It’s a crisp September morning. A good time to go for a hike. For 21-year-old Isaac Shannon, that means strapping into the AdvenChair.
“I’m in a wheelchair because I have a mitochondrial disease, which is a progressive genetic disorder that affects pretty much everything in my body and makes me extremely tired and fatigued easily,” Shannon said.
For the majority of his life, Shannon hasn’t been able to go on hikes. This is now his fourth time using the AdvenChair.
Read MoreThe road to building a good all-terrain wheelchair is littered with broken axles, gravel road rash, and uncomfortable ergonomics; just ask Geoff Babb. “The most significant mishaps are also the best things that could happen during development,” he says. An inventor on the cutting edge of wheelchair technology, Babb is the creator of the AdvenChair, a rugged, outdoor-friendly roller that uses bi-ski and mountain-bike technology to enable people with mobility issues and their gang of helpers to navigate rocky, steep trails. (It can also be operated solely by the chair’s user for short distances.)
Read MoreThe scent of pine trees pricks your nose as you sniff the mountain air. The adrenaline rushes as you figure out the best way to navigate a steep decline. The aromas, sights, sounds, and the joy of being human brings joy to your face as you look toward the sun. Mt. Rainier, Crater Lake, or different park adventure cries, “Pick me, pick me next!”
Read MoreAfter a stroke left him partially paralyzed, lifelong outdoorsman Geoff Babb set out to design a wheelchair that could truly take him anywhere.
Geoff Babb has always been an outdoorsman. Around the mountains and valleys of Washington State, where he grew up, Babb was an avid climber, mountain biker, skier, hiker and runner. He started a career in biomanagement with the Nature Conservancy and later the Bureau of Land Management working as a fire ecologist. “My whole life was really based around being outside,” said Babb, who now lives in Bend, Oregon.
“I’m in a wheelchair because I have a mitochondrial disease, which is a progressive genetic disorder that affects pretty much everything in my body and makes me extremely tired and fatigued easily,” Shannon said.
For the majority of his life, Shannon hasn’t been able to go on hikes. This is now his fourth time using the AdvenChair.
Read MoreJosh Anderson from the Assistive Technology Update Podcast: for the Easterseals Crossroads indata project:
So, the words hiking and wheelchairs rarely get used in the same sentence. Well, our guest today is out to change that. Geoff Babb is the AdvenChairman of the Onward Project and the visionary behind the AdvenChair, and he’s here to tell us all about it. Geoff, welcome to the show.
