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Author: Liz Henry

GOAT Space soft open!

Published July 2, 2026 by Liz Henry

We’re still unpacking and organizing Oakland’s new community workshop for wheelchairs (and other assistive tech)!

And we’re giving away seat cushions, footrests, seat backs and slings, and other gear!

colorful footrests for manual wheelchairs, hung up in a row on a dowel

Eventually, we’ll have workbench areas set up for repair and maintenance work.

We’re taking donations of wheelchairs, powerchairs, tools, and other assistive tech.

We also need some things, like more shelving units, and a couple more heavy duty extension cords. And we love to have volunteers as well! Email liz@openassistivetech.org if you have questions, or want to volunteer or donate.

Note: there are scented products in the space (we share space with other businesses that use them.)

Please come by for a visit and have a look at what we’ve unpacked so far! We’re aiming to be open 10-4 on weekdays, for now.

Friday July 3 – 10-4
Monday July 6 – 10-4
Tuesday July 7 – 10-4
Wed. July 7 – 10-4
Thurs & Fri July 7-8 (Uncertain; may be open but check back)

Here’s the directions:

We are behind the Bookmark Bookstore on 10th and Broadway.
Walk down 10th to the end of the bookstore building, and to your left will be a metal gate. Ring the doorbell marked GOAT and someone will let you in!

12th Street BART is a block or two away. There is street parking with meters, but please don’t try to park in the parking lot behind the bookstore – we don’t have access to park there!

Here’s the latest tour, from July 1, to show how far we have come in setting up our new workshop:

 

 

 

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Wheelchair cushion giveaway

Published June 24, 2026 by Liz Henry

wheelchair cushions labelled and organized by sizeWheelchair cushion giveaway in Oakland! Pass it on!

At our new space at 10th and Broadway, Grassroots Open Assistive Tech (GOAT) has a lot of wheelchair cushions. If you have a wheelchair and need a cushion, check this list and speak up if you want one — you can come by to pick it up either tomorrow 11-4, or next week any day between 1 and 4. (Mornings are also possible.)

Here’s the list of sizes; the first measurement is width and the second is depth. All in inches.

14 x 16 (3)
14 x 17
15 x 18 (2)
16 x 17 (2)
16 x 18 (2)
16 x 20
16 x 22
17 x 16 (3)
17 x 17 (2)
17 x 18 (5)
17 x 19 (2)
18 x 17 (3)
18 x 18 (4)
18 x 19 (3)
18 x 20
20 x 18 (3)
21 x 18
22 x 16
22 x 20

We also have a HUGE amount of seat backs and slings for manual chairs, and while we haven’t inventoried them yet, they are in boxes easily accessible if you want to come by and dig through them.

Directions to the space: 10th and Broadway, Oakland, near 12th St. BART station. On 10th St, behind the Bookmark Bookstore, there is a metal gate and you will need to call to be let in! Email admin@openassistivetech.org for the number and for times we’ll be open this week and next. (We will have a wireless doorbell soon!)
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Come help us make our new workshop at GOAT Space!

Published June 22, 2026 by Liz Henry
GOAT is looking for people to help us unpack some of the generously donated stuff we’ve just moved into our new community workshop !!!!! for wheelchair and assistive tech in downtown Oakland!!!!!
We’re at 10th and Broadway, right behind the Bookmark Bookstore. (Very convenient to 12th St. BART!)
I’ll be there this week Tuesday and Wednesday from 10-4, and next week pretty much all week. Please let me know, at liz@openassistivetech.org, if you might be able to come help us move around our shelves, boxes, wheelchairs, tools, and supplies! (You have to text or call me to get in. )
Here’s a little wish list for GOAT Space, if you have any of it to donate:
  • more shelves! of pretty much any kind
  • a sturdy workbench (small is ok!)
  • any sort of utility or tool cart on wheels
  • electric tea kettle, mini fridge, small microwave
  • a small (electrically) adjustable height desk, table or workbench
I was at the space on Friday for a day of planning our buildout, and actually spent half that time giving stuff away and helping people out who came in to look around. Three cushions have found new homes, and I helped a wonderful activist with a thorny tech support issue! As my reward, I was bought lunch and also got the most amazing cupcake I’ve ever eaten in my life (key lime, from Cupcakin‘)
As we move boxes around, we will also be labelling, measuring, and doing a rough inventory of the obviously bulky things, like cushions, seat backs, tires, wheel assemblies, and footrests. Then we will be able to make that list available so that we can quickly give it away to people who can immediately use it!
We’ll have work areas and tools for manual and power chairs, and a lot of shelves of wheelchair parts, bolts, accessories, all sorts of useful stuff, FREE for anyone to use!  We’ll be building weird new things out of cheap things from the hardware store! And we’ll sell some small things, like art, stickers, zines, and wheelchair / mobility gear accessories!
I’ll tell the story soon of how this unexpected, enormous donation of the contents of an entire wheelchair repair warehouse fell into our hot little hands!
And there are so many photos of our whirlwind, 3 weeks in May of volunteers packing all the stuff and people coming in to get help as we packed.  And the several giant u-haul loads of chairs we immediately handed off to sister organizations around the Bay Area (since they can fix and distribute them faster than we’d be able to while we work on our buildout). More posts about all that, coming soon!
Here’s a tour of how GOAT Space looks now, A super sweet space, piled high with boxes!!!  Come hang out with me and the other GOATs and work on our buildout, it’ll be happening for the whole summer – and it won’t be boring.
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