Giving Back, Getting Around

Segways Presented to Veterans Injured in Iraq, Afghanistan

Jeffrey Adams, a first lieutenant with the Louisiana National Guard, was on patrol in Baghdad on Nov. 7, 2004, when a makeshift bomb detonated 10 feet away.

"I looked down, and my leg was gone," said Adams, 28. His left leg was later amputated above the knee, replaced with a prosthetic that now bears an Army sticker.

After spending 6 1/2 months at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Adams returned home on crutches to finish a degree in chemical engineering.

Three years later, Adams is all smiles -- and he is much more mobile, thanks to his new Segway.

Adams was one of 29 wounded veterans who received Segways last week in a ceremony at Army Navy Country Club in Arlington. The transporters were donated by a group called Segs4Vets, which gives Segways to members of the military or veterans who were injured in Iraq or Afghanistan and who have a permanent disability and difficulty walking.

"It's amazing," Adams said. "It's a lot more freedom. For a young male, you have your friends who want to do things you can't do feasibly. You feel like you're holding them back. This helps."

Segs4Vets is run by Disability Rights Advocates for Technology, a charity that champions barrier-free design and emerging technologies. Founded in 2004 by Jerry Kerr, Leonard Timm and Fred Kaplan, the organization is all-volunteer, with overhead paid by board members. There's no formal fundraising mechanism, but the organization raises money through word of mouth, officials said. Donations can be made through the organization's Web site, http://www.draft.org.

Although the Segway was not designed for disabled people, "we found . . . it was a wonderful opportunity to have mobility [while] standing," said Kerr, who shattered his C4 vertebrae in a diving accident 10 years ago. Kerr, who was a real estate developer before the accident, preordered a Segway before they became available and first got on the device in 2003.

Kerr, who lives in St. Louis, said that when children see him in a wheelchair, they feel sorry for him. But when they see him on a Segway, they want one. "This doesn't draw attention to my disability," he said. "When I'm in this, your first thought isn't of my disabilities."

"This," Kerr said, "doesn't define us as a disabled person. This is such a perfect solution."

So far, Segs4Vets has given away 150 Segways, including 35 at a presentation in San Antonio in April. The charity expects to donate a total of 250 this year. Segway has no affiliation with Segs4Vets, because the transporters are not a federally approved medical device. The charity buys Segways from dealerships; models sold at TriState Segway in Ashburn cost $5,145 and $5,660.

The military issued Segs4Vets a blanket waiver last year to allow a gift in excess of $1,000 to severely injured active-duty members who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, easing an early challenge for the charity. And officials at the charity said they hope that health insurance companies will eventually see the value of a Segway, even though it isn't a medical device.