[00:00.000 --> 00:01.640]  Hey everyone, welcome to my talk.
[00:01.840 --> 00:07.500]  It's the right to repair in California, SB244, using new legislation for DIY wheelchair repair.
[00:07.860 --> 00:09.020]  Say that five times fast.
[00:09.820 --> 00:11.100]  Here's one of my wheelchairs.
[00:11.280 --> 00:12.680]  It's a Will Model F.
[00:12.960 --> 00:14.860]  Yes, it looks cool and space-age and new.
[00:15.040 --> 00:16.400]  It's developed by Japanese engineers.
[00:16.560 --> 00:16.780]  Woohoo!
[00:17.640 --> 00:19.400]  And happy Disability Pride Month.
[00:20.020 --> 00:22.720]  July in the United States is Disability Pride Month.
[00:22.900 --> 00:27.620]  You might not know about that, but we have an awesome, rich cultural history and civil rights legacy that you should learn about.
[00:29.360 --> 00:30.400]  So who am I?
[00:30.620 --> 00:32.300]  I am the Cryptastic Hacker.
[00:32.840 --> 00:36.240]  This suspicious-looking fellow who is not to be trusted.
[00:36.900 --> 00:38.940]  Except maybe sometimes with cool hacking things.
[00:39.220 --> 00:43.340]  And here I am hacking one of my older mobility scooters.
[00:43.440 --> 00:49.120]  This is a long-range single transaxle motor drive scooter, unlike the two-wheel drive that you saw previously.
[00:49.340 --> 00:57.520]  And this has spring-loaded handlebars that must be squeezed to go in different directions, which is very painful for people with carpal tunnel and arthritis.
[00:57.620 --> 00:58.340]  like myself.
[00:58.600 --> 01:11.040]  So I created a capacitive touch control system by basically circumventing the control system of the wheelchair, reverse engineering it, and sending it a fake dummy load so it doesn't know what I'm doing.
[01:11.340 --> 01:11.680]  Ha ha ha.
[01:12.760 --> 01:14.500]  This is another project I've been working on lately.
[01:14.640 --> 01:16.960]  This is the Greenlight Growlite project.
[01:16.960 --> 01:23.400]  This basically takes your budget off-the-shelf, inexpensive, easy-to-access-and-source Growlite lamps.
[01:23.400 --> 01:31.980]  And gives them a very high-quality custom firmware program controller that lets you set the time of day, change different colors and stuff like that.
[01:32.060 --> 01:39.400]  Also has a PIR motion sensor and is on a custom board that I both designed and assembled by hand, which uses an ESP32C3.
[01:40.180 --> 01:46.880]  I do all my own in-house assembly, and that's also a UI interface that I designed and 3D printed the case for.
[01:47.040 --> 01:49.240]  It uses a rotary encoder because I like tactile interfaces.
[01:49.400 --> 01:49.600]  Woohoo!
[01:49.840 --> 01:54.540]  And then here's another project that I worked on recently, which is the wheelchair battery spot welder.
[01:54.540 --> 02:10.160]  This is using an old wheelchair battery, which will no longer propel me the many blocks I need to go explore the community, but can still be used to create large and dangerous spikes of power to spot weld 18650 lithium-ion battery cells.
[02:11.920 --> 02:13.280]  What is right to repair?
[02:13.900 --> 02:14.900]  You've probably heard of it.
[02:15.020 --> 02:20.120]  It's a movement of people, customers, repair technicians, and businesses who want to be able to repair their own stuff.
[02:20.640 --> 02:21.860]  It's really quite simple.
[02:22.460 --> 02:25.960]  Across the board, people from all types of industries are supporting this.
[02:26.140 --> 02:29.120]  It is led largely by iFixit and EFF.
[02:29.340 --> 02:37.420]  iFixit, for those that don't know, iFixit.com is an amazing place where you can get all sorts of repair tools and materials to fix your phones and video game consoles.
[02:37.620 --> 02:42.260]  And they have huge, super detailed documents that people create for the community.
[02:42.260 --> 02:50.020]  And EFF is an organization nonprofit based in San Francisco, and they are an Internet privacy rights defense organization.
[02:50.200 --> 03:01.840]  They handle all the tedious and annoying legislation as well as public education around how to use the Internet safely and how to have your privacy protected and not have all these websites stealing all your cookies and all that kind of thing.
[03:02.340 --> 03:04.960]  And then we have the official website, which is repair.org.
[03:04.980 --> 03:12.020]  But if you go to states.repair.org, you can get involved in your local state and what legislation and movements are happening right now.
[03:12.260 --> 03:15.400]  And this is a nonpartisan cross-cultural movement.
[03:15.720 --> 03:19.280]  So there is no political orientation with this movement.
[03:19.440 --> 03:24.440]  It is just people that literally want to repair and have access to the things that they buy.
[03:25.180 --> 03:29.260]  So just giving a little shout out again to EFF and iFixit.
[03:30.140 --> 03:39.500]  And for anyone here that remembers the sprite scaling video games on the Model 2, I'm going to make these hearts grow with sprite scaling to show the depth of my love.
[03:39.500 --> 03:40.140]  Yes!
[03:41.860 --> 03:43.060]  Some of the players.
[03:44.060 --> 03:52.960]  Well, of course, we've got Kyle from iFixit, who's been just traveling all over, getting the word out from state to state and letting people know to get involved.
[03:52.960 --> 04:04.100]  And Louis Rossman, given his testimony here, you might know him as the curmudgeonly apple repair guy on YouTube, who's really spread the word in the digital realm.
[04:04.100 --> 04:10.380]  If you can get past some of his lovable character traits, you will love him just like I do deep down.
[04:10.380 --> 04:13.220]  And of course, repair technicians all over the country.
[04:13.420 --> 04:17.960]  I mean, we're talking like mom and pop, you know, little shops and people just everywhere.
[04:18.360 --> 04:23.240]  People like me that are just DIYers, you know, really pushing this movement forward.
[04:23.540 --> 04:29.720]  Here's a guy fixing a giant flat panel display, which has a giant inverter and probably enough voltage to send him to the hospital.
[04:29.920 --> 04:34.480]  And so it would be really nice if he had a service manual to actually guide him on this repair.
[04:36.060 --> 04:38.260]  It's not just about your iPhone.
[04:39.340 --> 04:40.380]  There's your cracked iPhone.
[04:40.600 --> 04:41.220]  It sucks, right?
[04:41.240 --> 04:42.140]  You want to repair your iPhone.
[04:42.280 --> 04:43.760]  But a lot of people just buy a new one.
[04:44.080 --> 04:45.240]  It's not that simple.
[04:45.400 --> 04:46.340]  There's a lot more to it.
[04:46.520 --> 04:48.360]  There's a company called John Deere.
[04:48.500 --> 04:49.280]  You might've heard of this.
[04:49.460 --> 04:55.160]  They are a company that makes tractors and they've been flicking you over since 19... I'm sorry, 1837.
[04:55.580 --> 04:59.020]  For some reason, companies think that it's really great if they've been around a long time.
[04:59.180 --> 05:04.760]  I usually just think that means they have a monopoly or monopolistic practices and or they've done a bunch of really shady ass stuff.
[05:05.640 --> 05:10.560]  And so there's this guy, Jake Leib, who is a tractor owner.
[05:10.700 --> 05:11.260]  I was a farm owner.
[05:11.920 --> 05:21.060]  And he's been one of the vocal advocates for Right to Repair because John Deere has been controlling the repair and serviceability of tractors all over the country.
[05:21.220 --> 05:26.700]  So if you can imagine, you're in a rural part of the country and you have crops that you're trying to grow.
[05:26.700 --> 05:33.880]  You've got a bunch of tractors that aren't working and you're trying to harvest food, which is spoiling by the day.
[05:34.020 --> 05:41.720]  And you have to wait for John Deere representatives to come over and update your firmware or fix whatever tiny part is broken.
[05:41.940 --> 05:43.140]  You can't order the parts.
[05:43.260 --> 05:44.220]  You can't get the firmware.
[05:44.380 --> 05:45.660]  You can't do the update yourself.
