Why We're Here
The Equipment Gap
For people with disabilities, the right equipment isn't a luxury. It's what lets someone be there — at the park, at the pool, around the table, in community.
Elizabeth lived 45 years with cerebral palsy. She could not walk or talk, but she lived with a vibrancy and joy that filled every room, due in large part to the equipment and support she had access to.
Participation is not a small thing. Being in community with others, moving our bodies, getting outside, showing up for the people we love. These are the things that make a life feel like a life. When someone is locked out of them, the cost isn't just inconvenience. It's loneliness, declining health, and a slow erosion of what it means to belong. The equipment we fund is how we help open that door.
The Cost of Being Left Out
2 in 3
Working-age adults with disabilities often experience severe loneliness, regardless of the type of disability. Roughly 40% say they often feel cut off from social contact.
Brown University School of Public Health, Annals of Internal Medicine (2025)
5×
Adults with disabilities are nearly 5 times more likely to experience frequent mental distress than adults without disabilities.
3×
They are three times more likely to have heart disease, stroke, diabetes, or cancer.
Nearly 1/2
Get no aerobic physical activity at all, driving 50% higher rates of chronic disease.
The Tools That Change This
Movement. Community. Connection.
Adaptive equipment including bikes, wheelchairs, swings, and positioning systems is what makes these possible for people who can't access them otherwise. It's not a luxury. It's the bridge between isolation and a full life.
Why Insurance Isn't Enough
The items that unlock participation are rarely covered.
Adaptive equipment is expensive, and families need a lot of it over a lifetime. A single piece can cost thousands, and most people who need it will need multiple items, replaced as they grow and as their needs change. For even a well-insured, upper-middle-class family, the math doesn't work.
And here's why: insurance pays only for the bare essentials. U.S. coverage rules are built around one standard: medical necessity in the home. Medicare states it will not cover a wheelchair needed only outside the home. That single rule means nearly everything that makes community life possible — including adaptive recreation, outdoor access, and participation — gets classified as a luxury and denied. This is the gap we close.
Representative Current Costs
from ~$400
Pediatric Positioning System
The support to sit on the floor, eat at the table, and learn alongside peers.
Equipment like Tumble Forms floor sitters gives children with complex needs a way to participate in play, therapy, and family life. Routinely denied as a “duplicate” of a covered wheelchair, even though a wheelchair cannot do this.
Source: Performance Health / Rehabmart (2024). Complete systems vary by size and configuration.
$1,500 – $7,400
Adaptive Bike or Tricycle
The chance to ride alongside siblings, classmates, and friends.
Customized for the rider's diagnosis, size, and support needs. Consistently classified as recreational or exercise equipment by insurers and denied even when prescribed by a physical therapist for documented therapeutic benefit.
Sources: Adaptive Mall; Rifton (2024 verified pricing).
$2,300 – $6,400+
Beach or All-Terrain Wheelchair
The means to reach the beach, the trail, the park, alongside everyone else.
A standard covered wheelchair cannot navigate sand, grass, or gravel. Medicare is explicit: it will not cover a wheelchair needed only outside the home, leaving families to pay in full for the chairs that actually go where life happens.
Sources: Sand Rider (~$2,300); Lasher Sport all-terrain (~$6,400); wheelchairsinmotion.com.
$25,000 – $100,000+
Wheelchair Accessible Van
The ability to leave the house together, as a family.
For families whose child or loved one uses a wheelchair, a converted van isn't optional. It's the only way to travel together. Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance do not cover wheelchair-accessible vehicles of any kind, new or used.
Sources: Rollx Vans Cost Guide 2026; Southern Bus & Mobility (2026); MobilityWorks dealer listings.
This Is the Gap We Close
One person.
One piece of equipment at a time.
Every dollar you give goes directly toward matching people in need with the equipment that changes their life. No gift is too small.
Sources
Clark MA, Salinger M, et al. “Loneliness Among Working-Age Adults With Disabilities in the United States.” Annals of Internal Medicine, 2025 (via Brown University School of Public Health). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Disability and Health: “Adults with disabilities are three times more likely to have heart disease, stroke, diabetes, or cancer” (cdc.gov). CDC, Vital Signs: “Disability and Physical Activity — United States, 2009–2012” (MMWR). CDC, “Frequent Mental Distress Among Adults, by Disability Status” (MMWR, 2020). Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare Durable Medical Equipment Coverage and Power Mobility Device policy (cms.gov). Performance Health / Rehabmart, Tumble Forms 2 Deluxe Floor Sitter, from ~$400 (2024). Adaptive Mall; Rifton adaptive tricycle range $1,500–$7,400 (2024). Sand Rider Beach Wheelchair (~$2,300); Lasher Sport all-terrain (~$6,400) via wheelchairsinmotion.com (2024). Wheelchair accessible van pricing: Rollx Vans Cost Guide 2026 (used from $25,000, new $45,000–$85,000); Southern Bus & Mobility, “How Much Are Wheelchair-Accessible Vans?” (January 2026, new up to $100,000+). Pricing and coverage vary by state, plan, medical-necessity review, and configuration.
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“Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
Matthew 25:40