We’re excited to share that our charity was part of a national BBC television appeal which was fronted by TV presenter and wheelchair rugby coach Steve Brown.
The BBC Lifeline appeal will aired on Sunday 12 November at 12:45pm on BBC1 and told the stories of three families we have supported.
The crew filmed with 2-year-old identical twins, Raffie and Sidney from Essex, who were diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy type 1 a day after their first birthday. Their diagnosis means the boys are unable to crawl, stand or walk unaided but their Wizzybugs help them get up to mischief.
The short film also featured Bella and her family from Ipswich. Bella, 2, has quadriplegic cerebral palsy. She was having to sit and look on while her family and friends took part in things that she could only watch but now she’s chasing her friends with her friend Wizzybug.
Finally, we heard from Kirsty, from Swansea, who took part in the user testing for our groundbreaking accessible pushchair for wheelchair users.
Steve Brown said:
“I’m honoured to be supporting this appeal for Designability, a charity that creates products and services to help disabled people live with greater choice and independence.
“As a wheelchair user, I have first-hand experience of many of the challenges that Designability works hard to address every day.
“To date, Designability have given out 1,300 free Wizzybug powered wheelchairs to disabled children in the UK, enabling them to have the independence to play and explore as they choose.
“More recently, they have developed a groundbreaking accessible pushchair for wheelchair users, which offers disabled parents and carers true freedom for the first time. The charity estimates that there are around 20,000 disabled parents in the UK alone who could benefit.
“With your help and support, Designability can continue their life-changing work and make a lasting difference to the lives of many more disabled people.”
If you missed it, you can catch up and support us on the BBC Lifeline website.