🧑🏽💻 Check Out Our Live Deployment: Prints For A Purpose
At Prints For A Purpose, our mission is to connect individuals in need of assistive devices with a compassionate global community of skilled builders. Using 3D printing technology, we can create affordable solutions that enhance independence and transform lives.
Our application would mainly serve individuals with disability or mobility issues under financial or physical constraints. A priority would be those who live in underprivileged communities, conflict affected areas, or communities with limited healthcare infrastructure.
Our product will leverage the power of technology and community collaboration to make assistive devices more accessible and affordable to those in need. This is done by connecting individuals to a network of builders who facilitate the creation and distribution of affordable, 3D-printed devices.
Lack of access to accessibility devices is a significant challenge faced by many individuals every day, “Around 100 million people worldwide need a prosthetic limb to replace an amputated arm or leg, yet it is estimated around 80 percent of these people don’t have access to these services.” (Improving Access To Prosthetic Limbs) Devices such as prosthetics can be very expensive costing tens of thousands of dollars, often requiring custom fittings, specialized manufacturing, and ongoing adjustments. (Why Are Prosthetics So Expensive?)
While the focus for assistive devices often centers around prosthetics for visible disabilities like limb loss, it is crucial to recognize that disabilities come in many forms, some of which are not immediately apparent. Invisible disabilities such as cognitive, sensory, and neurodevelopmental conditions pose their own unique challenges that significantly impact everyday life. (What to Know About Invisible Disabilities) Therefore, the lack of access to assistive devices becomes even more apparent when we include the devices required by the millions of invisibly disabled people. Along with prosthetics, the cost of these devices vary substantially depending on factors such as complexity, customization, and technological limitations.
This cost barrier prevents many people from obtaining the prosthetic devices they need for mobility and independence. (Ethics in Rehabilitation: Access to Prosthetics) This problem is more prevalent for those in low-income underprivileged communities or regions affected by war, natural disasters or limited healthcare infrastructure. Our application aims to overcome these physical and financial barriers through a decentralized global system of 3D printing volunteers.
The emergence of 3D printing technology has revolutionized the field of prosthetics by offering a more affordable and accessible alternative. 3D-printed prosthetics can be customized, fabricated locally, and are often a fraction of the cost of traditional prosthetics. (3D printing prosthetics: The great revolution) In addition to prosthetic devices, 3D printing has opened up new possibilities for creating a wide range of custom assistive devices that can greatly improve individual quality of lives. Printed 3D tools and devices can be used in areas including but not limited to: Orthotics, such as customized braces, splints, canes, and supports; Accessibility, such as gripped handles, key turners, and modified switches; Special education, such as braille materials, tactile maps, and teaching aids; Accessories for wheelchairs, such as cupholders, phone mounts, and storage compartments; Veterinarian, such as prosthetics for livestock/pets like custom wheels, casts, beaks and fins; and Optometry, such as custom glasses frames for craniofacial deformity accommodations just to name a few.
If individuals with disabilities are provided with an online platform connecting them to a global network of volunteers with 3D printers, then they can overcome the physical and financial barriers for obtaining prosthetic and assistive devices through a community driven distribution system.
- Open source environment
- Community library where you can share guides, models, software, designs, resources, instructions, materials, and medical guidelines
- Community forum for discussion, advice, and collaboration.
- Impact measurement to insure prosthetics are maintained over time
- Local Prints For a Purpose organization chapters may be opened to bring focus to areas with substantial need.