For Immediate Release

Story Contact:

Randy Weigel: (307) 766-4186

weig@uwyo.edu

Contact: Steven L. Miller, Senior Editor

Phone: (307) 766-6342

E-mail: slmiller@uwyo.edu

Archived News Site www.uwyo.edu/agadmin/news/news.htm

Wyoming ranchers, farmers work with limitations, disabilities

By Randy R. Weigel

Professor and Wyoming AgrAbility director

University of Wyoming College of Agriculture

            Approximately 288,000 agricultural workers between the ages of 15 and 79 have a limitation or disability that affects their ability to perform agricultural tasks.            Wyoming’s highest nonfatal occupational injury and illness rate in a major industry group occurs in agriculture. The incidence rate is 17.1 per 100 employed in Wyoming compared to 6.2 in the United States. For many individuals, limitations and disabilities jeopardize their rural and agricultural futures.

Types of Ranching and Farming Disabilities

            Based on a 1999 study of 1,171 ranchers and farmers served by the National

AgrAbility Project, the types of disabilities reported included:

23 percent – Orthopedic-related disabilities due to arthritis, joint replacements, or

            injuries to the back, extremities, or joints

16 percent - Amputations including upper and lower extremities

13 percent - Neuromuscular disorders including multiple sclerosis, muscular

            dystrophy, polio, cerebral palsy, ALS, epilepsy, and strokes

21 percent - Spinal cord injuries resulting in paraplegia or quadriplegia

27 percent - Other disabling conditions due to head injuries, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, respiratory impairments, visual or hearing impairments, mental illness,  burns, pesticide contamination, or chemical dependency.

            Co-workers and caregivers are also at-risk when assisting an agricultural producer with a disability or using modified equipment. Caregivers often lift the operator with a disability in and out of machinery and suffer cuts, bruises, knee pain or shoulder injury due to slipping, falling, or incidental contact with tractor modifications.

Secondary Injuries in Farmers and Ranchers with a Disability

            Agricultural producers with disabilities and caregivers who assist them face additional safety risks. For example, modifications to farm machinery, tools, and buildings are made to accommodate the unique needs of the individual. Unlike other industries where products are tested for years, ranchers and farmers with disabilities often need one-of-a-kind solutions for one-of-a-kind types of needs; therefore, the chance of the modification failing and causing injury to the individual or co-worker continues to exist.

            The inability to react quickly in a hazardous situation presents another safety risk. Operating machinery, working with livestock, or working around chemicals can be potentially hazardous for producers who are affected by cognitive impairments, mobility impairments, visual impairments or the aging process. Farmers using prosthetic devices have the added risk of their prostheses becoming entangled when working with machinery or livestock or when performing climbing activities.

Advances for Ranchers and Farmers with Disability

            The implementation of universal design principles which seeks to design all products and environments to be as usable as possible by as many people as possible regardless of age, ability, or situation benefits all agricultural operators and workers. Newly designed tractors with ergonomic features, automated feeding systems, and cell phones are just a few of the technologies that benefit producers through increased productivity and reduced risks.

            Advances are also being made in assistive technology to increase productivity and decrease the potential and severity of secondary injuries. Examples include new designs in wheelchairs, such as powered chairs that reduce repetitive stress injuries to the manual wheelchair user's hand, wrist, and shoulder. New prosthetic devices save or store energy thus reducing repetitive stress injuries. Assistive technology solutions are also being constructed of stronger materials, which hold up to repetitive and heavy use by an agricultural producer. Innovations on the horizon include the use of assistive robotics or “agbots” that are small enough to walk in rows between plants scouting for weeds and insects and taking soil samples. The new IBOT® chair will be able to climb stairs and maneuver in the most difficult terrain.

            Needed services will also be improved through the application of new telecommunication technologies. Tele-medicine has enabled specialists to provide consultations using real-time videoconference equipment. This technology can be applied to the agricultural setting to observe the unique needs of the individual and the setting in which essential tasks must be performed. The consultant, perhaps thousands of miles away, can immediately ask questions and request additional video camera shots to make appropriate recommendations.

            Farmers and ranchers with limitations and disabilities face many barriers to success in agricultural production including lack of information on effective worksite accommodations, lack of professionals trained to help accommodate disabilities in agricultural occupations, lack of financial resources to pay for needed accommodations, and negative public attitudes about the ability of agricultural workers with disabilities to continue in a high-risk, physically demanding occupation.

            However, innovative technologies, changes in agriculture and new service delivery strategies will continue to develop that will ultimately support the choice of ranchers and farmers with limitations and disabilities to remain productive in agriculture.

            For more information about ranching and farming with limitations and disability or to learn how Wyoming AgrAbility can help you or someone you know who is experiencing a disability, contact Wyoming AgrAbility at (866) 395-4986 agrability@uwyo.edu, or www.uwyo.edu/agrability.

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