Students Build Wheelchair-Stroller For Dad With Disability To Take Son On Walks

Aug 10, 2022 by apost team

Getting to spend quality time with your children can be both fun and important for parents. More time spent with your child typically results in a greater bond, which is why so many parents opt for a hands-on approach with their children early on. While it’s common to bring babies along on daily walks to help get them fresh air and allow the parents to relax a bit in the outdoors, pushing a stroller is not always an easy task for everyone.

Jeremy King is a father with a disability, and he and his wife had been trying to find ways that he could take their baby out for walks in a stroller that would connect to his wheelchair, but their research came up short. His wife, Chelsie King, is a middle school teacher at Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland; she recruited some of her brightest students to help find a solution to the couple’s problem.

A group of students had already been in a club that worked at creating inventions that helped make people’s lives better, making the students the perfect group to design something for the King family. They worked at coming up with a device that would enable people in wheelchairs to push a baby stroller, and ultimately they put a few of their ideas together to create a working model. What started as a sweet task to help out their teacher’s family turned into an invention that has won awards for its superior work in helping many others with disabilities.

In July 2021, NBC 4 reported that Jeremy had undergone brain surgery three years earlier, which left him with numerous physical challenges, including affected speech and balance, resulting in him needing to use a wheelchair. When the Kings found out they were expecting, they tried to find something that would allow Jeremy to walk their son, but they couldn’t find anything. “We really just wanted a way to have walks as a family and for him to be able to do everything that a parent without physical disabilities does,” Chelsie said.

Matt Zigler, the head of the school’s Innovation and Technology Lab, taught a class that made inventions for social good, and he got his class together to come up with a design for the Kings. The class split into teams and came up with various ideas before finally putting them together to create the ultimate design. They invented the WheeStroll, a wheelchair stroller adaptation device that allows a car seat to be attached to a wheelchair, as per NBC 4. This made it possible for Jeremy to take his son on walks.

"Using it was overwhelming because I never thought I would be able to do something like this with our son," Jeremy told Good Morning America. "Most people can go out on a walk with their family but that is really difficult for me — most people take that for granted."

While the invention definitely changed the lives of the King family, the students’ hard work has also gone on to be recognized by plenty of others. NBC 4 reported that the high school students who designed the WheeStroll went on to win two international awards for the invention.

apost.com

What did you think about this inspiring story? Let us know, and be sure to send this to your friends and family, too!