It may be just a dusty workshop in the middle of the Science building, but inside students are changing the lives of people half the world away. Behind the door of Room 245 is Whirlwind Wheelchair International (WWI), an organization devoted to ensuring that disabled people in the poorest countries have access to wheelchairs they can afford and maintain.

The sparks fly and welder’s torches flame as students assemble wheelchairs as well as hope for thousands of disabled people in developing countries. The organization was most recently honored at the November 10 Tech Museum Awards, which recognizes organizations that use technology to benefit humanity.

It was high-tech award for a low-tech approach.

Instead of donating used wheelchairs designed for cut sidewalks and smooth floors to people in developing countries, WWI designs inexpensive, utilitarian wheelchairs that work better in rugged terrain and are easier to fix.

"They’re dirt cheap and easily repairable around the world,” said Ralf Hotchkiss, WWI co-founder, chief engineer and instructor of the wheelchair construction class at SF State. “If they fell off the roof of a bus halfway across Africa, they’d take them to a bicycle repairperson and get any part of their chair made while you wait, even by a mechanic who’d never seen a chair before.”

According to NASA engineer and frequent WWI collaborator Omar Talavera, the gift of mobility can make a world of difference for a person with a disability. Talavera, a native of Nicaragua, was forced to temporarily give up his studies because his lack of a functioning wheelchair made it impossible to attend his classes. He says that others in Nicaragua shared his experience.

The people he saw in Nicaragua, they were young people with their lives ahead of them, Talavera said. But they didn't have economic resources or mobility.

Without a wheelchair, a person can’t move, and if they can’t move, they can’t work toward their aspirations.

The organization also puts an emphasis on designing chairs that disabled people can build themselves. Besides providing opportunity for employment, this also helps ensure that wheelchair riders can make any repairs to their wheelchairs themselves—and hold on to their hard-won mobility.

“It’s like that saying, ‘give a man a fish and he eats just for a day, but teach him how to fish and he eats for a lifetime,” said Dana Bolles, a former SF State student who’s been coming back to volunteer with the class for several years.

“We go along the same way. We teach them how to build a chair and how to maintain it, and then they’re set.”

The group is always redesigning chairs to be more practical and affordable, constantly looking at prototypes, altering designs, and making improvements to existing chairs—all of which is done in SF State's design class.

In a room scattered with disembodied wheelchair parts, heavy equipment and the occasional sparkly-pink child’s bicycle, students come together every Wednesday to create prototype chairs that will serve as the model for builders across the world.

The hum of the sewing machine, the whir of a drill and the clang of hammers on metal create a cacophony of productivity as students — a dozen or so each semester -- expertly maneuver their way around the cluttered, classroom-sized workspace. Although the class is open-registration and no skills are required, students interact easily with heavy-duty equipment

“There really aren’t any prerequisites,” said student Mario Velasco, an industrial technology major. “They show you how to work everything, with a focus on safety.”

“We can teach the average person all the skills really quite quickly,” said Bob Incerti, instructor in wheelchair design and fabrication. “And that’s an exciting part of the course because you have a lot of people who come in, that really had never done anything, and they’re apprehensive, and within a month or two
it’s rare that someone’s not fairly confident.”

Since the chair is designed so that people with disabilities can actively make the wheelchair themselves, students do much of their work while sitting in prototypes created by overseas WWI workshops.

Students even ride prototype wheelchairs during their lunch break. They zoom down the incline on the way to the cafeteria and achieve something less than a zoom going up the hill on the way back.

“We switch off models, and we go on different obstacle courses that Ralf (Hotchkiss) has figured out throughout the campus," said Velasco. “Just to understand the different designs that are out there and what they’re meant for.”

Many of the students come back semester after semester.

“There are a lot of returnees,” Velasco said. “People love this class.”

According to WWI Office Administrator Pat Orr, this is the only class she’s ever been a part of where students come back to help and tutor others.

“It says volumes about the teacher and the way that this class has been handled. “ Orr said.

“There’s a great sense of camaraderie,” said industrial arts major Jim Tay.

“It’s a stress reliever,” said mechanical engineering major Carolina Silva, who plans to take the class again next semester. “You don’t do any studying, or calculations, or reading or writing, it’s just kinda' like a hobby in a way.”

The students also find the work they do rewarding.

“I’ve become aware of what’s really going on in the world,” said industrial design major Andre Gauthier. “And how privileged we are in the United States to have easy access to things, where in third-world countries it’s very hard for wheelchair riders to get around.”

“It was the only thing I thought was a valid use of an industrial design degree,” said Chris Howard, who works for WWI as designer/draftsman/shop manager.

“This is a very practical use of the degree. It’s very worthwhile. And I’ve been kind of fortunate with my education and things like that, so this is just a way to do something useful with it and give something back .”

For Dana Bolles, who works as an environmental science specialist at NASA’s Ames Research Center and also rides a wheelchair, the work the group does is especially gratifying.

“(It’s very rewarding) being able to go and help people get mobility,” Bolles said. “I know how important it is in my life. If I didn’t have my chair, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”