Hand Controls Spell Freedom for Teen Driver

Jody DeVere is the owner of a woman-owned car dealership in California and has an excellent blog: AskPatty.com "Automotive Advice for Women". She supports and is the president of the United Spinal Association and her blog posts include many that relate to disabled drivers.

John_katona_in_buick_taerazza_van
John Katona using hand controls.
Click image for larger view.
"Transportation From a Different View Part II – Hand Controls Spell Freedom for Teen Driver" is an article about a teenage boy who was featured in the GM Fastlane Blog¹ in 2005 after his spinal cord injury in a car accident. This is his progress report about how he now has a driver's license and is driving independently in his GM conversion van.

1. The lauded GM Fastlane Blog was discontinued in December 2015.


New ISO standard for spinal disc implants

29 January 2008 International Organization for Standardization press release

A new ISO standard for spinal disc implants will help reduce suffering of back pain patients. The new standard will help ensure that spinal disc prostheses meet requirements for wear resistance, particularly important as once implanted these will need to absorb the impact from the body’s daily activities for years to come.

Medical surgery ISO 18192-1:2008 Implants for Surgery – Wear of Total Intervertebral Spinal Disc Prostheses – Part 1: Loading and Displacement Parameters for Wear Testing and Corresponding Environmental Conditions for Test [Withdrawn]

The primary users of this ISO standard will be medical device manufacturers and laboratories in public and private sectors, providing biomechanical testing services for medical devices. The estimated worldwide market size for artificial disc prostheses will exceed USD 1 billion by the year 2010.

The standard was replaced by ISO 18192-1:2011  Updated

The 2011 version was last reviewed and confirmed in 2016. Therefore, this version remains current. ISO 18192-1:2011
Implants for surgery — Wear of total intervertebral spinal disc prostheses — Part 1: Loading and displacement parameters for wear testing and corresponding environmental conditions for test
 Updated