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Category: law and policy

Free Webinar: Power wheelchairs and Right-to-Repair law in California

Published December 5, 2024 by Liz Henry

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
December 12
2:00-3:00 PM, Pacific Time

The CIL’s partners at the DONetwork are proud to put on this educational webinar explaining the ins and outs of the new Power Wheelchair Right to Repair law in California.

Please register here: https://tinyurl.com/DOnetworkSB1384

The DOnetwork will be producing a public education webinar for SB 1384, the “powered wheelchair right to repair” bill, sponsored by Sen. Dodd. This legislation becomes law on January 1, and it has impacts that will increase the ability for independent repair shops and individuals to access parts and equipment to make repairs on powered wheelchairs.

Here’s an overview of what will be covered:

  • What SB 1384 means for the community, and how it will be implemented in California?
  • How is right to repair working in other states?
  • What are the next steps for pushing this issue in California?

    • Invited panelists include State Senator Bill Dodd, Capitol Staff Ana Vazquez, a representative from NCART – the association for providers of power chairs and complex rehab technology, and a consumer.

    a whill model ci powerchair up on a jack with the front wheel removed

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    Right to repair review

    Published September 30, 2024 by openassistivetech_e02gls

    Right to repair laws are a disability justice issue for those of us who need technological devices for our basic ability to function in the world. All of these things integrate with our bodies and lives in a deeply intimate level.

    We may need to fix our wheelchairs, scooters, or powerchairs, things that give us mobility. We may need to understand our hearing aid, cochlear implant, screen reader, brailler, augmentive / assistive communication devices. Or we might need to maintain, troubleshoot, and repair prosthetic devices – a limb, a motorized brace, an exoskeleton, even an eye. They are our essential companions, part of our cyborg selves. Assistive tech shouldn’t be treated as a sort of rental or subscription, a cash cow service needed by the desperate to be exploited, or a throwaway victim of planned obsolescence.

    Because of that tension, disabled people are often at the forefront of right to repair advocacy.

    This helpful page from repair.org outlines the current legal landscape, state by state, for those of us who are fighting to fix our assistive tech: What are my repair rights?

    Currently, there are state right to repair laws in California, Minnesota, Colorado, and New York; another bill is up for review in 2025 in Oregon and in many other states!

    While this issue hits especially hard for disabled people, it’s just good common sense in many ways for anyone who buys or uses electronic devices.

    It also makes sense for protecting the environment from piles of useless trash that pollutes the land around it with materials extracted from the earth at a great human and ecological price. The less we waste, the better – for everyone.

    a wooden sign painted with the word REPAIR in an old fashioned font, on a workbench
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    California Right to Repair – SB 1384 Power wheelchairs – repair

    Published September 30, 2024 by Liz Henry

    California SB 1384 passed and was just signed into law by the governor. This right to repair legislation is about powered wheelchairs in particular. In short:

    – The criteria have been broadened, or relaxed, for who qualifies as an independent repair shop for power wheelchairs;
    – “documentation, parts, embedded software, firmware, and tools used to inspect, diagnose, maintain, and repair the wheelchair” must be provided to “an owner or an independent repair provider for the purposes of providing service on the equipment”

    This is great news. It should be helpful for us (the disabled powerchair owners) to fix, or get our chairs, fixed as quickly as possible! Thanks to all the advocates out there who worked so hard to get this made into law.

    Honestly, it should also be great news for the wheelchair manufacturers. They now have extra incentives to plan and design for maintainability of their equipment. I hope they have been following along with the legislation and are prepared to do that. The result will be that their customers will be a lot happier!

    And I am loving the details in this bill about firmware and diagnostic tools – two things that I’d like to have for my own chair that have previously been refused to me by the manufacturer. It may be a battle over what they will hold back as a trade secret, but at least we have a starting point for that battle.

    It also includes:
    (1)Batteries.
    (2)Battery chargers.
    (3)Nonprogrammable joysticks.
    (4)Joystick housings or brackets.
    (5)Wheel assembly.
    (6)Nonpositioning accessories.
    (7)Antitip devices.
    (8)Armrests, excluding positioning components designed for adjustment by a therapist or assistive technology professional.
    (9)Caster spheres.
    (10)Cosmetic shrouding.
    (11)Floor mats.
    (12)Floor plates.
    (13)Nonpowered leg lowerers.

    Here’s the text of the bill: https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240sb1384

    And here is a PDF with some extra analysis from earlier this year: https://apcp.assembly.ca.gov/system/files/2024-06/sb-1384-dodd-apcp-analysis.pdf

    motor controller diagram for action arrow wheelchair
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