A recent White House report indicated that while only 17% of the U.S. population lives in rural areas, rural residents account for 44% of the military. These rural veterans and military officers are returning to their ranches, farms and rural communities with disabilities such as post traumatic stress disorder(PTSD) and brain injuries at high rates.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and currently serving 24 states nationwide, AgrAbility seeks to eliminate (or minimize) obstacles that inhibit success in production agriculture or agriculture related occupations. However, soldiers today are facing more obstacles after returning home because of the injuries they sustained abroad. Farming, as hard as it was before, is now even more difficult to do for veterans coming home.
Organizations, like AgrAbility, are working to raise public awareness about returning our soldiers back to some semblance of normal life after returning home with a disability. Whether it be a traumatic brain injury, cognitive difficulties or for example, Indiana AgrAbility, on which our very own Wade Wingler is an advisory council member, is partnering with the Department of Veterans Affairs office in Indianapolis to develop a workshop for veterans, VA workers and other professionals on opportunities in agriculture and the benefits of horticulture therapy for returning veterans. Steve Swain, the rurual rehabilitation specialist with Breaking New Ground/Indiana AgrAbility, said he has worked with several military veterans with disabilities and offered to share the following story of one such opportunity:
“One of those veterans was disabled during a parachute accident when his spinal cord exploded causing paralysis. Mr. Swain was asked to assist the veteran in determining possible employment options. In a meeting at his home, options were discussed which included raising produce on his property, a woodworking business, a hands-on engineering design business, and gunsmithing. The discussion also included what he liked to do; what he didn’t like to do; the support he had among family and friends; what resources were available both financial and in-kind; what potential assistive technology was available for him in each endeavor. Mr. Swain later followed up with the veteran and found that he had gone thru a number of difficulties but had come thru them and started a woodworking business which operated out of his home. With the determination shown, this veteran will continue to make progress and operate a successful business which will allow him to support his family.”
In order to successfully transition a veteran back into a civilian life, AgrAbility has created a toolkit of sorts, called Agricultural Tools, Equipment, and Buildings for Farmers and Ranchers with Physical Disabilities or, for short, The Toolbox, filled with information and resources that is now available online. Users can “explore” and “search” the online toolbox to discover supplier information, photos and video clips for certain products.