History

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Motivation Project History: 1991 - 2006

Founded in 1991, Motivation is dedicated to empowering people with mobility disabilities to effect long-term social change. Disabled people are one of the largest groups of unservered, marginalised people. We work to address inequality and reduce poverty to enable disabled people to participate in society as equals.

From appropriate design...

Motivation began its work in 1991, after David Constantine, a wheelchair user, and Simon Gue, both Industrial Design students at the Royal College of Art, London, won the Frye Memorial Prize for their design of a wheelchair for the developing world. With the prize money, David and Simon teamed up with Richard Frost and introduced their design to the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed in Bangladesh.

The Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed was so pleased with the design that the team were invited to establish a wheelchair workshop. They did this in 1991, after they had graduated, and Motivation was born.

This first design was simple, easily adaptable for the needs of the user and made from locally available materials that were strong enough to withstand local environmental conditions. The philosophy to provide appropriate and sustainable solutions underpins Motivation's work.

...to quality of life

The provision of low-cost, appropriately designed wheelchairs for use in low-income countries is essential to enable people to be mobile. Without mobility people are not able to go to school, to work, to have fulfilling relationships or to look after their families. However, a wheelchair or mobility aid does not automatically guarantee quality of life. Thus, within two years of our foundation, Motivation's activities broadened to address the range of physical, social and economic needs of all people with mobility disabilities in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.

There is no other organisation that similarly deals with the comprehensive provision of suitable wheelchairs designed specifically for the local environment and the associated training and education that must accompany their distribution if an individual is to live with dignity.

The need for Motivation's work is apparent in every part of the world. It is very difficult to obtain quantifiable statistics but the following have been publicised:

- The United Nations Statistical Office estimates there are 20 million people in the world who need a wheelchair but don't have one.

- The World Health Organisation estimate that the average life expectancy of a paraplegic in a developing country is between 2-3 years. In the UK life expectancy for a paraplegic is normal.

- The World Health Organisation suggest that between 20-40 people per million of the population will sustain a spinal cord injury in one year, many of whom will require the use of a wheelchair

- Scope suggest that 1 in 400 people worldwide have cerebral palsy.

- The Mines Advisory Group suggest that 26,000 people are killed or maimed by land mines each year.

Many of the above statistics are dramatically increased in areas of current or recent armed conflict, which continue to plague the world.

A huge demand is being placed at Motivation's door. However, following our vision and looking into the future, the ultimate goal is to reach a point where there is no longer a need for Motivation to exist as we have helped local partners throughout the world to build their capacity to a point where they can independently meet the needs of their local communities.