Eureka!'s Freedom Tent has been awarded the prestigious da Vinci Award® by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Michigan Chapter, for its design, which provides increased access and independence for people with disabilities. The da Vinci Awards® recognize individuals, organizations and corporations in the engineering, construction and technical fields whose design innovations help empower people with disabilities and exceed government mandates. The Eureka! Freedom tent was one of six products recognized in 2006 international competition.
“The Freedom Tent is the first tent of its kind to offer, as its name implies, freedom and independence for campers with disabilities,” said Linda Grebe, product manager of Eureka! tents. “We are proud to have worked with Blue Sky Designs to help deliver this innovation to the market and pleased to be recognized by the NMSS for our efforts to provide safe, reliable and comfortable tents to the disabled community.”
The Freedom tent is the collaborative effort of Eureka! and BlueSky Designs, a design firm in Minneapolis, noted for its work in rehabilitation engineering and assistive technology. Together, the companies incorporated ergonomics and universal design principles to create a tent that people with disabilities could more easily set up and use independently, making it much easier for independent or assisted transfers, offering storage space for mobility devices, and providing conveniences not found in other tents.
