The Los Angeles Abilities Expo — the series’ first stop of 2024 — provided the perfect start to my Complex Rehab Technology (CRT) event year.
Yes, the Abilities Expo is a consumer-focused show series. But even as an event that focuses on families, the Abilities Expo’s Los Angeles stop had plenty to offer CRT professionals, as well.
New tech in the City of Angels
Last week, my “5 First Looks” story shared new technology from Amylior, Etac, Sunrise Medical, Raz Design, and Permobil.
I also noticed plenty of attention for Rove due to its design process: The company, based in Melbourne, Australia, 3D prints titanium and carbon fiber ultralightweight wheelchairs. “Titanium powder is melted into extremely precise forms by high-powered lasers,” a Rove brochure explained. “This process allows for strong wheelchair components while removing all unnecessary mass.”
Rove says the design process and materials result in a transport weight of about 7.9 lbs. for an average-sized chair. Its leadership team includes an industrial designer/mechanical engineer (Ryan Tilley), a former elite wheelchair athlete (Bryce Alman) and a healthcare marketing expert (Keith Klein) who’s also the father of a wheelchair rider.
Rove wheelchairs are currently going through the U.S. Food & Drug Administration clearance process, a Rove representative said at the show. After that could come the process to get the Rove an ultralightweight HCPCS code.
Every news story about a student in a wheelchair who was left behind during a fire drill highlights the lack of preparation and planning for too many schools and institutions. EVAC+Chair has a range of powered and non-powered ways to evacuate people with mobility issues in cases of emergencies. One of EVAC+Chair’s devices is in the 9/11 Memorial & Museum after being used to evacuate wheelchair riders on Sept. 11, 2001.
Even a small barrier can sometimes be enough to keep a wheelchair rider or person with limited mobility from getting safely into and out of the shower. This ramp from Denmark-based Excellent Systems — as seen in the Raz Design booth — can traverse low barriers such as the frames on some “barrier-free” showers. Or the ramp can equalize the heights of the shower floor and the bathroom floor. Water drains through the ramp to reduce slippery surfaces, and the ramp can even be “carved” to fit into narrower or uniquely shaped settings.
Tips for having your best Abilities Expo days
Want to give the Abilities Expo a try? If you’re focusing on the products and technology — and skipping, for instance, the law firm and face-painting booths — you should be able to comfortably cover the show in a day. My unofficial tips:
First: Attending the Abilities Expo is free, but registration is required. This time through, I registered online in advance, brought up my registration confirmation on my phone when I arrived on site, and clicked the “check in” button. Then I waited just a few minutes to get the wristband required for entry — even on Saturday morning with a big crowd waiting to get in.
Do yourself a favor and register in advance.
Second: The expo hall’s aisles are traditionally uncarpeted to reduce rolling resistance for wheelchairs of all kinds. That means walking on bare cement floors. Wear very comfortable shoes. As a consumer show, the dress code here is casual — so your favorite sneakers will fit right in.
Third: Enjoy the local vibe. This is one of the few events whose exhibitors comprise CRT and home medical equipment (HME) providers, CRT/HME manufacturers, disability organizations, and local service providers under one roof. Two great Southern California rehab hospitals — Casa Colina and Rancho Los Amigos — had neighboring booths at Abilities L.A. The United States Tennis Association (USTA) explained the different forms of adaptive tennis and the different tennis balls used. METRO brought a bus, and its booth staffers secured bright yellow straps to wheelchairs to facilitate wheelchair securement on its public transit vehicles. Wheelchair manufacturers and providers offered free service and repairs.
Take the opportunity to learn about services and resources available in your community that you can pass along to your clients. United Spinal was one of several organizations handing out literature on emergency situations and wheelchair riders, for example.
Finally: Soak in the feeling of community. The Abilities Expo atmosphere is joyous, and raucous in the best ways. There is always music and dancing. Athletes show off their skills or try out new sports. Artists show off their work. Friends reconnect; so do their service dogs. Someone shrieks with glee while mountain climbing. A free-wheeling kid — optimally configured and positioned in the seating and mobility you’ve fit, recommended, or provided — gets away from Mom and Dad.
Abilities Expos celebrate community, independence, access and advocacy — and they demonstrate what the right technology, the right education, and the right teams can achieve. Working in the CRT industry can be tough on body and spirit. If there’s an Abilities Expo near you this year, do yourself a favor and go. Being with your people could remind you again and again why this is the industry of your heart.
