The Gift of Mobility

Off the Shelf Assistive Technology

Don Schoendorfer never forgot her. While on a trip to Morocco some thirty years ago, he watched a disabled woman literally drag herself across a road with one arm. We take wheelchairs for granted but in much of the world they are simply not within reach for many who need them.

Schoendorfer's genius is that he used readily available parts, already mass-produced in large quantities, to assemble a strong and simple wheelchair that could be distributed by the container load to needy areas.

Picture a plastic garden chair like they sell at Wal-Mart atop a frame supported by bicycle tires [available at Toys-R-Us] and you get the picture. It's OK to laugh, but for most recipients, the laughter shall be unrestrained expression of their joy!

Schoendorfer's Free Wheelchair Mission distributes the chairs as kits in container loads of 550 but the waiting list is long for the simple chair. Each one represents a life changed forever.