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came Victor Semenko. Semenko, then 25, had become a paraplegic from a work-related
injury two years earlier. He was also an auto enthusiast who worked on his
own car and read every foreign auto magazine that found its way to his hometown
of Novosibirsk, a city of 1.7 million in Western Siberia. He decided to design
his own hand controls. Semenko recounts, "Existing hand-operated controls
for regular cars were extremely inconvenient for disabled people to use because,
in my opinion, they were developed by engineers not familiar with our problems."
Semenko noted that the only other hand controls available up to that time
were custom made.
Three Models
Semenko and other colleagues, both disabled and non-disabled, began to devise a series of hand controls. Based on their experience they settled on three models. One model was designed for belt-driven manual transmissions. A second model was designed for hydraulic manual transmissions, and a third was designed for automatic transmissions.
A few prototypes were built in the ensuing years, enabling Semenko to supplement his disability pension by working as a professional driver. But it wasn't until 1992, with the founding of the private medical supply company SibMedDesign (SMD), that real development and production of Semenko's hand controls began. Sasha Afonin, the person responsible for this work, later became SMD's chief wheelchair designer.
The hand controls are now produced and assembled by SMD and installed at an automobile repair shop owned and operated by Finist, the Novosibirsk Center for Independent Living. In 1996 Semenko was elected Finist's Executive Director. Finist member Lyuba Ievinsh, one of only a handful of disabled women drivers in Novosibirsk, loves the new, locally-produced hand control. "With my old hand control I had to take one hand off the steering wheel to shift gears," explained Ievinsh. "I feel much safer with our new hand controls."
From 1993 until 1998, about ten hand controls were produced annually for disabled drivers in Novosibirsk. However, since the crash of the Russian Ruble in August 1998, most people with disabilities have been unable to afford an automobile and thus have no reason to purchase hand controls.
The hand-operated control, including installation, costs between $50 and $100 depending on the difficulty of installation. With no government funding, most people with disabilities have to pay for the hand controls themselves. Members of the Novosibirsk Center for Independent Living receive a 50% discount. If you are interested in purchasing hand controls for someone who uses a car in Russia, you can contact Victor Semenko by email at ncil@finist.nsk.su.