Wheelchairs for everyone!

I wrote a lovely blog the other day. When I tried to publish it, the whole thing froze. This has happened to me once before - I saved it as a draft and decided to come back to it. When I came back, my blog was already posted. Well, this time, of course I lost it before I could save the draft, and of course it didn't post. I hate having to repeat myself, even if no one heard/saw it the first time. But I was talking about a really cool thing, so I'm going to repeat a little. Here's the short version:

I heard once about a guy who invented a cheap wheelchair using everyday materials, in order to make them universally affordable. I heard this once in passing, so I wrote it off as a sort of Activists' Urban Legend. Well, I was wrong. I recently heard an interview on the radio with this inventor/engineer. He did indeed invent a wheelchair using mountain bike tires and a resin outdoor chair as the main body parts. He purposely did not patent it because he wants folks to copy it - make it available for everyone. He has a non-profit organization called the Free Wheelchair Mission. Their goal is to provide 20 million free wheelchairs to those who need them by 2010. They're well on their way, with over 183,000 having been distributed already. And how much does this wheelchair actually cost, one may ask? $44.40, including shipping and assembly. Pretty awesome, huh?

There's lots more to learn about this - check out the whole shebang at http://www.freewheelchairmission.org