However, here's what we can say:
* Early adoption: Rental car companies likely started offering hand controls sometime in the 1960s or 1970s. This period saw growing awareness and advocacy for disabled individuals' rights, leading to increased demand for accessible transportation.
* Individual efforts: It's highly possible that individual rental car agencies in specific locations, rather than major national chains, were the first to adapt vehicles for disabled drivers.
* Lack of standardized data: There's a lack of comprehensive data from those early years regarding the exact practices of rental car companies.
While we can't pinpoint the *first* company, it's safe to assume that rental car companies responded to the evolving needs of disabled drivers and gradually started incorporating hand controls into their services. This was likely a gradual process, with individual agencies and then national chains adapting to the growing demand.
To learn more about this specific history, you could try contacting:
* Historical archives of major rental car companies: Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, etc.
* Disability rights organizations: They may have records of early advocacy efforts related to accessible transportation.
* Automotive historians: Experts in the history of car accessibility might have valuable insights.
