentrated on getting in and out of the vehicle. Now it’s a lot more refined.”

Among the latest models the company had on display was the EnterVan, which makes it easier for a wheelchair to be rolled in and out of a vehicle. It has a lowered floor and a ramp that extends from a side door. Most other vans have an electrical lift, which often takes longer and takes up more space inside the vehicle.

“The trend is to make the vehicle not look like it is converted for a wheelchair,” said Burkett, 62. “The entry is not apparent.”

The Indiana-based company, not unlike the Big Three auto makers, makes its sales push based in part on appearance. The motto for the EnterVan: “Raising Your Expectations in a Lowered Floor Vehicle.”

“Plus it’s a minivan, and the mileage is a lot better,” Burkett said. “That’s the big thing.”

The customized Chrysler vans cost $35,000, compared to $21,000 for a similar vehicle not converted for a wheelchair. Burkett, who was stricken with polio 35 years ago, also promotes the company’s Chair Topper, which mechanically lifts a wheelchair to a storage compartment mounted on the top of a car after the driver has been seated inside.