The wheelchair products in India majorly falls under two categories: low-quality products which cannot serve the needs of the users but are available at a lower price, then there are good products but are expensive.

1. When it comes to active wheelchairs the problem starts at the fitting level itself, 90% of wheelchairs available in India are standard sizes. ‘‘The one size fits all’’ is causing further ailments to the users.

2. A user unless in rehab or hospital undergoes a therapy called standing therapy, once he gets discharged doesn’t have access to standing devices and he has to sit on the same wheelchair, leading to further ailments. 

This is not the situation in India alone but across the world as well,  80% of the disabled population lives in developing nations like India. A cyclic relationship exists between disability and poverty, accompanied by social and cultural exclusion and denial of opportunities for economic development. The team wanted to impact health, lifestyle, and mobility by bridging the social participation gap by providing appropriate products to the users and assisting them to get into an inclusive environment.

The team then developed an iterated model, a standing wheelchair, and presented it at the 3M – CII Innovation Summit held in Bangalore in 2018. The product caught the eyes of people in terms of innovation and the need for society and was awarded the best project under the social innovation category.

The team continued to work with limited resources to develop a user operative prototype in 2019. This innovation was showcased at Infosys foundation as a part of Aarohan Social Innovation Award contest, which recognizes and rewards individuals, teams, and NGOs for creating innovative solutions to support the underprivileged and marginalized in India. The team impressed the jury with the innovation and was awarded the winners under the Destitute Care and Sustainability category.

The product development was further accelerated by the TIDE 2.0 program of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology startup hub and Derbi Foundation, Bangalore. 

The product was also recognized as an acknowledgment that would create a positive impact in creating an employment opportunity in an inclusive environment by NCPEDP National center for the promotion of employment for disabled people with the universal design award 2020.

We have been a part of the Nexus cohort start-up accelerator 2021. Nexus is a collaboration between the U.S. Embassy, New Delhi, and ACIR to showcase the best of American and Indian entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology commercialization. 

Although India has reached Mars, people with disabilities continue to suffer and although having all skill sets, people tend to live dependent. The design inputs of the wheelchairs are through disabled people directly! We have advisors who help us make it more user-friendly! Using our tailored wheelchairs, people would have a lifestyle product with effortless indoor and outdoor maneuverability and importantly they could stand on their wish. Our devices would help people to live life independently, acting as a support system everywhere to achieve their goals to live life with self-dignity.

This is just the beginning. With Fititout building its most affordable wheelchair yet, Fititout continues to make products accessible and affordable to more and more people, ultimately achieving its goal of user-centric product at an affordable price that can enhance the chances of independent living of differently-abled people. Quality, best-in-class design, and problem-solving solutions already exist independently, but when combined, they become even more powerful – that’s the future Fititout wants.

Support us in our long journey of making India accessible!!