ATinNH: Assistive Technology and Farming with a Disability

2007

Jill Varney
[email protected]
603-862-4320

Today, nearly 3 million Americans are directly involved in the occupation of agriculture. Farmers, ranchers, and farm workers are among the 18.6% of Americans 16 to 64 years of age who have disabilities or chronic health conditions (Waldrop and Stern, 2003). Assistive technology, labor-saving devices, and agricultural worksite modifications can enable farm families affected by disabilities to remain active in production agriculture. Generally, production agriculture is defined as occupations devoted to raising animals or crops sold for human or animal consumption or producing seeds for growing feed grains. Although production agriculture varies throughout the country, assistive technology solutions can increase independence in performing essential farm occupations in six core areas of farm work: hand tools and power tools, machinery operations, ?around-farm? mobility, livestock handling, crop production, and access to agricultural buildings. Selecting the most appropriate assistive technology solution involves an understanding of how the individual?s specific functional limitations affect the required abilities to perform the desired occupations. Assistive technology solutions can be viewed in terms of their levels of expense and complexity.

Reports and monographs

Professionals

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