[Open Design + Hardware] #HackOnWheels

[Rachael Wallach]

Hello!

Can you speak at an event on 18 May about open hardware? Can you help us use open hardware to disrupt disability? 

#HackOnWheels is the movement to create the first open source fully customizable wheelchair http://www.hack <http://www.hackonwheels/>onwheels <http://www.hackonwheels/>.o <http://www.hackonwheels/>rg. As part of the legacy of the 2012 Paralympics, we are having an event on 18 May 2016, 10:30-16:30 at Here East in the Olympic Park that will bring together people from the maker, designer, digital fabrication, disability, engineering, coding, creative, and open knowledge communities to help make it happen. We need members of the open hardware community to come and explain what open hardware is, why it matters and help us hack wheelchairs. You can find out more and RSVP here: www.hackonwheels.org/disrupt-disability/ <http://www.hackonwheels.org/disrupt-disability/> or email me directly rachael.wallach [at] hackonwheels.org if you have any questions!

The freedom and independence a wheelchair can give to its user depends upon the extent to which it has been customized to their body, lifestyle and environment. In the UK fully customized wheelchairs cost from £2,000-£20,000 and according to the World Health Organisation 52 million people who need a wheelchair do not have access to one that meets their needs. 

#HackOnWheels was inspired by the question: What would happen if we disrupted the design, manufacture and distribution of customizable wheelchairs with open  hardware, digital fabrication  and the maker movement? What would happen if we:
created an online library of open source designs and instruct­ions for making fully customis­able wheelcha­irs that anyone can freely use, adapt and develop?
developed a a communit­y of makers and people who need wheelcha­irs connecte­d, inspired­ and enabled to create fully customiz­ed wheelcha­irs?
We had a makeathon in February in Vienna, which you can read about here: www.hackonwheels.org/makeathons <http://www.hackonwheels.org/makeathons>. The 30 participants created 4 design concepts for wheelchairs and their components, which could be made from off the shelf materials in a publicly accessible maker space. We are now developing the #HackOnWheels in the UK and we need you to join us on 18 May and help make it happen! www.hackonwheel­s.org/disrupt-disability <http://www.hackonwheels.org/disrupt-disability/>.

Rachael
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