In 2013, professor of interdisciplinary disability studies and social work Elizabeth DePoy had been persuaded by her husband to run in a 5K.
What the pair came up with was a sleek, three-wheeled device designed to facilitate upright mobility and help users maintain balance while effortlessly navigating all kinds of terrain.
“If you go back to the research on the abandonment of mobility devices, even just for walking, you find that one of the major reasons people don’t use them is because they’re ugly,” says DePoy.
Not one to be sidelined from the active and engaged life he was used to living, Kaufman sought new ways to do the things he enjoyed.
“I had started to design mobility assistance products of my own — I wanted to be able to have things that were beautiful and that I could be proud to use,” says Kaufman.
“Mobella is creating a range of ways to individualize their products,” says Gilson.
It’s about continuing to live your life without having somebody tell you ‘Oh no, you can’t,’ or thinking ‘Oh no, I can’t.’ If you are a typical shopper, you have a choice of what product you want to buy, what you want it to look like.