I recently attended the CTAA show (Community Transportation Association of America) and had an opportunity to mingle with many of our commercial customers and dealers. BraunAbility attends these shows on a regular basis throughout the year. Some of them focus on transit customers and some on consumer, private use customers. Both types give us at Braunability a great opportunity to hear first hand from a lot of different people in one location.

One item that is continuously brought up has to do with the convenience factor in regards to servicing their Braunability wheelchair vans and wheelchair lifts. We have a very large dealer network and work very hard to have those dealers in as many places for the convenience of our customers. Here is our challenge when it comes to this subject: not a lot of people know about this industry unless you are touched by it personally. I have a technical background, spending hundreds of hours either in school or on the job learning a mechanical trade and never once heard about the mobility industry. If I had not known someone personally involved, I would be on a completely different career path.

Our dealers have to work very hard to recruit technicians who may have no idea what an Entervan or Rampvan is. There are no classes offered at any technical schools that cover what we do, so a dealer must find a mechanically inclined person (often from the automotive field) and invest the time and money to train them on the specifics of an industry they are not familiar with.

“Igniting that small spark will make a difference in guiding a young person to a fulfilling career.”

So this is what I am asking of the readers of this blog. Work as I do, to educate those young people who may want to pursue a career in a mechanical field, but have no idea about what we do and what you as our customer has to go through on a day-to-day basis to keep your independence. It may be something as simple as striking up a conversation with someone at a coffee shop or speaking to a group of students at a technical high school or college. My wife teaches social studies at such a high school and I often find myself explaining what I do to the technical instructors and students.  Maybe just igniting that small spark will make a difference in guiding a young person to a fulfilling career in this important industry that they may not have otherwise considered.

Do you have any thoughts for “spreading the word” about the mobility industry as a career path?  If so we’d love to hear them - please leave a comment below!

Find your nearest dealer to learn more about BraunAbility wheelchair vans and wheelchair lifts, and to schedule an Entervan or Rampvan demonstration at your convenience.