Abigail KleinMost children love trying on costumes this time of year, but for children with special needs, finding the right costume can be a challenge.
is a non-profit organization out of Kansas City that provides wheelchair costumes at no cost. During the fall 2021 semester, members of 红领巾瓜报鈥檚 GoBabyGo program worked with the non-profit to help local children have a more thrilling Halloween.
GoBabyGo, sponsored by the 红领巾瓜报鈥檚 College of Engineering, involves engineering students and physical therapy students who work together to modify off-the-shelf ride-on toy cars for kids with disabilities.
The suggestion to include the Walkin鈥� & Rollin鈥� program came from Jackson Truitt, a junior studying aerospace engineering at 红领巾瓜报.
Jackson, a Kansas City native, had worked on the program when he was in high school. His late brother had muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy, and finding a Halloween costume that was practical for him and his wheelchair didn鈥檛 provide his family with a lot of options.
鈥淎ccessibility products don鈥檛 usually involve things that are fun,鈥� said Jackson. 鈥淲alkin鈥� & Rollin鈥� makes the products more fun and accessible for the user and also makes them the center of attention in a really cool way.鈥�
Jackson pitched the idea to Samantha Corcoran, co-advisor of GoBabyGo and the instructor for the Accessible Design engineering class, and Nathan Smith, assistant educator and applied learning facilities manager, during the summer. They loved the idea, and Smith saw the inclusion of the program as a way to expand their services to the growing number of children applying for GoBabyGo.
鈥淭here is definitely a need to grow this program,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e identified 2,000 children who have mobility delays in Sedgwick County, and that鈥檚 just how many have self-identified. I鈥檓 sure there are many more.鈥�
After receiving two applicants through GoBabyGo, Jackson began gathering two teams of seven at the beginning of the fall semester. He recruited students from multidisciplinary student organizations on campus. This included members of GoBabyGo, WSU 3-D Printed Prosthetics, and even a couple of members of the Wichita Society of Cosplayers. Jackson also received assistance from his high school teacher who had worked with him on previous Walkin鈥� & Rollin鈥� projects.
鈥淎ccessibility products don鈥檛 usually involve things that are fun,鈥� said Jackson. 鈥淲alkin鈥� & Rollin鈥� makes the products more fun and accessible for the user and also makes them the center of attention in a really cool way.鈥�
Each costume was around $250. The College of Engineering sponsored one costume, Skye鈥檚 Helicopter from 鈥淧aw Patrol,鈥� and the second costume, personally sponsored by Smith, was Elsa from 鈥淔rozen.鈥� The materials to construct the costumes included polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes, pool noodles, insulation foam, spray paint, holiday lights and plastic used to make signs out of. Each team used what they thought would work best.
The costumes were ultimately designed to fit around the measurements of each applicant's wheelchairs, while also allowing mobility. The importance of the fun designs and mobility was another part of why Corcoran and Smith wanted to include the Walkin鈥� & Rollin鈥� program at GoBabyGo.
鈥淢ost of these people are going to be in chairs for their whole childhood, or the rest of their lives, and they can really miss out on a lot of that interaction and even if they put on a costume, the chair can disrupt the entire process,鈥� Corcoran said. 鈥淎 program like this helps us do the same thing we do with GoBabyGo, which is to provide social interactions and mobility.鈥�
Smith agreed.
鈥淭he number one goal is to make it more fun for the children, and to allow the children to socialize the way any other zero- to five-year-old is able too,鈥� said Smith.
Both teams were able to complete and deliver the costumes in time for Halloween. Candi Elizabeth, the mother of Alyssa, a four-year-old with cerebral palsy, was moved by the Elsa costume and was grateful for the team鈥檚 hard work.
鈥淚 thought it was wonderful," Elizabeth said. "For it to be able to adjust to the chair, it鈥檚 a really big deal."
As for future projects involving Walkin鈥� & Rollin,鈥� Jackson hopes the student involvement will continue to grow, as the projects involve a variety of academic disciplines.
鈥淚 would hope to see it grow with more costumes, and to be able to provide more for the local community," Jackson said, 鈥淚t really is a well-rounded project. It gives engineering students an opportunity to serve any kid with disabilities in a really fun way, but it鈥檚 also not just an engineering project, it鈥檚 an art project, graphic design project and much more.鈥�
