Automobile repair-shop work is varied and interesting. Jobs frequently change, with intervals of rest.
Disabilities
Hard and fast rules as to availability for this work of men with certain disabilities can not be laid down. With perseverance, skill, and inventiveness some men will succeed in lines of work which might seem entirely unsuited to their disability. For example, a man who has lost his right arm near the shoulder has been for 30 years doing successfully all of the repair work and making all of the adjustments necessary on a thrashing machine, a traction engine, 12 self-binding and 12 mowing machines on a farm in England. An all-round mechanic must usually be able to move about easily. He needs at least one good eye, and must be able to hear well for trouble testing. A man with abdominal, kidney, or alimentary canal trouble, which prohibits him from stooping, bending, or squatting, can not do the work. Gas vapors, fumes, and dust in a garage may affect men with lung diseases. It is very necessary for the worker to have reasonably good command of neck and head movements.
Appliances
Many devices and prosthetic appliances are in use in all countries by men with arm amputations, and where previous experience, desire, and conditions place a man in a position requiring the use of an artificial appliance for gripping and holding tools one of strong and simple construction should be selected.
Previous Education, Training, and Experience
While general education will help a man in shop repair work, as in anything else, it is more essential that he shall have had some technical training acquired either in a school or in a shop. Previous experience in automobile repair or construction work will, of course, give the best foundation for re-education. A man who has worked as a helper in a garage long enough to become familiar with automobile construction and operation may through a short course of instruction easily qualify as a mechanic. Experience in other mechanical work such as machine-shop work, blacksmithing, and boiler making will be also helpful. Business experience will be a valuable asset for a repair-shop foreman or manager.
Where Re-education Will Be Given
Full-time classes may be given in the shop of a high school, vocational or trade school, college or university, where the equipment is sufficient to provide for real instruction of a practical nature.
Re-education classes will be trained also in commercial garages under actual shop conditions. Part-time classes providing alternate weeks or months in the school and in the shop may be best in some cases, or the first or last part of the training period may be spent in the shop and the other part in school. For example, in an eight months’ course four months may be spent in a commercial repair shop and the remaining four months in a school shop.