Ethan’s Mission for Accessibility with Children’s Cerebral Palsy Movement

Ethan and Debbie standing by silver van with ramp extended

This July in Los Angeles, families and friends gathered at AbilityFest, an expo held by AbilityFirst to bring donors, partners, and volunteers together. There attendees were able to interact with vendors, participate in adaptive sports, attractions, and other live entertainment. MobilityWorks’ Pasadena location was lucky enough to have been able to attend this event and connect with organizations and families. Their GM, Ethan Stone, met with Children’s Cerebral Palsy Movement, an organization whose mission is to improve the future and current lives of children living with CP. Ethan was recently featured on their blog explaining how he works to help solve the problems that many families living with CP may come across.

Read below to hear about Ethan’s mission to create Accessibility for All:

“When you are a caregiver of a non-ambulating child with Cerebral Palsy, every single day you wake up, there is a battle is at hand. It is not just another season of life; it is your reality. Even with a long laundry list of things to do, something as simple as leaving the house can be a difficult task. From going to doctors appointments, grocery shopping, or simply getting out of the front door, normal daily errands can all seem impossible at times. While half the battle preparing to leave the house, the other half is figuring out transportation. Many CP families do not have vehicles that are created to support the symptoms of this diagnosis. You find yourself wondering how things will ever get easier when there is no clear path ahead. Fortunately, I am here to let you know that there is a solution available.

With some research and careful planning, there is an alternative to relying on a transport company to take you from place to place. This solution is MobilityWorks. Our company is the nation’s leading provider of wheelchair accessible vans – serving the disabled community with wheelchair accessible minivans, full-size vans with lifts, and commercial fleet vehicles. Similar to a traditional auto dealership, MobilityWorks offers financing, extended service contracts, rental vans, a 24-hour emergency helpline, and mechanical services. Full-time, certified technicians are available to install and service wheelchair lifts and high-tech driving equipment for physically disabled drivers requiring more sophisticated controls in their handicapped vans and minivans. We carry the industry’s largest on-site inventory of handicap vans for sale. Over 900 accessible vans are typically ready for sale at any given time from all of the MobilityWorks combined showrooms, in addition to rental vehicles with daily and weekly rates.

For some families, a wheelchair lift installed in the rear of your current vehicle will suffice. For others, a rear loading or side loading adaptive van may be necessary. The options are plentiful, and with expert guidance, an otherwise complex process can be demystified. There is no better time than now to utilize the accessible vehicles that we have available. Whether you need to rent or purchase, there is a solution for your family. Your window of opportunity is open, and we are here to help. We are here to put your mind at ease when it comes to your transportation needs, giving you the freedom to get up and grab life by the reins to gain back control.”

Children’s Cerebral Palsy Movement is a nonprofit organization started by Debbie Fragner whose daughter was diagnosed with CP after being born early. After her daughter expressed an interest in ballet, Debbie realized there was a significant gap between the interest in rehabilitation studies and the funding and to actually do it. Their work focuses on whole-body healing and early intervention to improve the current quality of life for children, as well as their functioning abilities long-term. They’ve recently finished a revolutionary study of therapeutic dance intervention with researchers and dancers from the University of California, Irvine as well as orthopedic surgeons at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County. They created a group ballet class for children to provide them the fun opportunity to participate in an activity usually not accessible to them, while improving their balance, gait, and other motor skills. These classes are just the beginning, with CCPM planning on implementing more classes and other projects which aim to stimulate neurological changes, leading to life-long improvement. To learn more about this organization or to contribute to their efforts, visit their website here.