Freedom Through Design - innovative product and service delivery for global wheelchair services

Motivation’s Freedom through Design project aims to design a range of six wheelchairs that
can be assembled from one set of components. Currently, all wheelchair suppliers sell a range
of chairs which each require different components. Different size options must be ordered
separately, and modifications for individual user needs are expensive and cumbersome to
attach. This new design will revolutionise how we deliver wheelchairs, eliminating the need
for more than 40 different product/size combinations across our range. Customers will instead
purchase a supply of components which they can easily assemble into low cost but completely
customised wheelchairs designed for the needs of disabled people in developing countries.
The outcomes of this new modular design will be to simplify our manufacturing, distribution
and ordering processes, lower our product prices, and improve our delivery timescales.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that over 80 million people in the poorest
countries need a custom wheelchair to lead a productive life. Without the right wheelchair a
disabled person is likely to experience isolation, poverty and shortened life expectancy.
Since 1991 Motivation has supplied low-cost wheelchairs to over 60 countries. In 2008,
Motivation, operating as a charity, received donations to supply 2,500 wheelchairs. In 2012,
after a shift to a social enterprise model of business, nearly 15,000 wheelchairs were supplied.
This approach has not only provided thousands more people with desperately needed
wheelchairs, it has also generated a trading profit, contributing to annual running costs and
ensuring the organisation’s sustainability.
This new design will enable Motivation to continue this growth by capitalising on current
changes in the aid market and the types of products being demanded. In the long term, it will
increase Motivation’s market share and profitability, and provide over 50,000 people a year
with life-changing wheelchairs.