Andrei hasn’t been outside in over a year. His secondhand powerchair needs a new micro joystick and other improvements, and that joystick will need new programming and a swiveling arm mount. From a chance contact on the r/wheelchairs Reddit forum, Grassroots Open Assistive Tech pulled together a team of disabled activists and experts who are working with Andrei to get refurbished, customized mobility gear to him in Moldova, along with an assistive tech expert to implement and test it.
Please donate to get Andrei back outside! He’d like to take his dog for a walk in the park!
Donations to GOAT this week will go towards Andrei’s project.
“After buying an electric wheelchair, my life changed dramatically. I felt a freedom I had never had before. I literally cried the first time I went outside. I was able to drive about 200-300 meters down the road. I was dizzy, but I was happy. I was no longer tied to the house and my room. Before that, I could only go out into our yard with its awkward slope and stand still, or 2-3 times a year I was taken along bad roads to the park or lake. I started going for daily walks with my mother, and then sometimes on my own. Those were probably the happiest years of my life.”
– Andrei
You can read Andrei’s full story in his own words along with more details about this project in a longer post: Let’s Get Andrei Rolling Again.