[05:46.200 --> 05:47.820]  And so here's a quote from Jake.
[05:48.840 --> 05:59.480]  When the technician from John Deere arrived at his farm in central Illinois, who knows how long that took, it took about 30 minutes to plug in a diagnostic tool, see which sensor was bad, unscrew it, replace it, close everything up in the combine.
[06:00.140 --> 06:04.280]  If I knew what sensor was bad in the combine, I could have fixed it in five minutes, Leib said.
[06:04.640 --> 06:08.260]  But if you don't have the software, it's impossible to know what's wrong.
[06:08.260 --> 06:09.960]  Sounds really sensible, right?
[06:10.080 --> 06:15.740]  And not at all a waste of gas and resources and travel by company representatives to control their proprietary whatever.
[06:16.100 --> 06:17.820]  This is not just about iPhones.
[06:18.020 --> 06:25.080]  It's not just about the convenience of, oh, I cracked my screen and oh, I can repair it myself instead of ordering another one in a week or whatever.
[06:25.340 --> 06:28.660]  And maybe you have some annoyance or you can just buy another phone.
[06:28.820 --> 06:35.520]  This has to do with equipment that cannot be easily replaced or exchanged or moved.
[06:35.520 --> 06:48.680]  thousand pound tractors, people with 500 pound wheelchairs that can't go anywhere, that are losing their livelihoods and extremely important access to the world and medical needs.
[06:49.640 --> 06:52.140]  So why is it so important for disabled people?
[06:52.580 --> 06:54.880]  First, we need to go over a glossary of terms.
[06:55.180 --> 07:00.440]  A couple of terms that I'm going to be using in this presentation are just some shorthand that are going to be helpful to describe.
[07:00.760 --> 07:04.480]  Number one, PWD is just person with disabilities.
[07:04.480 --> 07:08.760]  It's the phrase that people in the disability community prefer to have used to describe us.
[07:08.920 --> 07:15.940]  And I also use it sort of as a catch-all for seniors as well who also require DME because they have disabilities.
[07:17.600 --> 07:20.360]  DME is durable medical equipment.
[07:20.360 --> 07:31.180]  This is probably the most common term used to do with chairs, walkers, canes, things that we rely on for our everyday mobility.
[07:31.480 --> 07:35.120]  This also includes like respirators and, you know, stuff like that too.
[07:35.440 --> 07:37.160]  It's not just wheelchairs.
[07:37.320 --> 07:43.380]  Although I could just use wheelchair for this presentation since that's primarily what I'm going to be talking about, power wheelchairs.
[07:43.380 --> 07:45.780]  But there's a much broader scope to it.
[07:47.160 --> 07:56.000]  Spoons is a community term that we use to describe the amount of energy and functionality that we have to accomplish basic tasks.
[07:56.220 --> 08:00.080]  So sometimes you might hear a disabled person say, I'm really low on spoons today.
[08:00.240 --> 08:03.360]  That means they're having a hard day and it's really hard for them to function.
[08:03.360 --> 08:22.440]  And inspiration porn, a term coined by Stella Young in a TED talk in 2014, has since become widely adopted by our community to describe the unpleasant phenomenon of non-disabled people using our stories as personal benefit, like an uplift.
[08:22.440 --> 08:24.320]  Like, oh, wow, you got up today.
[08:24.420 --> 08:25.240]  That's so amazing.
[08:25.380 --> 08:29.580]  Or you moved your arm or you whatever, you know, you stood up out of your wheelchair.
[08:29.800 --> 08:31.260]  Wow, it's so inspiring.
[08:31.520 --> 08:33.260]  I guess I can face today, too.
[08:33.400 --> 08:34.820]  It's just really inappropriate.
[08:35.400 --> 08:40.240]  And that's a talk for another time, but just something to know if you want to know a little bit about disability culture.
[08:42.560 --> 08:53.060]  So there are some myths that I need to address before I can get into the nuts and bolts of how SB 244 is affecting wheelchair repair.
[08:53.940 --> 08:58.120]  Myth number one, people with disabilities have insurance in the USA.
[08:58.540 --> 09:02.780]  Myth number two, insurance will always pay for a wheelchair if you medically need one.
[09:03.260 --> 09:09.640]  Myth number three, NGOs or nonprofits will provide batteries and parts for wheelchairs so you're not stranded.
[09:10.440 --> 09:14.840]  Number four, DME is designed with ease of repairs and longevity in mind.
[09:15.120 --> 09:18.620]  Number five, DME manufacturers have readily available parts.
[09:19.280 --> 09:26.240]  Number six, DME is cross-compatible so people can use parts from used or slightly older models, especially if it's the same brand, right?
[09:27.040 --> 09:34.340]  And number seven, DME companies are innovative, seeking to improve the lives of disabled people by pushing the bar with exciting new technologies.
[09:35.860 --> 09:36.920]  Here's the reality.
[09:36.920 --> 09:43.680]  The reality is, conservatively, one in four disabled adults have no healthcare provider.
[09:43.960 --> 09:45.620]  This is a statistic from the CDC.
[09:46.680 --> 09:50.620]  Insurance actually defaults to denying wheelchair claims.
[09:51.180 --> 09:56.840]  They are incredibly difficult battles to win, and only certain conditions will qualify somebody for one.
[09:57.020 --> 10:01.660]  It's not based on the necessity that you have to go out into the world.
[10:02.800 --> 10:07.000]  Only a few cities in the entire country actually have programs for wheelchair repair.
[10:07.260 --> 10:08.460]  They're usually hidden.
[10:08.840 --> 10:09.980]  Very hard to find.
[10:10.640 --> 10:24.240]  And for the past 34 years since the passage of the ADA, San Francisco, which is a landmark city for disability rights, just got a wheelchair repair program just this past year.
[10:24.240 --> 10:31.320]  It's been amazing so far, but that is criminal that it has taken decades to get something like that.
[10:32.840 --> 10:37.220]  DME repair information is incredibly secret and closely guarded by the industry.
[10:37.220 --> 10:48.260]  You might be surprised at just how difficult it is to get any kind of documents or any kind of error codes of any sort for any model of power wheelchair.
[10:49.140 --> 10:57.260]  If your DME is a few years old, basic items, even like tires, and especially motor parts, become impossible to order.
[10:57.940 --> 11:00.420]  Parts are exorbitantly marked up.
[11:00.620 --> 11:03.040]  Price gouging is through the roof.
[11:03.420 --> 11:05.500]  And I'll show you some examples here in a minute.
[11:06.560 --> 11:08.100]  DME is highly proprietary.
[11:08.720 --> 11:14.080]  It's designed to be as incompatible as possible with previous models, even just a couple years old.
[11:14.380 --> 11:21.420]  And this is, in my opinion, to support the throwaway culture so that, you know, you just get the insurance to buy another one.
[11:21.540 --> 11:22.640]  And that's the assumption.
[11:22.760 --> 11:30.460]  That's the toxic assumption is that everyone has insurance and you can just bill it to insurance every five years, every 10 years, get a new power wheelchair.
[11:30.700 --> 11:35.220]  It's incredibly wasteful and millions of Americans don't even have that option.
[11:36.220 --> 11:44.760]  Lastly, companies like Google, big tech firms, love paying homage to our community, but actually do extremely little for us.
[11:44.860 --> 11:47.100]  And in fact, often cause more harm than good.
[11:47.780 --> 11:53.200]  Often you'll have like a make-a-thon or a hack-a-thon type event to, you know, support the disabled people.
[11:53.540 --> 11:55.500]  But nothing actually comes of it.
[11:55.720 --> 11:57.000]  Products don't make it to market.
[11:57.400 --> 12:00.380]  There's nothing that actually does anything for our community.
[12:00.380 --> 12:04.040]  Really what it is, is to pad people's resumes.
[12:04.040 --> 12:06.480]  It's a feel-good PR move.
[12:06.640 --> 12:11.500]  And it just does not benefit anyone but non-disabled people.
[12:11.760 --> 12:26.980]  And then even worse, a lot of technologies that are used to develop under the guise of disability, especially like robotics, are often actually used for deployment with defense contractors and arms manufacturers.
