Ralf Hotchkiss: Whirlwind Wheelchairs
September 30, 2009
Ralf Hotchkiss is a genius. The 48 year-old engineer has a grant to prove it (Hotchkiss won a MacArthur Genius Grant for his work promoting wheel chair availability to the developing world.) I met Ralf when we were both delegates to the summit on sport and sustainability last week in Chicago, part of the city’s bid to host the Olympic games in 2016. The summit boasted leaders in business, environmental stewardship, outreach work and a fine collection of Olympian Activists. It was Hotchkiss, however, that stood out for me and this is particularly ironic given how often Hotchkiss and his cause are overlooked. Hotchkiss has worked to engineer and manufacture wheelchairs durable, affordable and repairable enough to withstand parts of Africa, the Himal, and other remote reaches of the undeveloped world, basically, places without concrete ramps, the ADA, or enough capital to maintain a $1500 wheelchair. Spinal injuries in the developing world are tantamount to a death sentence. Life expectancy post-spinal injury in these parts of the world is two (2) years, a shockingly short time. Similarly, sustainability, lives in a place that allows it to be overlooked, as though it were something didn’t really affect humans, only spotted owls, baby seals and the cuddly glacial poles. Hotchkiss’ work puts sustainability to work on behalf of people and the planet. His plan begins with an Olympic stadium, an auspices venue to affect change from. The entirety of seating in the planned stadium for Chicago’s opening ceremony wouldn’t be needed following the games so it will be torn out after the last athlete catches their flight home. Prior to their installation, however, the chairs will have a few atypical elements that will make them easily transformed: they’ll become rugged all-terrain wheelchairs for people who would die without them. The jumpstart in this manufacturing process would have a significant legacy affect. The plant manufacturing the chairs would be able to continue building them, having had the start-up costs initiated by the games. The effect would save thousands of chairs from becoming waste. The concept is simple, brilliant and a departure from the other sustainable solutions put forth at the summit, solutions for the problem created by the games. When the 2016 host city is announced in an early-October ceremony from Copenhagen, Chicago will have much at stake, but the world Hotchkiss is working for has more to gain. The bid selection takes place on Friday, October 2nd. See more on Hotchkiss at Whirlwind Wheelchairs.