Enabling those with disabilities

Rifton Equipment designed and brought to market a seating system called the Activity Chair. Used in therapy, feeding, and activities, the chair features a height adjustable base, allowing vertical position changes while the person remains seated.

Though Rifton has been making chairs for those with disabilities since the 1970s, its first production models – though unique at the time – were primitive plywood box frames covered with slots and knobs for adjustment. Through the years, as therapists’ input and suggestions flowed in, company designers continued to modify and improve on the original idea.

Using this methodology, Rifton’s designers determined early in the design process that they would need to separate the seat from the base so they could offer options that would meet a range of needs from children needing minimal support up to children and adults needing full support. They worked through the mechanical details and developed design prototypes of what they thought would work well. Each revision of the prototypes required additional field-testing and input from therapists.

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