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SAN DIEGO, Calif. — At San Diego Comic-Con, a nonprofit is helping young people express themselves through wheelchair cosplay, transforming mobility devices into custom creations inspired by fandom.
One young attendee moved through the convention in a wheelchair designed as “Battle Cat” from “He-Man,” while another showed off a customized chair he said exceeded his expectations.
“I don’t think I really could have expected how incredible and detailed and good-looking this actually turned out,” Derek Thatcher said. “It is just so nice.”
The group making these dreams come true is Magic Wheelchair, a nonprofit that promotes inclusion and self-expression through wheelchair cosplay.
“We’re not just celebrating fandom and comics,” said Christine Getman, executive director of Magic Wheelchair. “We’re celebrating the freedom that wheelchairs give us and we’re helping kind of rrewritethe narrative about what it means to be disabled.”
The volunteers are the group’s superheroes.
“It’s garage builders, professionals,” Jeff Watamura said. “I’m a teacher and we do this at school.”
The costumes are meant to be more than visually striking, supporters said.
“It’s a big deal,” Scottie Foertmeyer said. “It goes beyond getting a costume. Like, that’s cool and it looks great and it’s fun. But the mission’s actually empowering kids.”
The program is provided at no cost to families, including transportation to the event, lodging at the convention, badges and the finished wheelchair design.
“And the beauty of this whole thing, one of my favorite parts, is it’s entirely done at no cost to the families,” Shawn Thorsson said. “So everything they get, they get transportation to the event, lodging at the convention, the badges, all of that and then this goes home. It belongs to them free and clear.”
The latest cosplay wheelchair was unveiled Friday afternoon and now belongs to a 16-year-old from Long Beach.
“I have no words for how awesome this chair is,” Isaiah Mejia said.
Magic Wheelchair is based in Oregon, but its goal is to help people all around the country.
For more information, go to MagicWheelchair.org.
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