[12:27.640 --> 12:30.700]  When I say defense, of course, I mean offense, let's be real.
[12:31.060 --> 12:46.300]  It's really tragic and deeply ironic that things that are advertised to help people with disabilities are actually used to shoot at and injure and kill people to make more disabled people in the world.
[12:47.880 --> 12:49.860]  So here is Access Medical.
[12:50.080 --> 12:53.180]  This is a place that sells wheelchairs.
[12:53.700 --> 12:57.800]  And I had gotten my power wheelchair through them through fundraising.
[12:58.240 --> 13:05.400]  And you'll notice that it says, Our service and repair department is fully equipped and always ready for any situation.
[13:05.400 --> 13:07.280]  We're preserving your mobility.
[13:07.460 --> 13:11.080]  If your equipment breaks down, it can be an inconvenience and a hardship.
[13:11.320 --> 13:12.540]  They're here to help.
[13:12.540 --> 13:16.460]  I mean, you just spent thousands of dollars on a wheelchair, so you would hope so, right?
[13:17.340 --> 13:23.520]  What's interesting though, is they wanted to charge, and they are charging now everyone, a $100 assessment fee.
[13:23.920 --> 13:32.220]  And this was in response to an email where I just asked for an error code and a plastic foot pedal replacement.
[13:32.540 --> 13:34.720]  And so they said, Yeah, we'll do an assessment fee.
[13:34.780 --> 13:35.560]  It'll cost you $100.
[13:35.660 --> 13:39.520]  Or you can take your 500-pound chair and bring it down to our office.
[13:39.520 --> 13:41.580]  I contacted them a few more times.
[13:41.580 --> 13:43.680]  I said, Look, I'm just looking for an error code.
[13:43.800 --> 13:45.700]  You don't need to send anyone out here.
[13:45.840 --> 13:47.420]  I don't need to go to your office.
[13:47.960 --> 13:53.520]  All I need is text about what this number means when my chair crashes me into a wall.
[13:54.080 --> 13:55.120]  And what did they say?
[13:55.860 --> 13:57.580]  We don't stock any parts.
[13:58.860 --> 14:01.200]  And we have no information on error codes.
[14:01.520 --> 14:03.160]  Gee, thanks Access Medical.
[14:03.380 --> 14:04.540]  This is par for the course.
[14:04.700 --> 14:05.480]  This is common.
[14:05.620 --> 14:07.040]  It's all about extracting money.
[14:07.040 --> 14:11.880]  Can you imagine how many disabled people paid that $100 fee hoping they would get their chair fixed?
[14:12.100 --> 14:14.420]  To only find out, No, we don't stock parts.
[14:14.500 --> 14:15.260]  We don't have error codes.
[14:15.660 --> 14:17.420]  You should contact the manufacturer.
[14:20.820 --> 14:21.840]  Disability and healthcare.
[14:22.200 --> 14:24.300]  This is the statistic from the CDC website.
[14:24.520 --> 14:25.420]  Always cite your sources.
[14:25.680 --> 14:30.320]  And this is, in my opinion, a very conservative statistic for how many of us don't actually have healthcare.
[14:31.360 --> 14:35.200]  And here is my personal denial from my insurance.
[14:35.200 --> 14:36.160]  I do have insurance.
[14:36.300 --> 14:37.720]  But was denied a power wheelchair.
[14:38.200 --> 14:44.260]  I had a medical documentation and a full medical review and write-up done by a medical doctor.
[14:44.600 --> 14:48.320]  An occupational therapist who came to my home and took tons of measurements.
[14:48.320 --> 14:50.700]  And my social worker who did a write-up as well.
[14:50.880 --> 14:54.180]  You'll notice that the words in here are particularly BS.
[14:54.360 --> 15:09.020]  It says, Please note, Verbiage such as short distances, strength is fair, weakness, limited range of motion, poor endurance, gait instability, abnormality of gait, difficulty in walking, shortness of breath, on exertion, pain, fatigue, and decondition are all vague,
[15:09.600 --> 15:14.300]  subjective, insufficient, and do not address the mobility limitations present.
[15:15.680 --> 15:16.680]  What a bunch of crap.
[15:17.420 --> 15:26.840]  Those are all extremely articulate, clear descriptions that a medical doctor made to the insurance company describing my health condition.
[15:27.320 --> 15:28.300]  And so they said no.
[15:28.380 --> 15:32.460]  And they said, Well, you should be able to move a manual chair in your house.
[15:32.600 --> 15:33.340]  And that's it.
[15:33.440 --> 15:34.920]  You don't need to go out into the world ever.
[15:35.700 --> 15:37.640]  And we're not going to give you a power wheelchair to do that.
[15:38.660 --> 15:46.940]  And to this day, I would not be able to leave my house if it wasn't for the generosity of friends in my life who fundraised for me to get a power wheelchair.
[15:47.220 --> 15:51.600]  That is the insanity of the insurance and medical situation in America.
[15:52.320 --> 15:57.140]  Going on to proprietary stuff in the designs of these power wheelchairs.
[15:59.700 --> 16:07.100]  This is an example of the trans-axle motor from my old Meritz mobility scooter, which is a long range device that has a single drive.
[16:07.460 --> 16:14.660]  And the manufacturer went to lengths to make die cast mounts that are model specific to a power scooter.
[16:14.920 --> 16:17.920]  Even though these trans-axle motors are very plug and play.
[16:18.080 --> 16:21.480]  They're all 24 volt motors with a solenoid braking system.
[16:22.040 --> 16:29.240]  I've even hacked one on to my chair before using like different bolts and zip ties and stuff to try to make it work.
[16:29.240 --> 16:34.680]  And it electrically, mechanically functioned fine, but didn't mount to my frame.
[16:35.080 --> 16:40.300]  And I forced it a while back and ended up bending my frame trying to find a mount that would work.
[16:40.720 --> 16:50.800]  This is, in my opinion, intentional to make sure that you can be price gouged on specific trans-axle motors, which I'll show you in a minute how much they cost.
[16:53.220 --> 16:54.360]  Here's some pricing.
[16:54.620 --> 17:04.620]  The potentiometer, the knob that just controls if I go forward or backward in a mobility scooter, is over $100, right?
[17:04.900 --> 17:06.960]  This isn't a deluxe website.
[17:06.960 --> 17:11.080]  This isn't like an extravagant, you know, where rich people shop.
[17:11.280 --> 17:14.780]  This is one of the largest resellers of mobility parts.
[17:14.920 --> 17:16.520]  And you can't get this stuff cheaper.
[17:16.520 --> 17:22.980]  However, unless you're lucky and you can find something on Craigslist, but normally people are selling the whole chair, broken or not.
[17:24.460 --> 17:26.680]  Tires, you might think tires are affordable.
[17:27.160 --> 17:27.680]  Nope.
[17:28.200 --> 17:32.120]  A single tire averages $100 for my mobility scooter.
[17:32.260 --> 17:33.440]  And that's actually cheap.
[17:33.560 --> 17:35.120]  That's for an old mobility scooter.
[17:35.340 --> 17:37.220]  It actually goes up from there.
[17:39.880 --> 17:44.720]  The trans-axle motor that I showed a second ago, $585.
[17:46.300 --> 17:50.820]  I could get one for half that if it had a different mount, right?
[17:51.000 --> 17:52.260]  But then it won't fit on my chair.
[17:53.280 --> 17:56.600]  Keep in mind, all of this has to be paid out of pocket.
[17:56.940 --> 17:58.440]  Batteries are about $160.
[17:59.540 --> 18:01.040]  All of this has to be out of pocket.
[18:01.260 --> 18:02.720]  Your insurance doesn't pay for this.
[18:02.820 --> 18:08.160]  And when you're disabled, you're most likely unemployed because it's almost impossible to find a job.
[18:08.620 --> 18:10.980]  And especially if you're severely disabled and you can't work.
[18:10.980 --> 18:14.160]  Here we have a plastic cover.
[18:14.420 --> 18:18.700]  A piece of plastic to protect your joystick, $75.
[18:19.760 --> 18:27.360]  The battery for my power wheelchair, $600.
