Wren Grabham said it usually takes several weeks for a simple fix on her electric wheelchair.
“You have to bring it to the shop for them to diagnose the issue, and then they go to insurance and insurance has to approve it," said Grabham, a student at Oregon State University in Corvallis. "And if they don’t approve it you have to do an appeal, which takes forever. Then they can order the part, and then when they get the parts in, they can put you on another list to get the fix.”
And complex fixes will cause even longer delays.
"I’ve had to wait, it was between six and nine months to get a motor fixed," she said. "I know people who’ve been waiting years to get some things replaced because they have to wait for someone to come to their house because there’s only a few shops in the entire state."
Those wait times made Grabham, a mechanical engineering major, begin to lobby for SB 550, which recently made it through the legislature and is now awaiting the governor’s signature.
The measure passed both the House and Senate with broad, bipartisan support.
“Oregonians living with physical and medical disabilities, from children to seniors, rely on manual and powered wheelchairs and other mobility devices. Currently, wheelchair users and independent repair shops are prohibited from accessing the necessary parts, embedded software, tools, and documentation needed to perform diagnostics, maintenance, or repairs on those wheelchairs,” said one of the bill’s chief sponsors, Rep. Pam Marsh, D-Ashland, in a press release.
Oregon’s current “right to repair” law, which was passed in 2024, largely applies to consumer electronics such as smartphones and computers. It excludes some items that fit into that category, like video game consoles, as well as medical equipment, air conditioners, cars and other vehicles, yard equipment, and heavy machinery.
Mobility devices such as wheelchairs and other equipment that help a person move would also be covered, should SB 550 be signed by Gov. Tina Kotek.
Grabham said she was lucky growing up in Portland, where a repair shop was easily accessed. She is not sure where the nearest repair shop is in her current home in Corvallis, but it would likely require more extensive travel.
In the meantime, if her chair breaks before changes are made to the “right to repair” law, she said she would likely end up using either an old electric wheelchair that she received in elementary school or have to be pushed by others in a manual wheelchair.
