September 7th, 2012 Permalink
With the Paralympic Games showcasing what people with disabilities can do, we wanted to look at design concepts and prototypes that may be a future reality for individuals with limited mobility. Industrial designers come up with all kinds of wheelchair design concepts — some seem spectacular, while others seem . . . spectacularly bizarre and impractical even if they are aesthetically pleasing. Most concept wheelchairs never make it to market, even if they do manage to receive some sort of funding. We wanted to showcase all kinds of wheelchairs, even if we disagreed with them and wondered if the designers bothered to consult people who use wheelchairs every day, all day. Others wheelchairs seem so wonderful that we want to see them become a reality . . . more than that, an affordable reality since wheelchairs can cost more than some people’s cars. AngelBear, whose website this is, happens to have Spina Bifida, so we have a lot of experience dealing with wheelchairs and the dreaded insurance to have them, or repairs to them, approved. Please don’t take offense at any of the designers’ descriptions or word choices. We do not want to stifle creative innovation, because you never know what some designer may come up with in the future. [35 Photo (or montages) and 1 video]
Artist Sue Austin flies through the water in a self-propelled underwater wheelchair. The prototype wheelchair enables Sue to go on a gentle, dreamlike exploration of an exotic underwater world. This impressed us so much, we wanted to do a post on wheelchair prototypes and design concepts. Photo #1 by © 2012 Susan Austin
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