[18:29.600 --> 18:32.680]  $600 for what's essentially an e-bike battery.
[18:32.880 --> 18:35.560]  This is a 269 watt hour battery.
[18:35.560 --> 18:40.080]  I did a little bit of research trying to see what's something on the market that isn't a wheelchair.
[18:40.840 --> 18:41.860]  And look at that.
[18:42.080 --> 18:54.360]  You can get a power station, a battery with 300 watt hours, a built-in inverter, USB outputs, including USB-C, 12 volt socket, built-in light, a nice battery gauge, a nice handle.
[18:54.760 --> 18:58.340]  For $250 bucks, that's free shipping as well.
[18:59.180 --> 19:03.420]  Everything that you saw before this, shipping plus tax.
[19:04.640 --> 19:07.700]  So people wonder why you see this all the time.
[19:08.420 --> 19:13.980]  And that's because the system is designed a way to keep us broke, to keep us poor.
[19:14.200 --> 19:17.160]  I'm not even going into housing and job discrimination.
[19:18.300 --> 19:23.840]  So we have an uphill battle, both figuratively and literally, that we're fighting.
[19:25.940 --> 19:27.700]  Make-a-thons and hack-a-thons.
[19:28.720 --> 19:30.840]  Classic example of inspiration porn.
[19:31.220 --> 19:36.860]  This is a great write-up done by Alice Wong, who is a very famous disability activist.
[19:37.060 --> 19:39.280]  You might have heard her name and seen her around.
[19:39.440 --> 19:43.180]  And this was a make-a-thon that Google put on.
[19:43.700 --> 19:46.540]  And they came to the community to ask us what we wanted.
[19:46.540 --> 19:48.200]  We gave them some suggestions.
[19:48.360 --> 19:58.120]  They ignored absolutely every one of them and did whatever they wanted, including having a panel of non-disabled judges making the decisions on the disability products being developed.
[19:58.520 --> 20:01.560]  None of which, as far as I know, made it to market or helped us in any way.
[20:01.560 --> 20:10.900]  And then I want to give a shout-out to Ashley Hsu, who recently just came out with this amazing book against techno-ableism, Rethinking Who Needs Improvement.
[20:11.220 --> 20:21.280]  Because another thing that is stigmatizing us, especially in technology culture, is this idea that, oh, you know, let's just give you some robot legs and everything will be fine.
[20:21.280 --> 20:25.440]  We just got to make you into an able-bodied person, and that'll fix everything.
[20:26.080 --> 20:39.540]  And so her wonderful book is addressing all the problems with that, the toxicity of ableist culture, and how it is influencing our technology in our hacker culture, which I would certainly love to see that change.
[20:39.680 --> 20:43.880]  So that's why I mentioned that, because we're a bunch of hackers and folks, and we can be part of that change.
[20:44.640 --> 20:51.160]  Let's go and talk about Right to Repair, baby, and how this is changing the game and helping us out.
[20:51.160 --> 20:52.100]  Helping everyone out.
[20:52.500 --> 20:55.640]  So, Right to Repair just passed in California.
[20:56.000 --> 21:02.100]  It was signed into law in October of 2023 by our governor, Governor Gavin Newsom.
[21:02.300 --> 21:06.040]  It passed the California Senate 38-0.
[21:06.420 --> 21:07.840]  No one was against it.
[21:08.100 --> 21:16.140]  It's extremely popular, because it's a growing movement that's pushing our political representatives to take this seriously.
[21:18.260 --> 21:19.800]  I thought this was amazing.
[21:19.800 --> 21:24.220]  This is a picture of the floor vote, the video happening in the California State Assembly.
[21:24.360 --> 21:31.040]  I didn't know until I saw this picture that the bill is authored by a Senator Eggman.
[21:31.580 --> 21:33.840]  Yes, her name is Senator Eggman.
[21:33.960 --> 21:35.860]  You cannot make this stuff up.
[21:36.120 --> 21:42.800]  She's actually a pretty cool senator, at least from what I was reading up and from authoring this bill, which I think is an awesome bill.
[21:44.980 --> 21:50.900]  For those that don't know, Eggman is the name of Dr. Robotnik from Sonic the Hedgehog.
[21:51.160 --> 21:52.660]  He's my favorite villain.
[21:54.040 --> 21:55.400]  He's found a new way.
[21:56.140 --> 21:57.100]  Being a Senator.
[21:58.840 --> 22:03.000]  So I'm going to go talk about the law a little bit and my interpretation of SB 244.
[22:03.160 --> 22:05.080]  Keep in mind, I am not a lawyer.
[22:05.660 --> 22:08.500]  The following is a layperson interpretation of the law.
[22:08.500 --> 22:18.400]  I do, however, have quite a fair amount of legal experience, you know, reading legislation and various laws and had some court cases and stuff like that.
[22:18.420 --> 22:20.560]  So I'm not like new to the legal system.
[22:20.720 --> 22:22.140]  But again, this is my interpretation.
[22:22.140 --> 22:23.100]  I'm not a paralegal.
[22:23.240 --> 22:23.840]  Not a lawyer.
[22:25.880 --> 22:27.100]  But we got a bill here.
[22:27.920 --> 22:29.180]  And let's talk about it.
[22:29.900 --> 22:32.540]  So first, very important thing to know right off the bat.
[22:32.640 --> 22:36.340]  It only applies to products that are sold or used after July 1.
[22:39.320 --> 22:42.520]  For laws, because they kind of go into effect at the date they're signed.
[22:42.660 --> 22:46.080]  And then they kind of go, everything from moving forward is going to be affected.
[22:46.420 --> 22:49.780]  But, you know, they gave a few years back.
[22:51.200 --> 22:51.600]  Items.
[22:51.680 --> 22:52.760]  This is a cool part about the law.
[22:53.300 --> 22:54.020]  About the bill.
[22:54.320 --> 22:55.600]  Items $50 to $100.
[22:56.640 --> 23:05.780]  There is now a new requirement to make manufacturers provide parts for repair for three years until the last date that the model was manufactured.
[23:06.200 --> 23:07.220]  This is pretty cool.
[23:07.220 --> 23:10.420]  And for items $100 and up, it's got to be seven years.
[23:11.000 --> 23:12.120]  So this is really cool.
[23:12.240 --> 23:21.020]  I think this is a great way to encourage manufacturers to make consistent designs that don't have as much proprietary parts.
[23:21.220 --> 23:27.920]  Because if you have to keep parts for seven years, you might as well make those parts match the next model.
[23:27.920 --> 23:32.840]  I know Lewis Rossman has spoken that he doesn't like this part of the bill.
[23:33.160 --> 23:40.160]  He thinks that resellers are going to be stocking these parts anyway and it should be their burden, not the manufacturer's burden.
[23:40.320 --> 23:43.140]  And I 100% disagree with him on that.
[23:43.400 --> 23:46.780]  Because he's thinking of it from a laptop repair perspective.
[23:46.780 --> 23:54.000]  And sure, resellers and repair shops are going to keep parts around all the time for Apple computers.
[23:54.300 --> 23:55.240]  Yeah, no problem.
[23:55.320 --> 23:56.240]  For cell phones or whatever.
[23:56.520 --> 24:02.460]  For wheelchairs and wheelchair trans-axle motors and tires and stuff like that, not the case.
[24:02.660 --> 24:04.160]  That stuff is not available.
[24:04.160 --> 24:06.200]  It is not being hoarded by anyone.
[24:06.520 --> 24:08.980]  It is not sitting in piles in repair shops.
[24:09.320 --> 24:15.340]  And so it's really important that, you know, things like that potentiometer, that little control pot, you know, and stuff like that.
[24:16.040 --> 24:18.080]  These things are really important that they're manufactured.
[24:18.360 --> 24:20.980]  This is medical equipment that people need.
[24:21.320 --> 24:24.980]  This is not just a phone where you can just buy a new one, get the latest model, and who cares?
[24:26.460 --> 24:30.520]  I thought I'd quote some of the relevant texts in SB244.
