Portable Wheelchair Ramps
Name: Stacey
Event: TOM: Melbourne Makeathon 2016
STACEY'S CHALLENGE
Stacey has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair to get around. She doesn’t like to let her disability stop her from being busy in her daily routines.
She loves traveling around but her biggest barrier is stairs, specifically sidewalk curbs without curb cuts and shops that have just one or two stairs at the entry. She feels segregated and excluded when she can’t go into a cafe or a shop simply because there is no ramp. Stacey would have liked to tra independently overseas with her electric wheelchair, however, it is heavy and hard to lift. Stacey’s dream is to be able to independently overcome inaccessible environments wherever she goes in the world. It would change her life and many others. Oren is a Lecturer of Biomechanics and Clinical Gait Analysis at Swinburne University. He wants to reduce the physical effort in a wheelchair and create an assistive technology device that can overcome uneven terrain. Oren is also a researcher and will work in partnership with Stacey to develop a solution to her challenge.
THE SOLUTION
In consultation with Stacey, the team created a portable ramp solution that includes 2 parts that are stored on the side of her wheelchair. When she approaches a curb, Stacey uses a stick with a magnet at the end to place the two ramp pieces next to the curb. she drives her chair up and then turns to pick up the pieces and return them to their storage space.
