Every little girl wants a pony.
But Mandy Hoggan's Pony allows her to take her dog for a walk, ride the HandiVan and FlexTrans buses and go to youth church activities by herself.The Pony II is a motorized scooter that has changed the life of the 14-year-old girl, who has had 19 surgeries to ease the effects of spinal stenosis and dwarfism. It is the centerpiece of the assistive technology that allows her the freedom her disability would deny her. She also has a computer, printer and chair that have been adapted to her special needs.
The Independent Living Center, 3445 S. Main St., recently held an open house to introduce state lawmakers to the importance of assistive technology. With help from the state's other independent living centers, they hope to persuade lawmakers to fund the assistive technology centers that are part of their service package for people with disabilities.
The technology centers, located within the independent living centers, help people obtain devices like the Pony II. They also provide job and home site evaluation and modification, computer access evaluation, training and assessment of what's needed in terms of environmental control systems, vehicles and more.
The State Office of Rehabilitation used a federal grant to establish the technology centers, but the federal money was always supposed to be phased out, and that's now happening. If the program is to continue, it will need the Legislature to provide $174,000 to pay for contracted services in Logan and Price, as well as rehabilitation staff in Cedar City/St. George and Salt Lake, said Corey Rowley of the Logan Options for Independence Center.
"The money is to continue the program, not to pay for equipment," Rowley said. "We do evaluations, etc. Independent living centers are nonmedical; we don't tell people what to do. We give information to them and help them get pricing" for equipment.The funding is the No. 2 priority in the rehabilitation office and is supported by the School Board and the State Board of Education.
"What technology does is enable people to stay or become independent," said Rowley.
Debbie Hoggan, Mandy's mom, can't imagine what all their lives would be like without the technological devices.
It doesn't solve all of Mandy's problems. Her father, Jim, explained that the hole in her skull where the spine runs was too small and it crimped the spine. Disc compression has further limited her and doctors aren't sure why she can walk at all. She does, but she tires very easily and does much better on her Pony.
She will always have memory retention problems. She can master and lose skills in a very short space of time, her mother said. Some days she knows things, like her times tables. Other days she doesn't.
But she never forgets to smile. And the devices on which she's built her freedom give her something to smile about.