[24:30.520 --> 24:43.300]  It shall make available to owners of the product documentation and functional parts and tools, inclusive of any updates on fair and reasonable terms, which are defined later in the bill, to affect the diagnosis, maintenance, or repair of a product.
[24:43.920 --> 24:56.400]  Keep in mind, the idea of SB244 is to give the layperson, the average Joe or Jane, the availability of resources that an official repair center would normally have.
[24:57.480 --> 25:06.760]  So, this does not require them to provide source code, intellectual property, trade secrets, unless it's necessary for compliance.
[25:06.900 --> 25:09.180]  And it's cool that they added that necessary for compliance.
[25:09.340 --> 25:11.640]  They could just say, doesn't require it at all.
[25:12.560 --> 25:19.060]  Now, this is where you're going to find companies are going to be really resistant, because that's the stuff that's really valuable to them.
[25:19.500 --> 25:21.300]  And they don't want to have to give that away.
[25:21.480 --> 25:22.860]  And some of that's understandable.
[25:23.660 --> 25:26.540]  But at the same time, we need to be able to repair our stuff.
[25:27.580 --> 25:33.300]  And they, you know, hopefully should keep an open mind that if they're selling something, that they should be able to do that.
[25:34.480 --> 25:45.620]  Documentation means any electronic or appliance product manual, diagram, reporting output, service code description, schematic, or similar information that is provided by a manufacturer to an authorized repair provider.
[25:45.620 --> 25:54.600]  So again, this is providing stuff to us, regular people, that would normally go to a quote, authorized repair provider.
[25:55.440 --> 25:59.880]  If you're not one of those, and you've never been one of those, you might not know what to ask for.
[26:00.080 --> 26:07.420]  So being specific here is going to make your experience work out, much more likely than otherwise.
[26:07.960 --> 26:15.000]  So one choice of words here that I don't think is helpful is the appliance product manual.
[26:15.000 --> 26:21.420]  What they're really meaning by that, in my opinion, is the service manual, is the maintenance manual.
[26:21.840 --> 26:27.140]  These are things that are created specifically for authorized repair providers.
[26:27.400 --> 26:33.660]  They let you know how to take the thing apart and add the new part that you need, you know, adjust the sensor, whatever it is.
[26:33.800 --> 26:40.480]  So when you're writing to a manufacturer, use those words, service manual, maintenance manual.
[26:40.480 --> 26:44.480]  If you just say, I want a diagram, I mean, that could work.
[26:44.820 --> 26:48.880]  But those two types of manuals have a lot more information than just diagrams.
[26:49.520 --> 26:54.920]  Service code, or error code, is another very specific thing you can and should ask for.
[26:55.080 --> 26:58.400]  And especially, of course, schematics, if you need a schematic for something.
[26:59.140 --> 27:01.960]  Notice that they did not put firmware in here.
[27:02.620 --> 27:06.440]  I think a lot of repairs are really difficult these days without having firmware.
[27:06.440 --> 27:15.820]  I know that goes into, like, the whole IP stuff, but I think there are ways to do parts of firmware and ways to provide some of that so people can actually repair stuff.
[27:16.240 --> 27:18.640]  Or at least, like, test rigs and things like that.
[27:18.840 --> 27:22.420]  And this also doesn't go into test rigs, but I think that's another thing that you could ask for.
[27:24.020 --> 27:25.500]  There are some exclusions, though.
[27:25.700 --> 27:29.280]  Some really sucky exclusions, and I'm going to go over them.
[27:30.040 --> 27:39.160]  Number one is, I mentioned before, anything sold or used before July 1st, 2021, it's completely excluded from SB244.
[27:39.860 --> 27:46.020]  Part of this makes sense because you don't want to have manufacturers on the hook for repair parts, for things they don't have anymore.
[27:46.840 --> 27:48.020]  But, you know what?
[27:48.080 --> 27:55.980]  I think there's a lot of stuff that is still available, and there's ways they could have done it to make products not go into landfill, to be repairable.
[27:55.980 --> 27:58.160]  But, you know, they didn't do that.
[27:59.300 --> 28:02.440]  Second thing that really sucks, farming equipment.
[28:02.660 --> 28:20.160]  So they totally went into the pocket of John Deere and big tractor asshole companies and decided to screw over all the farmers across the state of California, all the landscapers, all the people working on, you know, golf course equipment and lawnmowers and all those folks, people that work in livestock, they all got screwed.
[28:24.100 --> 28:27.700]  And I'll go into more detail about that in a second.
[28:28.800 --> 28:29.780]  Alarm systems.
[28:30.160 --> 28:32.680]  This one actually kind of makes sense.
[28:32.920 --> 28:42.420]  They don't want, you know, thieves to be able to say, hey, give me all the schematics and technical documentation so I can repair, you know, home alarm system.
[28:42.640 --> 28:48.260]  When really you're just going to go do a home alone, break into some house and run away from Macaulay Culkin.
[28:49.680 --> 28:50.640]  Video games.
[28:51.000 --> 28:55.720]  This is the one that's going to upset people the most, including components and peripherals.
[28:55.840 --> 28:57.720]  That's exact language from SB244.
[28:57.920 --> 29:00.840]  So your video game controller, your memory cards, whatever.
[29:01.320 --> 29:05.540]  They are totally off the list of things that manufacturers have to support you with.
[29:05.960 --> 29:07.320]  Why is this the case?
[29:07.600 --> 29:10.980]  Because there is a strong lobby for the video game companies.
[29:11.580 --> 29:12.540]  Totally crap.
[29:12.860 --> 29:14.100]  Lewis Rossman talks about it.
[29:14.280 --> 29:17.220]  You know, making their impact, scaring politicians on Capitol Hill.
[29:17.400 --> 29:18.400]  It's totally ridiculous.
[29:19.360 --> 29:21.700]  Video games should be able to be repaired just like anything else.
[29:22.480 --> 29:25.420]  There's also a big fat loophole for Apple.
[29:25.820 --> 29:26.740]  Apple computers.
[29:27.900 --> 29:29.960]  I have a strained relationship with them.
[29:31.060 --> 29:32.240]  The art of the loophole.
[29:32.420 --> 29:33.720]  Making the law work for you.
[29:33.900 --> 29:35.560]  Come on, rotten Apple computers.
[29:35.560 --> 29:39.920]  So Apple computers was actually very much against right to repair.
[29:40.100 --> 29:44.880]  And in the last minute, joined the call of support for SB244.
[29:45.480 --> 29:51.940]  Which makes you scratch your head and go, why was like the number one company fighting this bill all of a sudden in support of it?
[29:52.260 --> 29:53.000]  Oh yeah!
[29:53.400 --> 29:54.760]  So they could put in their own loophole.
[29:55.120 --> 29:57.180]  And this is my understanding of the law.
[29:57.360 --> 29:58.080]  This could be flawed.
[29:58.220 --> 29:59.520]  This is my understanding of it.
[29:59.520 --> 30:03.700]  There is a very specific part in SB244.
[30:04.100 --> 30:09.640]  Which pertains to manufacturers that do their own repairs.
[30:10.860 --> 30:13.100]  This is a very weird exception.
[30:13.600 --> 30:16.740]  That to me can only mean that they're talking about Apple computers.
[30:17.020 --> 30:19.740]  And it's written in a way to be as confusing as possible.
[30:20.400 --> 30:25.960]  Whenever I'm reading law that's really confusing and convoluted, I'm thinking, hmm, there might be some shady stuff in here.
[30:25.960 --> 30:31.020]  And so what this does is this says if you are a manufacturer yourself.
[30:31.120 --> 30:32.520]  Then you do your own repairs.
[30:32.780 --> 30:37.060]  You don't have any authorized repair centers that are, you know, separate from your company.
[30:38.340 --> 30:43.700]  Then you don't have to provide documentation or tools that you use to perform repairs.
[30:44.160 --> 30:46.800]  And that are completed by machines.
[30:47.020 --> 30:48.700]  And that one is a little bit vague to me.
[30:48.800 --> 30:52.000]  But my guess is there's some shady stuff going on with that as well.
[30:52.440 --> 30:56.680]  So this is Apple's way of being like, look, we repair your stuff for free already.
