OK. Personally Shaun I would say think very carefully about how far you really want to go with this, and how much work you want to put into it. I think what you started out to accomplish is heroic and noble, but just how involved do you want to be with this over the long haul? I would maybe think about approaching a local university, college, or even a high school with suggestions on how the student body could literally lift up the hearts of young men and women with disabilities. Not to mention of what things like this can do for ones spirit and self esteem. with your newborn idea and examples to to work from, asking if they might be interested in evoling what you have come up with and turning it into a student project of some kind for part of their educational studies.
Plus there is a realistic oportunity here for them to share a lot more time realistically for production of these chairs in the form of volunteer work hours. You would not only be helping with moving people stranded with mobility issues out of the closet(so to speak), but also providing young energetic, intelligent students with an oportunity to help out that same community, and gaining an education through the process at the same time.
Plus higher educational institutioins have privledges that open doors that are not open to other organizations and individuals. That could prove to be useful in getting funding for such projects, and utilizing chanles to distribute products that only they have access to. Using a whole student body as a launching platform could end up helping out a lot of people on many levels.
This is something that the media would get truly excited about just because of the student involvement. This is just a suggestion for another way to go, and maybe giving you a chance to move on to other things along the way, unless you have and want to contribute thousands of hours to. I am just looking at this from another perspective, and truthfully speaking a project of this nature and size can easily swallow up every minute of your day for years. I am not saying that this would be a waste of time, but think about where it could lead. If you get outside funding involved in the early stages of a project like this they will surely expect you to show a long and short range plan that is viable to their wnats and needs considering whatever money's are fronted for the project. Plus your goals will have to meet with their expectations. Just my 2cents Mr. TDC57.
