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Cooperative Extension Service Communications and Technology Department 3354 1000 E. University Ave. Laramie, WY 82071 (307) 766-6342 • fax (307) 766-3998 • www.uwyo.edu |
For Immediate Release
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
Date: March 8, 2007
AgrAbility project helps producers with disabilities keep farming and ranching
By Amanda O’Brien
Project coordinator
Wyoming AgrAbility
AgrAbility.
Interesting word – great meaning. Take “agriculture” and mesh it with “ability.” A disability in agriculture now doesn’t have to mean the end of a way of life.
AgrAbility provides education, networking, and assistance to ranchers, farmers, agricultural workers, and their families with disabilities engaged in production agriculture and who want to continue ranching and/or farming.
Farming and ranching is notably one of the most dangerous occupations. In Wyoming, the major industry with the highest nonfatal occupational injury and illness rate is agriculture. An estimated 288,000 workers in the agricultural industry nationwide between the ages of 15 and 79 have a disability that affects their ability to perform one or more essential tasks.
The 1990 Farm Bill authorized the AgrAbility program and then reauthorized it again in 2002. One of the requirements is that partnerships must be established between land-grant universities and a non-profit organization that helps people having disabilities. There are approximately 24 projects nationwide.
In April, 2006, the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service partnered with the Wyoming INstitute for Disabilities on the UW campus in Laramie, Center for Rural Health Research and Education at UW, Gottsche Rehabilitation Center in Thermopolis, and Wyoming Independent Living Rehabilitation Inc. in Casper to establish Wyoming AgrAbility.
By partnering with various disability agencies and Gottsche, Wyoming AgrAbility pools resources of an occupation therapist, independent living specialists and other professionals to provide the best possible advice and services.
The Wyoming AgrAbility project provides information and referral services, training for rural professionals, on-site technical assistance and assessments, education and peer-support networks. These services are available to any individual engaged in agriculture who has a disability or a family member with a disability including, but not limited to, arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, spinal cord injuries, amputations, acquired brain injury, age-related conditions such as hearing/vision impairment or disabilities present at birth.
Examples of adaptations and accommodations are modifications to work environment, accessibility, job restructuring, modified equipment, and assistive technologies or adaptive devices, equipment lifts, etc.
For AgrAbility purposes, farming and ranching is broadly defined as cultivating, operating or managing a farm for profit. This can include raising stock for food or fiber, dairy, poultry, fish and fruit, providing range or pasturage, and growing and harvesting forages, crops, grains and ag-horticultural products.
A farmer/rancher is defined as anyone actively engaged in farming or ranching, deriving income from such activities or retired from farming or ranching. The definition includes individuals who want to work in agriculture and family members of farmers or ranchers.
The Wyoming AgrAbility project strives to help individuals increase their ability to perform current or new work tasks, inform consumers on secondary injury prevention, and increase independence at home and in the community.
If you or someone you know could benefit from this program, contact us toll-free at (866) 395-4986, AgrAbility@uwyo.edu, or online at www.uwyo.edu/agrability.
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