Pediatric Wheelchair Guidance Supports Caregivers
Caregivers face a fragmented, multi-year process to secure a pediatric wheelchair, with no single resource to guide them through it.
Summary
For families of children with medical complexity, acquiring a wheelchair can take six months or more and involve ten or more stakeholders — doctors, vendors, insurers, and therapists — with no single resource explaining how the pieces fit together. Working with Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and its Foster Health Lab, the team designed a two-part navigation system: a one-page Overview Handout and a 24-page Detailed Guide that walk caregivers through the process from initial doctor visits through insurance approval, delivery, and ongoing monitoring. Because insurance policies typically require a three-to-five-year wait before a wheelchair can be replaced, the guides are built to help families get each decision right the first time.
Why it’s important
Per the page: no comprehensive, caregiver-centered resource currently exists in the US that explains the wheelchair acquisition process end to end. Caregivers must piece information together from hospital staff, vendors, insurers, and online communities, often learning critical details only after costly delays. Insurance policies typically require a 3-to-5-year wait before a wheelchair can be replaced, making each decision largely irreversible, and the process typically takes 6+ months from prescription to delivery, involving 10+ stakeholders.
Real-world impact
The guides are described as open-source and distributed in partnership with healthcare providers to support adoption. The team was, as of publication, gathering feedback and conducting usability testing toward a version 2.0 aimed at broader distribution and a consistent 5th-grade reading level. The page does not report download or usage numbers at this stage.
To learn more: https://id.iit.edu/projects/pediatric-wheelchair-guidance-supports-caregivers/
Adapted from: “Pediatric Wheelchair Guidance Supports Caregivers.” Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology, January 29, 2026. https://id.iit.edu/projects/pediatric-wheelchair-guidance-supports-caregivers/. By Angela Petrone (MDes 2026), Prof. Tomoko Ichikawa, and Claude Sonnet 4.5.
