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Warm Springs Rehabilitation System, A&M
give aid to farmers and ranchers with disabilities
Texas
There are an estimated 50,000 disabled farmers and ranchers in Texas. Each year, a disabling injury occurs on one in every 117 farms and a non-agriculture related injury occurs on one in 24 farms. The Texas Agrability Project, a partnership between Warm Springs Rehabilitation System and Texas A&M University Texas Cooperative Extension, meets the challenge of helping individuals overcome physical barriers and continue their profession in agriculture.
Such impairments, coupled with the states scattered resources, pose great challenges for disabled farmers and ranchers. The AgrAbility Project helps farmers, ranchers and farm workers with disabilities find ways to maintain their independence and safely continue to run their farm or ranch operations.
John Machen, Warm Springs Resourcenter director, said, "Our primary goal is to provide farmers and ranchers with disabilities the resources to maintain their productivity. We want to enable them to continue working their land."
Often, a farmer or rancher that becomes disabled is no longer able to perform the duties necessary to run a productive business. Forced to give up a way of life that some have lived since birth, they are suddenly faced with the challenge of finding other means of earning a living.
AgrAbility strives to change that. The motivating philosophy behind the program is the idea that while disabilities pose definite challenges, it doesn't require such an abrupt lifestyle change.
Assisting participants obtain specially equipped wheelchairs and redesigned farm machinery provides them a new alternative. Through AgrAbility's assistance, the chores of keeping up a farm or ranch become manageable.
States with funded projects are currently in the minority in the United States with 24 states that have a viable AgrAbility program. Since its initial funding in 1991, AgrAbility staff have provided on-farm assistance to over 10,000 farmers and educated thousands of rural health and agricultural professional.
Warm Springs began in Gonzales in 1937 as a polio treatment center for children and has grown to include four hospitals offering inpatient and outpatient care, plus six outpatient clinics situated throughout South Central Texas, Sports Program for People with Disabilities and the Resourcenter for People with Disabilities.
Date: 1/15/04
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