Innovation on wheels: do-it-yourself assistive technologies in action sports

Using adaptive skateboarding and wheelchair motocross as a lens, this paper examines how, why, and in what ways disabled riders use DIY assistive technologies (DIY-AT) to support their mobility and sporting practices.

To address these aims, we interviewed 30 disabled riders and engaged in a reflexive thematic analysis of the transcripts.

Adopting a posthuman perspective, the findings demonstrate how disabled riders' entanglements with DIY-AT can reshape possibilities for movement, creativity, and individuality while simultaneously enabling new forms of mobility, access, and participation. We stress that while DIY-AT may be empowering, it can also shift the responsibility for design, testing, repair, and maintenance onto disabled users, thereby exposing them to the risk of equipment failure and injury.

We contend that DIY-AT are not merely tools that compensate for bodily limitations but rather tools and modifications that become entangled with disabled bodies, environments, and sporting practices, generating new possibilities for movement, embodiment, creativity, and participation.