Mission Statement
The mission of Disability Work Tools (DWT) is to make adaptive tools readily available so people can independently perform hands-on tasks in spite of injury, aging or disabling condition. We motivate active people to be productive by using tools that improve efficiency and minimize physical pain. We challenge people to use foresight, selecting the best tools for the job, so they can work longer and feel better.
History
The roots of Disability Work Tools are deep in the soil of Indiana and Michigan farmland in the midwest USA. Ned Stoller started out his engineering career serving farmers with disabilities throughout the state of Indiana as the Rural Assistive Technology Specialist for Purdue University cooperative extension service. He then moved to Lowell, Michigan and became a full time dairy farmer for 4 years. In 2004 he established Foresight Services, LLC as an agricultural engineering consulting company. Services provided at the outset of the company were environmental consulting directly for livestock farms, soil sampling services for crop farmers and farm rehabilitation services for Easter Seals-Michigan to help farmers with disabilities continue working. The soil sampling was discontinued in 2008 to allow more focus on the farm rehabilitation services.
In January 2008, Foresight Services, LLC entered into the rural assistive technology market by purchasing StaFast Hitch, an automatic wagon hitching company from northern Indiana. This broadened the scope of the company to not only consult with people with disabilities regarding adaptive equipment, but also to engineer and market assistive technology devices to help them live and work more independently. Foresight Services, LLC became a dealer with several manufacturing firms and started marketing wagon quick hitches, adaptive tractor steps, rear view cameras, automatic gates and other assistive devices at www.FarmEasier.com. We became a vendor with the state of Michigan to sell equipment through the state vocational rehabilitation program and to provide additional vocational rehabilitation consulting services. In January 2010, the environmental consulting services were ended to focus entirely on vocational rehabilitation consulting, marketing rural assistive technology products and development of new tools and equipment to help people with disabilities work.
Pat is the customer service manager of DWT. He grew up on a dairy farm and attended Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, graduating in 1998. Continuing his work on farms, Pat was a large animal veterinarian for 13 years. In 2002 he suffered a stroke at the age of 35. Seizures and chronic fatigue plagued his life from then on and grew in frequency and intensity. He continued practicing large animal medicine until 2011 when his disabilities became too much to continue working. As a result, Pat has first-hand knowledge of how a disability can affect our ability to work and the extra challenges that a disability can bring to everyday life. In October of 2012 he came on board DWT to help Ned develop and launch the webstore. Pat is dedicated to providing tools to enable disabled workers continue to enjoy their work.
About the Company
In 2012 the website DisabilityWorkTools.com was launched by Foresight Services, LLC as a culmination of 11+ years of research and development of work tools for people with disabilities. This website contains helpful tools for carpenters, welders, fabricators, metal workers, farmers, truckers, veterinarians, mechanics, miners, loggers, wood workers, gardeners, greenhouse workers, fruit growers, groundskeepers, landscapers, and any other occupation that needs tools. Some of the products on this website are developed for the specific purpose of helping people with disabilities keep working.
However, most of the tools on this site are commercially available products developed for the general public, but have distinct benefits for people with disabilities as they search for new ways to do their tasks.
However, most of the tools on this site are commercially available products developed for the general public, but have distinct benefits for people with disabilities as they search for new ways to do their tasks.
The top 3 goals of Disability Work Tools are
- Let the light of Christ so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify GOD.
- Be the absolute most complete single source of adaptive outdoor and tradesman tools and equipment anywhere in the world for people with disabilities who don’t want to sit at a desk all day.
- Provide private assistive technology consultation services to people with disabilities living in rural areas without relying on government grants to do so.
We have experience serving workers with spinal cord injuries, arm amputations, hip replacements, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, herniated discs, rotator cuff tears, knee replacements, arthritis, traumatic brain injury, paralyzed, leg amputations, blindness, deafness, stroke, prosthetic limbs, back pain, fused spine, paraplegic, quadriplegic, low vision and many other age related impairments. Each physical limitation has its own challenges, and each work site is unique. Call Disability Work Tools today and our technical support staff can help you work through which tools are right for your job.
The Future of Disability Work Tools
The need for adaptive equipment for people with disabilities to continue working will continue growing greater as the government runs out of money in the next decade and can no longer afford to pay living expenses. The downturn in the economy has also led many people to start gardening more to raise their own food. The aging population of baby boomers are also beginning to need adaptive equipment to make it easier to maintain their own homes and property. The problem of obesity also makes it more difficult for people to accomplish outdoor tasks. The combined issues of an aging and increasingly overweight population will provide a greater market for adaptive tools and equipment.
A Message From Ned Stoller, ATP: the founder of Disability Work Tools
I operate a small family farm and a family owned enterprise, Foresight Services, LLC. I spend my time researching, developing and selling farm tools to give your body a break. I’ve been farming and working outdoors in all kinds of weather for 20 years and when my back starts complaining and my knees start protesting, I know there has to be an easier way to work that isn’t going to break my body.
I’ve also spent 11 years helping farmers from the Ohio River to Lake Superior figure out how they can keep doing the work they love in spite of physical disabilities. During my time doing this, I have realized that the tools I recommend and develop can help any farmer keep farming longer and with less pain.
Our bodies are not like the old tractor…there is no way to rig them back into working condition using baler twine and chewing gum. So, we have to give our bodies a break. When your muscles and joints start to ache, plan a different course of action. Try out our work tools to give your body a break before you break your body. If you’re already wore out, but sold on the idea of “dying with your boots on” then look at our products that will help you to keep working and feel better. It will save you time, medical bills and pain relievers. As workers, we are not as concerned with “getting our exercise”. We all get plenty of that. Our biggest concern is saving our energy and our body so that we are still going strong at 8 pm tonight and 50 years from now.
But none of us will live forever. Someday, each of us will die, even if we do still have our boots on doing the work we love. And when we die, we will stand before an Almighty God in heaven and answer for the deeds we have done. Maybe we have tried living our life with “no excuses”, but that great judgment day will truly be the moment of no excuses. Every single person, except Jesus Christ, ever to walk the face of the earth has sinned at one point or another. The only way to be excused for our sins, forgiven and made right before God, is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, repent for our evil ways, and live in holiness with God by the power of His Holy Spirit. Please call me today to learn more about the eternal Hope and Joy found only in Christ Jesus.