So when I roll up to the door in my wheelchair, they know that whatever I have to say isn't just from textbooks or classroom lectures. Hancock was attracted to this job at UK after working with disabled farmers for two years in the late '80s at Purdue University. He's always been in his element in this work, he says, having grown up on a farm in Adair County, Kentucky, where his father had a farm equipment dealership. With funding from the College of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the AgrAbility program helps locate resources for modifications to equipment when farmers can't afford it, and Hancock assists them when they need to modify the equipment to suit their needs. If you can help get them started, they can usually build something that'll serve their purpose.
Farmers tend to be very resourceful.
We try to put our best technology in place for their particular situation. John and Beverly Land had heard about Hancock through the staff at Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital during Josh's recuperation. Josh grew up with farming and, despite his disability, wanted to continue to help out on the family farm. It also helped that his cousins had a machine shop. Hancock took the lift off one of his old tractors and gave it to Josh.