Magic Wheelchair Creates Incredible Costumes for Disabled Children in Wheelchairs

The Great Big Story series Human Condition traveled to Keizer, Oregon to meet up with Ryan Weimer and find out how Magic Wheelchair, a nonprofit organization that creates incredible costumes for disabled children in wheelchairs, came to fruition.

One Halloween, Ryan Weimer’s then-3-year-old son wanted to dress up as a pirate. But his son, who has spinal muscular atrophy, is restricted to a wheelchair. So Ryan fashioned a homemade costume that incorporated the wheelchair as a pirate ship, and his son absolutely loved it. From that idea was born Magic Wheelchair—a global non-profit organization that creates custom wheelchair costumes for kids. In addition to bringing joy to the costumed kids and their families, Weimer says his designs can act as a “cure for the day” by liberating the kids from the stigma so often attached to wheelchairs.