Whoever adapts your equipment for free: how far they answer

It is the law that makes it possible for someone to adapt equipment for you without charging. If a professional modifies your wheelchair, your communication device or any other assistive equipment and does not charge you, this Act limits their liability if the modified equipment later causes harm. In exchange it imposes concrete duties on them — not charging, asking your authorization, teaching you to use it and leaving you the maintenance specifications — and imposes others on you. If any of those conditions fails, the shield does not apply.

The protection does not cover just anyone who helps. The Act defines “Professional” as “Any person with a university degree who has skill and knowledge in assistive technology and who creates or modifies assistive technology equipment,” and adds a condition that is not optional: “They must be accredited or certified by the Technological Assistance Program.” In addition, Article 8 limits who may invoke it: “This Act shall only be applicable and invoked by those professionals who demonstrate having complied with this Act’s parameters.”

• That both parties act in good faith and that the sole purpose of their relationship be to provide and receive assistive technology equipment free of charge.Verified against the official source
• That whoever creates or modifies the equipment be a professional with a university degree, with skill and knowledge in assistive technology, accredited or certified by the Technological Assistance Program.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: The condition holding it all up: free and in good faith

   Article 3 sets it as an essential requirement, not a recommendation: “It shall be an essential requirement for invoking the protection provided by this Act to establish that both parties act in good faith and that the sole purpose of their relationship is to provide and receive assistive technology equipment free of charge.” If money changed hands for the modification, this is not the Act that applies.

2. 2

   Step 2: Not everyone who helps you is a “professional”

   The Article 2 definition has three parts and the third is the most forgotten: a university degree; skill and knowledge in assistive technology; and “They must be accredited or certified by the Technological Assistance Program.” A neighbour with good hands and good intentions does not fit this definition, and therefore cannot invoke this protection.

3. 3

   Step 3: What the professional must give you besides the equipment

   Article 4(f) is a right of yours and worth claiming: “The person who modifies or alters any equipment must explain and offer basic training to the person with the disability on the use, handling and care of the created, altered or modified equipment. It shall likewise be their responsibility to set the specifications for its maintenance.” It is not just handing you the equipment: they must teach you to use it and leave you the maintenance specifications.

4. 4

   Step 4: The professional’s other duties

   Article 4 lists them. Modifications “must be aimed at allowing better use of the equipment and based on the needs and strengths of the user or potential user.” The professional “may not charge for the services of altering or modifying the equipment.” They “must require and request authorization from the person with the disability to modify the equipment.” “The modification or alteration of the equipment may not have the effect of substantially altering the purposes for which it was created.” And it “shall be done to maximize the use of the capacities of the person with the disability.”

5. 5

   Step 5: What falls to you, including the release

   Article 5 imposes five duties on you, and the third carries real legal consequences. You must agree to the creation, alteration or modification “provided it addresses a specific need”; you must participate in and agree with it; you “must release the professional from any liability for damage the use of the created, altered or modified equipment may cause”; you must make good use of the equipment; and you shall see to its maintenance “according to the specifications set by the professional who altered or modified it.” The release is part of the bargain this Act describes.

6. 6

   Step 6: The shield has a clear limit

   This is what keeps the release from being a blank cheque, and it is Article 6 in full: “The release does not exempt the professional from any type of personal liability for negligent or intentional acts, or acts performed outside the parameters and regulations adopted by the Puerto Rico Technological Assistance Program in accordance with its organic act or with this Act.” Negligence, intent and stepping outside the Program’s parameters all fall outside the protection.

7. 7

   Step 7: Whoever invokes the protection must prove it

   Article 8 closes the circle: “This Act shall only be applicable and invoked by those professionals who demonstrate having complied with this Act’s parameters.” The burden of demonstrating compliance falls on whoever wants to shelter under the Act, not on the person with the disability.

8. 8

   Step 8: What equipment it refers to

   The Act defines “Assistive Technology” broadly: “Any equipment created, adapted or modified to be used by a person with a disability to maintain, improve or increase their capacities.” And it separates two verbs it uses throughout: “Create” is “To design and build equipment that addresses a particular need of a person with a disability,” and “Modify” is “To alter the composition or functioning of existing equipment so it addresses the needs of one or several persons with the same need or disability.”

There is nothing to apply for: this Act creates no procedure, it defines who answers and how far when someone adapts equipment without charging. The professional’s accreditation or certification comes from the Puerto Rico Technological Assistance Program, which has its own guide. If what you are looking for is how to obtain, repair or donate assistive equipment, that is the Program’s guide; if what you have is a problem with the warranty on equipment you bought, that is another Act and it also has its own guide.

• Believing the protection covers anyone who helps you: the Act requires a university degree and accreditation or certification by the Technological Assistance Program.
• Paying for the modification and expecting the Act to apply anyway: being free of charge is an essential requirement.
• Not demanding the basic training or the maintenance specifications: the Act obliges the professional to give you both.
• Accepting a modification that changes what the equipment is for: the Act forbids substantially altering the purposes for which it was created.
• Thinking the release covers everything: it does not exempt liability for negligent or intentional acts or acts outside the Program’s parameters.
• Not authorizing or participating: the Act places on you the duty to agree and participate, and on the professional the duty to request your authorization.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Portal de Servicios del Gobierno de Puerto Rico (PR.gov)

  PR.gov

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov