Design Diary - 2023 Wheelchair Upgrade

Our design process is an iterative cycle of introducing new and updated devices and collecting feedback. This year, we are making a change to our wheelchairs which will make them last longer and be more useful.

Over the last year, as we revisited people who had been using their wheelchairs for six months or more, there was a very consistent trend in the feedback. Owners of the chair were unlikely to seek out that maintenance. 

For some, this was because of cost. For others, it was because they were too geographically isolated from anyone who could do the job. Some families also didn’t seek out people who could carry out repairs because of the social stigma associated with wheelchairs and disability in their community.

Unfortunately, in the rugged conditions the chairs were used for, some maintenance is inevitable. This meant we needed to find a way to remove the barriers keeping people from doing upkeep on their wheelchairs as much as possible.

To prevent the scenario in which wheelchairs languish unused after a year because of a simple maintenance task, we decided to include a repair kit with every wheelchair we make starting this month. The two most significant reasons that we heard for wheelchairs not being used were flat tires and worn out seat covers, so all our chairs will now ship with a tire pump and a set of replacement covers.

We include these repair materials in a bag attached to the wheelchair, so they won’t be lost or far away when they’re needed. The bag will also be useful for carrying other items from place to place, particularly for the many students that use our chairs!

You can see the bag on this wheelchair, which also features our very snazzy new orange frame and fabric.

As we revisit our users in the coming months and years, we will continue to track the most common reasons for maintenance on our wheelchairs and add to this standard repair kit. Right now, we’re considering whether it will be useful for our users if we include tire patches and extra bolts.

We hope that this update to our most purchased device will help our users keep breaking boundaries in 2023!