06/18/2025
In our latest Friendly Wheels newsletter, we had an interview with world-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman, who has been a dedicated Amigo owner for decades. 🎻 Check out the story below:
Itzhak Perlman, born in 1945 in Tel Aviv, is a world-renowned Israeli American violinist. His dream of becoming a violinist began when he was 3 years old after he heard a violin recital on the radio. At just 4 years old, he contracted polio, but he recovered well and used crutches to help with his mobility.
Despite his challenges, Perlman began learning how to play melodies at age 5. Eventually, he would become a world-famous virtuoso and would travel the globe, pack concert halls, and earn awards and other honors along the way.
From curtain open to curtain close, Perlman’s Amigo has been with him throughout his journey.
He said when he first saw the Amigo in Washington, he quickly realized how life-changing it was for him.
“I thought that was the greatest thing, I couldn't believe it. I said, ‘You can actually go places in this,’ and, you know, at that time, I was still very, very much active with my crutches,” Perlman reflected. “I said, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is something absolutely incredible.’ And it was a real life changer. A total, total life changer for me.”
Perlman has been a dedicated Amigo user for more than 30 years and currently owns six different models. He said he’s tried different mobility devices, but the Amigo has been his favorite because of its simplicity.
“I just found that the Amigo has a certain simplicity - it does things, it doesn't have too many birds and whistles. It's just what I love.”
The Amigo’s simplicity is an asset to Perlman while he’s on stage entertaining thousands, too; he doesn’t have to change his playstyle to accommodate his Amigo.
“What happens is, because of the swivel, I'm away from the handle. It’s like sitting in a chair,” he explained.
And when curtain call comes, Perlman said his Amigo allows him to bow as often as he wants; his crutches couldn’t always afford that maneuverability.
“I can actually take many more bows," he said. "It used to be that when I was walking, I was obviously not exactly walking fast, and people just said, ‘Oh, we don't want to clap too much because we want to make sure that he doesn't get too tired walking back and forth.’ Right now, I'm just zooming in and out. I can take as many bows as anybody would."
From big performances to little everyday pleasures, Perlman’s Amigo helps him navigate his home. He said he loves to cook for his wife, Toby.
Another one of his favorite pastimes is taking his dog Dreidel out for walks, and he said his Amigo allows him to do that because it works well outdoors, too.
Perlman said his favorite features of his Amigo RD are the power seat lift, the swivel seat, and its streamlined design – it’s not bulky.
Perlman has traveled across the globe and has seen it all, and while the world has come a long way in improving accessibility, there is room to grow.
"The Americans with Disabilities Act, the ADA, was very, very good," he said. "But what's not good about it is that they issued a codebook, and architects who don't know anything about what accessibility means, they follow what it says and they assume that everybody has a similar disability, which is absolutely ridiculous.”
Perlman said that ADA-compliant hotel rooms are a great example because sometimes those rooms’ bathrooms have beds and toilets that are too low, or the benches in the walk-in showers are too far away from the faucets. He pointed out that people who design rooms and buildings shouldn't "blindly follow a book" because people with disabilities have diverse needs.
For Itzhak Perlman, accessibility is not just about convenience. It’s about independence and the right to fully participate in life. It’s time to move beyond compliance and start designing a world that truly works for everyone.
