UpLifting Chair

The UpLifting wheelchair is the world’s first manual wheelchair that raises the seat upward. It opens an entire new world functionally and socially, in which a user can talk to standing people eye-to-eye and reach all objects in any standard home or office. In America, 3.2 million adults and 400,000 children use wheelchairs, and 87% use manual wheelchairs (the preferred type, if the user has upper-body movement). Before the UpLifting wheelchair, only power wheelchairs could horizontally raise the seat height. Therefore, over three million Americans have been stuck with their heads at other people’s waist level.

The UpLifting wheelchair can be propelled and maneuvered by hand at any height. The user always remains in the same seated position. The wheelchair allows users to sit at any table, workspace or counter. It allow users to cook at a stove, reach cabinets and shelves, access all parts of a refrigerator, and clean dishes at a sink. It saves users from expensive home renovations. It eases the transitions between wheelchairs, beds, and toilets. And, it reduces the strain (especially back-injury causing strain) of nurses and caregivers who have to move people in wheelchairs.

17% of wheelchair users are independent people with careers. We intend this to be the initial market of the UpLifting wheelchair. Future markets are hospitals, nursing homes, and children. Demographic trends, including people living longer, will increase the number of people who can benefit from UpLifting wheelchairs.