Whether you’re five years old or fifty, Halloween is a celebrated tradition. Kids, adults, and families spend their October days discussing and coordinating their costumes for the highly anticipated, treat-filled night. Ryan Weimer was a father who wouldn’t let his son, Keaton, miss out on this spooktacular event, simply because he was in a wheelchair. With crafty hands and a lot of love, Ryan was able to create a custom-made costume that turned his son’s wheelchair into Toothless, the popular dragon from “How to Train Your Dragon”. Ryan took his dream and ran with it, spreading joy to other children who had limitless imaginations, in a limited mobility situation.
Keaton Weimer’s Story
Keaton Weimer is ten years old and suffers from spinal muscular dystrophy. However, that didn’t stop him from having the coolest Halloween costume on his block. In 2008, Keaton also asked his father if he could be a pirate for Halloween. Ryan decided to dream past a pirate costume and created a pirate ship to fit around Keaton’s wheelchair.
This dream snowballed over the years, leading to the creation of several mobile accessible and extraordinary costumes—ranging from Power Rangers to Pokémon. When money became a hindering factor in Ryan and Keaton’s dream, the Weimer family founded the non-profit organization Magic Wheelchair to maintain and further progress their mission.
Magic Wheelchair’s Mission
Magic Wheelchair is a non-profit organization with a mission to provide imaginative costumes to children who are wheelchair users. Ryan Weimer originally created a Kickstarter account to raise money solely for Keaton’s costumes. He said that any money raised over $4,500 would go straight to the creation of a non-profit organization. After the local news station picked up the story, the donations came flooding in.
Today, Magic Wheelchair has the resources to make five children’s dream costumes come to life each year. Volunteers and generous donations make it possible to keep this mission alive. The more funds the organization can raise, the more lives it can positively affect.
If you know a child you would like to nominate to win a Magic Wheelchair costume, you can place a submission here.
DIY Accessible Costume Ideas
Want to test your crafting skills this Halloween? Pinterest provides several costume options to choose from for all ages. Coolest Homemade Costumes not only displays tons of costume ideas but allows you to post your own costume creations on their site as well. Using the Weimers and other costumes as an inspiration, we encourage you to create unique and accessible costumes to parade on October 31. We hope you have a wonderful Halloween and get creative with your festive costumes!