Making a wheelchair at home

How could a DIY mobility device be possible?

Here’s a story that different Dear Readers of Special Education Today will find of interest for different reasons. It’s about production of wheelchairs for kids…employing available technology including 3D printing. There’s international reach to the story, and there’re videos, to boot.

Let’s start here: On 8 May 2025 Kamrin Baker wrote about this wheelchair over on GoodGoodGood:

The average pediatric wheelchair can cost thousands of dollars. And when children grow and their needs evolve — or a wheelchair gets damaged — those costs multiply.

So, the team at MakeGood NOLA, a New Orleans-based adaptive design lab, has made something that can transform the world for disabled children.

“Introducing the world’s first fully 3D-printed wheelchair,” MakeGood founder and president Noam Platt started a recent social media video.

Ms. Baker’s story covers a mobility device that can be assembled by regular people according to a design from Tikkun Olam Makers.¹ Tom is an international community of people based in Israel that solves problems faced by people living with disabilities. Reporter David Begnaud of CBS News reported a feature 8 December 2023 entitled “Innovative wheelchair design unlocks possibilities for kids with disabilities.” It is about a team at Tulane University manufacturing a chair for a child who had substantial mobility challenges.