Ability Foundation

In 1993, Ernest Robison's son Matthew was about four years old and had just started with the special needs preschool in town. Because he was severely handicapped with Cerebral Palsy, along with blindness and hearing impairments, he had many heart wrenching needs. Ernie was struck by how even the most simple and necessary positioning and mobility equipment for Matthew and the other kids in his class was so hard to come by for parents and teachers.

Ernie saw Matthew and his classmates with so much potential, but languishing…if only they had the right equipment to allow them to experience, play and learn like other children. It was that void that spurred Ernie, along with his wife Anneke, to charter The Ability Foundation in 1993, known today as Ability Found.

During the remainder of Matthew’s life, and to this day, Ability Found has the same consistent and simple mission: To donate medical, mobility and rehabilitation equipment to children and adults who do not have the means to afford it. We change people’s lives by giving them freedom; such a basic human need that most take for granted! Our patients receive:

• Independence to come and go from their homes with lifts and ramps
• The ability to be productive members of their communities, attending school and work using power and manual wheelchairs
• The simple pleasure of attending a grandson’s ball game or a daughter’s piano recital with assistive mobility chairs
• The capability to communicate wants, needs, dreams and simply converse with augmentative communication devices
• And yes, the liberty to pass away with dignity, in the comfort of their own homes, with specialized beds and bathing equipment so that their last memories are not those of a hospital or institution