[30:56.960 --> 30:58.880]  Of course, it's worked into the price.
[30:59.520 --> 31:01.820]  So, you know, we don't have to provide anything.
[31:02.640 --> 31:06.020]  I'm going to be interested to see how that develops and plays out in the courts.
[31:07.480 --> 31:15.360]  And then this is just a news article highlighting what I mentioned before, which is that Apple spent millions of dollars fighting rights to repair legislation.
[31:15.360 --> 31:24.180]  The fact that they're joining it, of course, means that we're winning because we're forcing their hand to actually start sort of doing the right thing.
[31:24.320 --> 31:28.580]  But of course, they're going to try to game the system using the art of the loophole.
[31:30.740 --> 31:31.180]  Exclusions.
[31:31.400 --> 31:32.720]  Here's the actual text.
[31:32.840 --> 31:34.560]  Now, this is like a little bit more digging.
[31:34.560 --> 31:38.920]  So I thought I'd provide this for you all outside of SB 244.
[31:39.160 --> 31:48.100]  It references California business and profession codes to explain things that are not included in right to repair SB 244.
[31:48.400 --> 32:04.040]  And so I mentioned before, these are all the things that are not included, things that have to do with planting and harvesting and agriculture, lawn, garden, golf course, grounds maintenance, anything to do with livestock or in connection with those activities,
[32:04.380 --> 32:09.280]  and industrial construction and mining and stuff like that, utilities and stuff like that.
[32:09.340 --> 32:10.540]  This is not good, folks.
[32:10.720 --> 32:12.340]  This should really be part of right to repair.
[32:13.160 --> 32:16.320]  And so that's from California Business and Professional Code 22901.
[32:17.280 --> 32:19.780]  And then alarm systems for anyone interested.
[32:19.960 --> 32:23.640]  This is the exact text that it references for alarm systems.
[32:23.760 --> 32:26.480]  And that's from California Business and Professional Code 7590.1.
[32:26.480 --> 32:29.520]  So that's the, you know, legal text.
[32:29.740 --> 32:34.420]  And then last but not least, very interesting loophole.
[32:34.760 --> 32:46.600]  This section shall not apply if the manufacturer provides an equivalent or better readily available replacement electronic or appliance product at no charge to the customer.
[32:47.680 --> 32:51.380]  This got me wondering and curious.
[32:52.400 --> 32:55.700]  Could we possibly get free stuff?
[32:57.600 --> 32:58.600]  More on that later.
[33:00.020 --> 33:03.800]  Now I'm going to talk about my journey contacting the manufacturer.
[33:04.500 --> 33:10.000]  This is my personal journey using right to repair to get my own power wheelchair fixed.
[33:11.260 --> 33:14.580]  So I wanted to reach out to the manufacturer, which is in this case Will.
[33:14.580 --> 33:23.300]  They are a Japanese company, although they have headquarters, they have offices or whatever in California, which is where I bought my power wheelchair.
[33:23.520 --> 33:26.220]  So it's under right to repair for location.
[33:26.460 --> 33:36.540]  And I got it purchased around 2021, 2022, just right in the line of being within compliance with the SB244.
[33:38.140 --> 33:42.760]  SB244, I knew it was coming into effect, came into effect July 1st, 2024.
[33:43.520 --> 33:49.600]  And so a few months ago, I went to their website, just wanted to show you, really simple.
[33:49.840 --> 33:57.420]  Scroll down to the bottom, found a contact us link, brought me to a web form that I filled out and I sent it off.
[33:58.500 --> 34:00.040]  And I used email.
[34:00.420 --> 34:02.500]  I think this is really important to note.
[34:02.780 --> 34:09.280]  I really want to emphasize that people use email, create a paper trail, not social media embarrassment.
[34:09.640 --> 34:15.140]  Whenever you start contacting manufacturers and social media, it can raise alarms on their head, right?
[34:15.620 --> 34:21.540]  And you're going to be sending letters that companies are going to be kind of taken back by.
[34:21.660 --> 34:23.180]  They're not going to be expecting this, right?
[34:23.180 --> 34:30.140]  This law just came into effect and they're now being asked to do all kinds of stuff they're not used to providing.
[34:30.440 --> 34:31.560]  Might not want to provide.
[34:31.740 --> 34:34.600]  Might be worried about their design being stolen or whatever.
[34:35.240 --> 34:38.040]  So be extra, extra polite.
[34:39.100 --> 34:42.060]  And so here's a snippet of the email that I sent.
[34:42.820 --> 34:46.420]  I tried to describe in detail what was going on with my chair.
[34:46.580 --> 34:51.400]  So they knew I wasn't just sending some vague, you know, give me free stuff or whatever.
[34:51.920 --> 34:56.580]  told them, hey, you know, I could get some good publicity for your company.
[34:57.000 --> 34:58.660]  I'm always talking up your product.
[34:58.840 --> 35:00.320]  I'm always telling people I meet on the street.
[35:00.320 --> 35:03.520]  This is the best wheelchair, et cetera, et cetera, right?
[35:03.660 --> 35:04.240]  Be nice.
[35:04.420 --> 35:08.480]  Like, obviously you like the product or you wouldn't be trying to repair it.
[35:08.540 --> 35:10.000]  So it should be pretty easy.
[35:11.880 --> 35:16.780]  The original reply, likely before the corporate lawyers got involved.
[35:17.480 --> 35:19.500]  This original reply was amazing.
[35:20.140 --> 35:21.400]  They sent me error codes.
[35:21.500 --> 35:26.500]  They said they wanted to see my serial number so they could make sure, you know, I purchased it or whatever.
[35:26.640 --> 35:27.360]  It makes sense.
[35:27.740 --> 35:29.920]  So I sent them some pictures of my serial number.
[35:30.500 --> 35:44.740]  They sent me the full list of error codes so I could finally find out, like, what was the explanation at least for why my power wheelchair was locking up and then crashing me into my hallway wall on occasion, not very fun.
[35:45.800 --> 35:48.900]  And they even gave me... were giving me, like, repair advice.
[35:49.100 --> 35:51.380]  Like, hey, check this cable under the seat.
[35:51.580 --> 35:54.780]  This could be the source of the problem because the seat sags over time.
[35:55.200 --> 35:57.620]  Anyone who uses a wheelchair is probably familiar with that.
[35:58.560 --> 36:05.300]  I asked for mechanical drawings for the footrest, which had broken plastic on it because I wanted to 3D print my own.
[36:05.800 --> 36:07.480]  They said they have to request it.
[36:07.480 --> 36:10.240]  They're going to go request it from the parent company in Japan.
[36:12.980 --> 36:16.760]  And as far as the... this was the interesting one, the battery communications.
[36:16.820 --> 36:19.780]  So I was like, hey, I want to fix my battery.
[36:19.780 --> 36:24.240]  I want to just replace the bad cells in it, but I need a way to communicate with the battery to do that.
[36:24.440 --> 36:33.300]  For those that don't know, battery protection board systems, they're usually designed to make the battery completely dead if you disconnect anything.
[36:34.160 --> 36:35.940]  It's very common for laptop batteries.
[36:36.200 --> 36:41.620]  And for this $600 power wheelchair battery, I would absolutely expect that to be the case.
[36:42.840 --> 36:45.540]  This part of the negotiation was a little bit of a...
[36:45.540 --> 36:47.400]  a little bit of a slippery answer.
[36:47.560 --> 36:51.440]  You know, oh, the battery's not manufactured by us, so I don't think we have that information.
[36:53.520 --> 36:54.940]  Which, of course, I didn't buy.
[36:56.840 --> 37:03.880]  Later on, there was no dice for mechanical info or communications or firmware.
[37:04.120 --> 37:08.040]  Actually, there was one email before this where I clarified the battery thing.
[37:08.140 --> 37:10.160]  And I was like, hey, I know you guys talked to the battery.
[37:10.300 --> 37:10.880]  You have to.
[37:11.620 --> 37:13.360]  I don't need your full firmware.
[37:13.360 --> 37:16.520]  I just need something to help me replace the batteries.
[37:17.120 --> 37:22.400]  And they did say they would consider sending me a test rig to do that, which would have been awesome.
[37:22.960 --> 37:24.740]  But then I got this email.
[37:25.100 --> 37:27.340]  And this was after some time.
[37:27.560 --> 37:31.420]  Um, because I was having surgery and some health problems from COVID.
[37:31.700 --> 37:34.120]  So I had not responded for a little bit of time.
[37:34.200 --> 37:35.220]  And then they sent me this.
[37:36.100 --> 37:37.080]  Very disappointed.
[37:37.260 --> 37:43.100]  The request you had regarding access to the firmware adjustments, battery communications, and mechanical drawings can't be approved.
[37:43.400 --> 37:46.040]  Will is not going to release this information.
[37:46.720 --> 37:48.680]  How's that for clear cut?
[37:49.600 --> 37:50.940]  I was having...
[37:52.400 --> 37:53.400]  To the parts.
[37:54.160 --> 37:55.900]  Let me know what you need.
[37:57.560 --> 37:58.700]  Remember this?
[37:59.960 --> 38:08.980]  This section shall not apply if the manufacturer provides equivalent or better readily available replacement or electronic or appliance product at no charge to the customer.
[38:10.440 --> 38:11.160]  Interesting.
[38:11.160 --> 38:11.420]  Interesting.
[38:12.700 --> 38:20.560]  So I wrote them a big long list in numbered detail of what the problems are and what parts I think could fix it.
[38:20.720 --> 38:22.260]  Just like a repair shop would.
[38:22.440 --> 38:25.940]  I want to emphasize strongly to anyone doing this.
[38:26.380 --> 38:27.540]  Be detailed.
[38:27.800 --> 38:29.000]  Be super detailed.
[38:29.380 --> 38:31.160]  Tell them exactly what's going on.
[38:32.080 --> 38:32.740]  Number it.
[38:33.320 --> 38:34.860]  Repair techs, they love this kind of stuff.
[38:34.860 --> 38:36.600]  It makes their life easier.
[38:36.800 --> 38:43.560]  Don't forget, they're already losing labor hours by negotiating with you, talking with you about right to repair.
[38:43.880 --> 38:46.680]  They're already going to be kind of unhappy about that.
[38:47.080 --> 38:49.940]  So be nice, you know, get more...
[38:49.940 --> 38:50.180]  What is it?
[38:50.180 --> 38:57.700]  You get more flies with honey, be polite, be nice, and try to make their job as easy as possible to help you.
[38:59.560 --> 39:07.320]  And so I said, hey, I would love some inner tubes to replace the flat tires, replacements for the seat cushioning, you know, this sort of stuff.
[39:08.560 --> 39:09.160]  And...
[39:10.520 --> 39:12.720]  Boy, was I a surprised Pikachu!
[39:14.160 --> 39:16.580]  When they responded...
[39:16.580 --> 39:17.940]  This way.
[39:18.940 --> 39:23.420]  Hoping you have a speedy recovery, I've attached the maintenance manual, something else I requested.
[39:23.800 --> 39:26.040]  It's a 99-page document, it's awesome.
[39:26.700 --> 39:29.480]  And send you a few more helpful documents in a separate email.
[39:30.500 --> 39:36.220]  Your parts will be shipping out tomorrow, and I will send tracking info as soon as they ship.
[39:37.460 --> 39:37.940]  What?
[39:38.680 --> 39:44.020]  Keeping in mind that the parts that I'm requesting are many hundreds of dollars.
[39:45.080 --> 39:48.380]  And you would not believe what arrived.
[39:51.120 --> 39:53.860]  Right to repair wins, baby.
[39:54.880 --> 39:58.220]  Now they're claiming that my chair is under warranty, but let's be real.
[39:58.560 --> 40:01.060]  They're not going to send you all this stuff just because it's a warranty thing.
[40:01.200 --> 40:02.320]  It's a right to repair thing.
[40:02.320 --> 40:03.820]  And...
[40:03.820 --> 40:07.640]  Look at this package of stuff!
[40:08.020 --> 40:08.840]  This is so great!
[40:09.860 --> 40:10.960]  Here we are!
[40:11.600 --> 40:14.700]  Uncracked new footplast...
[40:58.060 --> 40:59.200]  But wait!
[40:59.680 --> 41:00.520]  But wait!
[41:00.960 --> 41:02.740]  That's box uno!
[41:03.100 --> 41:04.240]  That's box number one!
[41:05.880 --> 41:07.540]  Dos is over here.
[41:07.720 --> 41:08.580]  Box number two.
[41:08.580 --> 41:11.080]  And what do we have in box number two?
[41:11.560 --> 41:12.400]  And what do we have in box number two?
[41:13.000 --> 41:13.520]  Wait!
[41:13.680 --> 41:13.920]  No wait!
[41:14.060 --> 41:14.340]  No wait!
[41:14.420 --> 41:14.660]  No wait!
[41:14.680 --> 41:16.100]  I'm going to lose my noodle right now.
[41:16.800 --> 41:17.320]  Holy!
[41:17.780 --> 41:18.300]  Holy!
[41:18.940 --> 41:20.080]  I'm going to lose my noodle!
[41:20.520 --> 41:20.860]  Dude!
[41:21.360 --> 41:21.700]  Dude!
[41:22.500 --> 41:23.020]  What?!
[41:23.020 --> 41:25.580]  They sent me not one...
[41:28.040 --> 41:28.560]  What?!
[41:28.560 --> 41:30.820]  But two batteries!
[41:31.320 --> 41:32.080]  You guys!
[41:33.660 --> 41:34.060]  People!
[41:34.960 --> 41:35.360]  Yeah!
[41:36.440 --> 41:38.560]  This is going to change my whole life!
[41:41.560 --> 41:42.820]  I haven't batteries!
[41:43.120 --> 41:43.660]  Oh my god!
[41:44.300 --> 41:44.560]  Okay.
[41:44.920 --> 41:45.560]  I need to calm down.
[41:45.700 --> 41:45.920]  I'm sorry.
[41:46.080 --> 41:46.800]  I'm very excited about this.
[41:46.960 --> 41:47.580]  Right to repair!
[41:47.780 --> 41:48.400]  Right to repair!
[41:48.560 --> 41:48.820]  Yes!
[41:49.440 --> 41:51.020]  So yeah, this was truly incredible.
[41:51.220 --> 41:53.960]  They sent me multiple joystick controllers.
[41:53.960 --> 41:55.640]  I mean the entire assembly.
[41:55.920 --> 41:57.580]  A huge box of parts.
[41:57.980 --> 42:04.180]  And not only that, but not one, but two batteries of these $600 batteries.
[42:04.420 --> 42:07.580]  So to say that I was ecstatic is an understatement.
[42:08.320 --> 42:10.420]  Now, let's talk about enforcement.
[42:11.100 --> 42:13.920]  So there are some things that might be a bit surprising in this.
[42:14.400 --> 42:20.540]  One, you must report a problem where you're not being able to get the information you requested within three years.
[42:20.540 --> 42:29.220]  Two, companies are fined $1,000 a day for the first violation and then $2,000 a day for recurring violations.
[42:29.440 --> 42:30.460]  That's pretty cool.
[42:32.100 --> 42:40.180]  Three, all the money for any violations just goes back to the government for their public rights law enforcement fund.
[42:40.420 --> 42:47.880]  So that kind of sucks because you're the person that's injured by not getting your information, but you get no financial compensation whatsoever.
[42:49.000 --> 42:51.220]  Lastly, this part really sucks.
[42:51.620 --> 42:56.900]  Only the government can bring legal action for a company violating rights of repair.
[42:57.080 --> 42:58.180]  SB 244.
[42:58.460 --> 43:00.340]  There's no civil claims.
[43:00.480 --> 43:02.880]  You can't file your own lawsuit in civil court.
[43:03.060 --> 43:06.180]  All you can do is contact your district attorney's office.
[43:06.420 --> 43:11.380]  And so you can imagine some of them might not be willing to take on the cases.
[43:12.180 --> 43:18.720]  There probably has to be a point of critical mass of multiple people bringing this to their attention before they're going to do something.
