MIT Assistive Technology Design

A week ago, right before Halloween, we had a lecture on the aesthetics of assistive technology. We talked about the current issue of most assistive technologies being designed mainly for function, with little regard to aesthetics. A reason for this is that assistive technologies are often viewed more as medical devices than personal items. Because of this, many people are reluctant to use assistive technology, even if they could benefit from it, because of the stigma that exists.

A nonprofit called Magic Wheelchair addresses this problem beautifully. Magic Wheelchair is an organization that transforms wheelchairs into amazing creations that children who are users of the wheelchairs can use as costumes for Halloween. Ryan Weimer, a father of three boys who use wheelchairs, started this organization initially for his sons. A great thing about these costumes is that they don’t try to mask the chair with the costume. Instead, the costumes are designed around the wheelchair, fully integrating it. Some of the creations from this organization include the dragon Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon, a Mario Kart, a pirate ship, and many more.

Each wheelchair creation takes anywhere from 100-200 hours to make. Although some may think that the time can be better spent elsewhere because the costumes are usually worn only for one day on Halloween, I think that the time and labor is well worth it. It allows the child not only to be happy, but also to feel included and decreases stigmatization against them. “It’s a cure for a day…It helps other people see them as a kid, not a kid in a wheelchair”, says Weimer.

To learn more about Magic Wheelchair, to make a donation, or to volunteer, visit their website here.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2015 at 11:37 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.