In 2010, artist Sue Austin began to work with a team to create an underwater wheelchair that would allow her to navigate the depths of the world’s oceans. In her talk at TEDxWomen 2012, featured on TED.com last week, she explained how the art she creates with her re-purposed wheelchair aims to reshape how we think about disabilities:

I realized that scuba gear extends your range of activity in just the same way that a wheelchair does. But the associations attached to scuba gear are ones of excitement and adventure — completely different to people’s responses to the wheelchair. So I thought, ‘I wonder what will happen if I put the two together?’

At first, the goal seemed impossible: “When we started talking to people about it, engineers were saying it wouldn’t work, the wheelchair would go into a spin, it was not designed to go through water — but I was sure it would,” Austin told the BBC. But things worked out, and the results are quite spectacular. “If you just put a thruster under the chair all the thrust is below the center of gravity so you rotate,” she said. “It was certainly much more acrobatic than I anticipated.”

Cross-posted from the TED Blog, where you can read many more of the great stories behind TED and TEDx Talks.

209 notes

Show

  1. predator-n-prey reblogged this from foresail
  2. foresail reblogged this from tedx
  3. bearded-drumfill reblogged this from forthedreamsofyouth
  4. forthedreamsofyouth reblogged this from weatherforsweaters
  5. weatherforsweaters reblogged this from tedx
  6. theunprettyme reblogged this from tedx
  7. dylans-disheveled reblogged this from tedx
  8. tedxpsu reblogged this from acuriouscollectionofknowledge
  9. rayishinspiration reblogged this from amazingcranekid and added:
    This is highly relevant to an extremely specific someone.
  10. legitimatestrategy reblogged this from tedx
  11. julianyu reblogged this from tedx
  12. maximegrimaudd reblogged this from tedx
  13. miss2step reblogged this from tedx
  14. digitalbin reblogged this from tedx
  15. thisinsufferablewoman reblogged this from sweetkimchii
  16. fckyesimsoodd reblogged this from nappychan
  17. sweetkimchii reblogged this from nappychan
  18. ackalackles reblogged this from nappychan
  19. thirsty-whiplash reblogged this from xbean
  20. cheekiesss reblogged this from nappychan
  21. gatheringmarbles reblogged this from littlestvegan
  22. littlestvegan reblogged this from xbean
  23. edgarallanpopdatass reblogged this from xbean
  24. nappychan reblogged this from xbean
  25. xbean reblogged this from smile-andwave and added:
    In 2010, artist Sue Austin began to work with a team to create an underwater wheelchair that would allow her to navigate...
  26. johannastephan reblogged this from tedx and added:
    scuba gear extends your range...activity in just
  27. wenusflytrap reblogged this from theflamintampon
  28. theflamintampon reblogged this from featheredwolf
  29. featheredwolf reblogged this from tummydearest
  30. sumofamess reblogged this from tedx

Blog comments powered by Disqus