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Leading vehicle and wheelchair conversion specialists with over 40 years experience

Leading vehicle and wheelchair conversion specialists with over 40 years experience

Want to speak to an advisor?

Call us on: 01442 212918

(Open Mon- Thurs: 8.00am to 4.30pm, Friday 8.00am to 3.30pm)

Abi-Loader helps customer maintain independence

COMPLETED: 2021
Abi Loader with arm extended
CLIENT CASE STUDY

Abi-Loader helps customer maintain independence

Jo Dowdall was starting to struggle with getting her wheelchair in and out of her vehicle until Jo got her new Ford Focus fitted with the Abi-Loader from Steering Developments.

About Jo Dowdall.

Jo is an experienced pan-disability accessibility advisor, with a strong passion for improving the lives of people with disabilities in any way possible. Jo obtained a Bachelor’s Degree focused in Applied Computing from the University of Dundee and is currently an Accessibility Specialist at O2 (Telefónica UK)

Supported by Motability.

Jo got her first Motability car in 2017. But it was becoming increasingly difficult to lift her chair out of the vehicle. She was left with the decision to either get help or leave herself with a lot of pain in her left shoulder after lifting it out herself.

After some delays [partly caused by COVID and Brexit] Jo recently took delivery of a new Ford Focus Estate that we fitted an Abi Loader into the boot of the vehicle to allow Jo to continue to get around and maintain her independence. We also added a Guido Simplex Infrared Secondary control to the steering wheel.

Before deciding on the Abi Loader through the Motability scheme, Jo had also considered the Chair topper but was worried about fuel consumption and the potential for the extra height to be a problem in low ceiling places such as car parks.

Abi Loader Boot fitting

What we did

The Ford Focus has several adaptations carried out by the experienced team at Steering Developments to meet Jo’s requirements.

Adaptations Fitted
Abi Loader
Infrared Secondary Control to steering wheel

We think Jo is great and an inspiration to others. We look forward to catching up with Jo again in a  couple of months to see how she is getting along with her new vehicle fitted with the Abi Loader.

 

Everyone has been really helpful at SDL. In particular Niki, Steve & Jeff, have been friendly, knowledgable and helpful throughout my demo and adaptations installation. They are not afraid to think out of the box to find solutions to problems and they treated me as a person throughout the whole process rather than a job […]
Jo Dowdall

Other Customer Case Studies

Vehicle Adaptation

Alison Lapper MBE is an artist, television presenter, speaker and Gig-Arts Charity patron. She recently took delivery of her 5th WAV from Steering Developments.

Volkswagen Caravelle WAV Conversion
Motability logo ISO 9001 logo