From Paraplegia News, November 2005 VIRTUAL BUSINESS
A Disability can lead to huge medical bills while at the same time hindering a person's ability to work outside the home. A friend or family member often chooses to stay home and act as caregiver—but someone still has to pay the bills.
A home-based virtual services career is a possible solution for caregiver and care recipient. The 2-Second Commute by Christine C. Durst and Michael D. Haaren (Career Press, August 2005), is said to be the first mainstream how-to book for virtual assistants.
Virtual Assistants, offices, and teams work from home. They set their own hours, don't commute, and provide everything from administrative support to high-end consulting via e-mail, phone and fax.
The 2-Second Commute takes readers through the start-up and growth process and demonstrates how to become an entrepreneur and establish a rewarding, home-based virtual business. The book contains self-assessment exercises and reality checks that examines issues that should be carefully weighed before going into business. Interviews with successful virtual assistants, clients, and telework industries experts help estimate costs and set fees, find clients, and build a foundation of consistent cash flow.
Priced at $14.99, the book is available from Career Press, (800) CAREER-1.
From New Mobility, February 2007 ROBOTIC LEGS REPLACE WHEELCHAIRS?
Atsuo Takanishi, an engineering professor at Tokyo's Waseda University, has invented a set of robotic "legs" that he hopes will one day replace wheelchairs. The device has been named WL-16Rlll and is operated by using a pair of joysticks.
In April 2006, Takanishi demonstrated his robotic legs. The legs successfully climbed up and down a staircase, maneuvered through a pebbly outdoor path, and have been compared to the mechanical "wrong trousers" of Wallace and Gromit fame. "They're fully operational in a human Environment—specifically one with features such as stairs that they can climb as Homo sapiens do," says Takanishi.
At present the invention is heavy and bulky and won't work for everyone, but to visit a second-floor apartment or other inaccessible destination, some day, and not have to worry about stairs—or to freak your friends out at Halloween? This could eventually be enticing to a lot of people.
To see pictures and a video of the WL-16Rlll in action, visit WEBSITE —and keep an open mind.
FOR SALE***
WC Lift; $7,000 new; only used 2 months; asking $4,500. Invacare Storm TDX 3 Power WC; full reclining; less that 1 year old; $12,000 new; asking $3,500. Quickie II manual chair; good cond.; $1,000. Call David 589-6620.
*Cookbooks for Sale: Recipes compiled by Chapter members; $10:00. Call David @ 589-6620.
*Video tapes for sale. Various topics related to spinal cord injuries. Call David Allgood or Buddy Lawson.
***If assistance is needed to pay for any of the above items, contact Kentucky Assistive Technology Loan Corporation at 1-800-327-5287 for information on loans at 5% interest to qualified candidates.
