About Momentum Wheels for Humanity

Wheels for Humanity is founded as a grassroots effort collecting used wheelchairs in the United States, restoring them by hand to manufacturers’ standards, and then providing them during international service trips where professional occupational and physical therapists volunteer to individually fit people in need. Between 1996 and 2006, more than 34,000 wheelchairs and other mobility aids are provided in 66 countries.

Wheels for Humanity joins Momentum (formerly United Cerebral Palsy of Los Angeles) to further support our mission and expand our programs.

Momentum Wheels for Humanity launches activities in Indonesia, forming a local organization (UCP Roda Untuk Kemanusiaan). This marks the beginning of our training, product design and policy advocacy work globally.

We launch production of our first pediatric wheelchair design, the UCP Kids Generation I.

We develop physical therapy training in El Salvador in collaboration with the UCLA Center for Cerebral Palsy / Orthopedic Hospital.

Momentum Wheels for Humanity provides input on the WHO Wheelchair Service Training Packages, and thereafter adopts the training packages for all of our wheelchair trainings.

In Indonesia, we conduct a research study with the University of Pittsburgh, our first collaboration with academic researchers on the health and social outcomes associated with appropriate wheelchair provision. This is followed by the Google.org-funded Wheelchair User’s Voice project in 2015.

Momentum Wheels for Humanity designs two new products: the UCP Kids Generation II wheelchair and the UCP Fit Cushion. The wheelchair cushion is designed to reduce the risk of developing life-threatening pressure sores.

We launch the CLASP project, a one-of-its-kind global distribution system for wheelchairs and other assistive products.

In addition to leading wheelchair service trainings in Ukraine, we develop new training on bladder management to support wheelchair users with spinal cord injuries.

We launch our own “Crip Camp” in El Salvador, where children with disabilities throughout the country come to make friends and play, using our sports wheelchair (no longer in production).

We expand our physical therapy training, wheelchair training and policy advocacy to Colombia via the TEAM Colombia project led by World Vision. This work includes technical advisement to the Ministry of Health on the health consequences of immobility.

We launch two new products: the UCP Liberty wheelchair and the UCP Expression active wheelchair (no longer in production).

In Ukraine, we launch the TEAM Ukraine project, which includes our physical therapy training, policy development support to the Ukrainian government, and a new programming area: job skills training and employment services for people with disabilities.

Following 6 years of advocacy efforts, the Indonesian government in Yogyakarta province approves the inclusion of wheelchairs and other assistive products within its health insurance scheme. UCP Roda Untuk Kemanusiaan (the local organization founded by Momentum Wheels for Humanity) becomes the official wheelchair provider of the provincial government.

In a culmination of advocacy efforts, physical therapy is officially recognized by the Ukrainian government as a profession.

We partner with Exceed to integrate wheelchair service training into national Prosthetic & Orthotic curriculum in Indonesia and the Philippines.

We launch activities in Tajikistan, where we are supporting the Government of Tajikistan’s national strategy for rehabilitation and where we participate in the nation’s first-ever high-level forum on health and disability. Work begins on the first entry-level program curriculum for physical therapy.

Momentum Wheels for Humanity is selected to present at the World Health Organization’s consultation conference for the Global Report on Assistive Technology.

The newly redesigned Liberty II wheelchair launches.

Momentum Wheels for Humanity collaborates with Johns Hopkins University and others to design the ReLAB-HS project which will research and test the use of technology to bring vital rehabilitation services closer to communities.