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Jim supports pioneering Cambridge social enterprise
On Friday, Jim Paice, MP for South East Cambridgeshire, saw for himself the pioneering work being done by local enterprise, Dragonmobility, from a small industrial unit in Cambridge. He went to visit after successfully intervening to get Dragonmobility considered for Government funding.
Dragonmobility Ltd designs, manufactures and supplies specialised powered wheelchairs for disabled people. It is the brainchild of Dan Everard, a design engineer whose elder daughter, Ruth, was born with a permanent physical disability. Dan's designs have pioneered a revolution in the development of powered mobility since 1981, particularly for children.
Ruth, now an Oxford University graduate and qualified solicitor, has set aside a career in the law to manage Dragonmobility full-time and carry her father's work on into the next generation. Because she does all this from her own wheelchair (a Dragon, of course), she is also an inspiration and encouragement to all those affected by disability who come to Dragonmobility for help.
The “Turbo” was Dan's first children's powerchair and there is now a whole generation of young adults who were set on the path to success by the opportunities they were able to access due to early mobility in a Turbo in the 1980s. Much of the development of other sophisticated powerchairs since has been influenced by Dan's original inspiration. Ruth is as determined as her father to pass on these same benefits to the next generation.
So the Dragon, the chair Ruth now uses, and its baby brother, the SnapDragon, used by children as young as a year old, are now produced by Dragonmobility, customised to suit the individual needs of each disabled person, and supplied from Dragonmobility's Cambridge base.
78 individuals and their families in the UK, Ireland, France, USA and Australia have so far been provided with these chairs, which do much more than go from A to B. They have seats that can rise up from floor-level to eye-level. They manoeuvre as well outdoors as in, and they can be controlled from a standing position, to allow children to get the best of both mobility and therapy at the same time as looking their friends in the eye. Seats and controls are customised to allow even the most severely disabled people to control their own movement, and that movement feels as natural as technology can achieve, due to Dan's special electronic controller.
Dragonmobility's expertise in this has been acknowledged by health professionals and parents worldwide who have searched long and hard for alternatives, before finding the best there is available right here in Cambridge, UK.
One mother has commented of her son's SnapDragon “It's allowed him to be more how a child should be and that's something money can't buy.”
This innovative social enterprise is being considered for government development funding due to Jim Paice's intervention after contact was made by Ken Dickson, one of Jim’s constituents.
Ken runs his company, Axiom-e Limited, from Pampisford. Through Axiom-e, Ken provides part-time Finance Director input to growing companies of all types in various industrial sectors at all stages of their business life cycle. Clients include commercial companies, charities and social enterprises. He has been involved with Dragonmobility ever since he was first engaged to help with a funding round in early 2006.
Ken commented: “Of all the companies I have worked with, Dragonmobility is the most unique in terms of the attitude and commitment of all of its staff. Dragonmobility is very much a social enterprise with an exemplary ethos and is recognised as such by many.”
He explained that “Having had difficulty accessing normal commercial funding in the current economic climate, we were delighted that, after Jim’s intervention, we were encouraged to apply for funding from a government department.”
Ken noted “If approved, the loan will facilitate the company’s rapid growth and will enable Dragonmobility to continue to provide to many more users the life-enhancing equipment that we make. Whilst we do not yet know the result of our application, we are grateful for Jim’s interest in Dragonmobility and his help on our behalf.”
Jim commented “Visiting Dragonmobility was fascinating! It is abundantly clear that they’re doing sterling work for disabled people in Cambridgeshire and beyond and as such I wish them every continued success in the future.”