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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/07/08/533118638/mexico-and-u-s-team-up-to-create-low-cost-wheelchairs [npr.org]

Political tension between the United States and Mexico is making headlines with talk of disrupting longstanding trade deals and constructing a border wall. And then there's the story of Antonio Garcia. A mechanic from southern Sonora, he had been limping around on crutches for three years. His right leg was amputated below the knee after a motorcycle accident and buying a prosthetic leg was beyond his financial reach.

But he got the prosthesis just this January from a nonprofit that's a collaboration between Mexico and the U.S. It's called ARSOBO and it's working to transform the lives of low-income Mexicans with disabilities. The organization, whose name is an acronym that stands for Arizona/Sonora border, provides affordable prosthetics, specialized wheelchairs and hearing aids. "It's changing people's lives," said Duke Duncan, an 84-year-old American pediatrician who grew impatient with retirement after just three days. He co-founded ARSOBO seven years ago. [...] ARSOBO provides disabled people who were once isolated, depressed or begging on the streets the possibility of getting a job or going to school. Their signature product is an all-terrain wheelchair, originally developed by a nonprofit in California, that can navigate uneven sidewalks and rough roads.

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