[43:18.860 --> 43:19.240]  I don't know.
[43:19.340 --> 43:20.140]  I'm just kind of guessing.
[43:20.340 --> 43:23.480]  But in my experience, that's how stuff like this normally works.
[43:24.480 --> 43:28.420]  So it's not perfect, but here's the full text of it.
[43:28.440 --> 43:31.280]  So you can get the exact wordage of it all.
[43:32.120 --> 43:33.380]  It's kind of a mixed bag.
[43:34.240 --> 43:36.120]  But we're notching some wins.
[43:36.880 --> 43:52.740]  John Deere is being forced to actually face lawsuits under right to repair because the Colorado law, which was the first right to repair law passed, actually has really good provisions for protections for farming equipment and for power wheelchairs.
[43:53.540 --> 44:02.080]  And so this is a federal judge saying, hey, John Deere and tractor companies, you have to come to court and you have to face these claims that are being brought under right to repair.
[44:02.360 --> 44:10.720]  The alleged complaints of constitutional and antitrust practices and controlling the markets is relevant.
[44:10.940 --> 44:13.060]  And, you know, you can't dodge it.
[44:15.160 --> 44:18.420]  Also, right to repair is notching wins in multiple states.
[44:18.420 --> 44:26.060]  So right now we've got Colorado, Minnesota, New York, Maine, and California with laws that are already passed.
[44:26.200 --> 44:34.520]  But in 2024, we've got a bunch of new laws from 30 different states working through different legislatures to make it into permanent law.
[44:37.660 --> 44:40.080]  Now, a note on SB 1384.
[44:40.700 --> 44:48.620]  So some legal experts are saying that SB 244 does not apply to powered wheelchairs.
[44:48.620 --> 44:53.160]  And so that this bill would actually sort of fix that in the business and professional code.
[44:53.320 --> 45:01.760]  Now, I could not find any regulations or any kind of text in SB 244 that excludes power wheelchairs.
[45:01.760 --> 45:08.640]  So I'm not sure on this exactly if this might just strengthen the protections that are already there.
[45:08.740 --> 45:11.540]  But as far as I'm concerned, my power wheelchair is a product.
[45:11.540 --> 45:12.400]  I bought it.
[45:12.520 --> 45:16.940]  It falls under right to repair unless there's a specific exclusion, which there is not.
[45:17.320 --> 45:18.440]  Not that I could find.
[45:18.640 --> 45:21.800]  So anyway, it's going through the California Senate right now.
[45:21.800 --> 45:39.440]  I think it's kind of a terrible bill, to be honest, from what I can read so far, specifically because of this provision, which is Section 14132.b of the Welfare and Institutions Code, that companies will not be required to give you any of these 13 different things,
[45:39.460 --> 45:43.460]  which are basically all the things that you would want to repair your powered wheelchair.
[45:43.460 --> 45:55.920]  Batteries, battery chargers, non-programmable joysticks, joystick housing and brackets, wheel assembly, anti-tip devices, armrests, caster spheres, cosmetic shrouding, floor mats, floor plates, and on and on and on.
[45:56.120 --> 46:02.580]  The excuse that they're giving is that you need to ensure appropriate patient seating and positioning.
[46:02.580 --> 46:06.380]  This is infuriating because we are not patients.
[46:06.380 --> 46:07.540]  We are people.
[46:07.740 --> 46:11.660]  And we are people that should have access to our own wheelchairs.
[46:12.000 --> 46:12.620]  End of story.
[46:13.420 --> 46:21.640]  So treating us as a subclass of human that does not get to repair our own wheelchair batteries is infuriating.
[46:21.820 --> 46:23.960]  So not a huge fan of this bill so far.
[46:24.060 --> 46:28.680]  Maybe it's the best we can get right now as far as extra provisions to SB244.
[46:28.680 --> 46:35.580]  And so in summary, if you have a product newer than 2021, it is probably covered by California right to repair.
[46:37.080 --> 46:38.480]  Email the manufacturer.
[46:38.880 --> 46:46.420]  Cite SB244 if you're in California or the law that's applicable to your state or country and be as courteous as possible.
[46:46.780 --> 46:51.360]  Like I said, they're not going to be expecting this and they're already spending labor hours just responding to you.
[46:52.140 --> 46:54.780]  Be specific about what needs repair.
[46:54.980 --> 46:55.820]  What you're seeking.
[46:55.820 --> 46:58.820]  Make sure you're asking with the correct verbiage.
[46:59.260 --> 46:59.960]  Maintenance manual.
[47:00.140 --> 47:01.000]  Service manual.
[47:01.200 --> 47:01.820]  Error codes.
[47:02.060 --> 47:02.760]  Test rigs.
[47:02.820 --> 47:04.800]  These are the key words that you want to use.
[47:05.080 --> 47:08.400]  You're far less likely to get firmware or mechanical drawings.
[47:08.440 --> 47:11.780]  Anything that is sort of protected intellectual property.
[47:12.500 --> 47:14.980]  Be persistent, but be kind.
[47:15.380 --> 47:20.600]  It did take me months to notch this victory and it took multiple emails.
[47:21.780 --> 47:24.200]  And then, of course, join the right to repair movement.
[47:24.660 --> 47:26.080]  Sign up for the email list.
[47:26.200 --> 47:26.560]  There's many.
[47:26.820 --> 47:29.000]  And write to your legislators.
[47:30.180 --> 47:31.540]  The state's site.
[47:31.720 --> 47:34.500]  This is the site to check out if you're in America.
[47:34.860 --> 47:38.280]  You can find your state and find what legislation is currently pending.
[47:39.280 --> 47:41.240]  The iFixit right to repair website.
[47:41.360 --> 47:43.100]  Ifixit.com slash right to repair.
[47:43.320 --> 47:45.040]  Seems to have the best information.
[47:45.240 --> 47:47.780]  Especially for international right to repair legislation.
[47:48.120 --> 47:49.340]  With different countries and stuff.
[47:49.780 --> 47:51.100]  So, check out that one.
[47:51.520 --> 47:54.100]  And then EFF also has some info on right to repair.
[47:54.280 --> 47:57.620]  And you can donate to them because they are paying lawyers and stuff.
[47:57.620 --> 47:59.000]  To fight for this legislation.
[47:59.780 --> 48:03.080]  And here is a screen grab of the iFixit site.
[48:03.240 --> 48:04.840]  Just to show you how helpful it is.
[48:05.440 --> 48:07.200]  And different links that you can check out.
[48:08.540 --> 48:10.840]  And I love this little thing they had on the website.
[48:11.140 --> 48:13.500]  Would you buy a car if you couldn't replace the tires?
[48:13.920 --> 48:17.280]  So, why would you buy a phone if you can't replace the battery?
[48:19.460 --> 48:20.540]  Where to find me?
[48:21.320 --> 48:23.120]  Cryptastic Hacker yours truly here.
[48:23.820 --> 48:25.480]  I've got a new website.
[48:25.680 --> 48:27.640]  It's very bare bones right now.
[48:27.820 --> 48:29.540]  But it does have all the files linked.
[48:29.880 --> 48:31.200]  For the right to repair documentation.
[48:32.060 --> 48:35.240]  That I got from the manufacturer for Will Wheelchairs.
[48:35.480 --> 48:36.460]  So, you can go there now.
[48:36.600 --> 48:38.340]  And find everything I talked about in this presentation.
[48:38.940 --> 48:41.340]  You can follow my Hackaday page.
[48:41.500 --> 48:43.580]  It's always cool to get some views and people on that one.
[48:43.740 --> 48:46.000]  That's where I have a bunch of my current ongoing projects.
[48:46.420 --> 48:47.900]  And then you can check me out on YouTube.
[48:47.900 --> 48:51.080]  If you want to check out specifically wheelchair repair videos.
[48:51.080 --> 48:54.060]  Because I have a bunch of stuff on there that I've done over the years.
[48:54.900 --> 48:55.800]  Thanks for watching!
[48:56.600 --> 48:59.000]  And listening to me ramble for almost an hour!
[48:59.420 --> 49:00.220]  It's been great.