Consumer Reports, the nation's leading independent consumer product testing organization does not evaluate scooters, wheelchair lifts or other products designed specifically for use by people with disabilities. Several people, including members of NextStep, have asked it to without success.

We think this is a serious oversight since millions of us purchase scooters, wheelchairs, walkers, hand controls, chair-lifts and similarly expensive equipment every year. Because our independence and safety, sometimes even our lives depend on these appliances, we believe that we should have access to the same information about their performance, reliability, repair history and cost that Consumer Reports provides us with when we want to buy a car, toaster, or electric razor.

Therefore, NextStep has begun a national campaign to ask Consumer Reports to include disability-related supplies and equipment among the thousands of items it tests on a regular basis.

View the Action Alert here

Added August 12, 2009