Hands-free shoes for disabled people

To remove, simply strike the rear part of the sole on any hard surface and the momentum of your foot pops them open allowing your foot to come right out.

Each pair of Quikiks™ comes with a set of medium-strength securing magnets. Weaker and stronger magnets are also available upon request and are easily swapped out, so that the holding strength can be customized to your abilities. A spring in the hinge keeps the shoes in the open position so they are ready to receive your foot the next time you want to put them on.

There are no batteries or electronics contained in Quikiks™. The Step-in-Go™ System is a simple, robust mechanism that we hope will improve the quality-of-life for its users for years to come.

Steve was clueless about shoe making. “I didn’t know anything about shoe making. I just had a vision of how it might be possible. Stepping into the shoe rotates the “swing arms” securing the shoe over the bridge of the user’s foot…But this version had many issues, so a new method was contemplated. After fabricating and testing many, many more prototypes, and getting a lot of help from committed professionals who, along with me, truly believe these shoes can improve the quality-of-life of so many people, they were finally ready”.

According to the inventor, these shoes can help a lot of people with different disabilities. “Chronic back-pain sufferers, post-stroke victims, those afflicted with Cerebral Palsy and autism, people struggling with obesity and severe arthritis, hand and arm amputees and even the temporarily needy—say people who have had an accident or those in rehab from hip-replacement surgery”.

In the seven years since he started working on these shoes Steve has garnered as many awards, including one for innovation at the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas. Alex sometimes helps his dad at conferences, where response has been phenomenal. “I’ve met so many people along the way–like the woman with vertigo who told me she almost faints every time she bends over to put her shoes on, or the mother of a boy with autism, who broke down crying in my trade-show booth telling me that they fight every morning because her son wants to put his shoes on by himself and gets frustrated when he can’t.”

Beyond making life easier for people via his products, Steve is helping through his business model. As a board member for an agency called Services for the Developmentally Challenged (SDC), in Riverdale, NY, Steve has seen firsthand how difficult it can be to find employment opportunities for people with disabilities. “My goal is to build a Quikiks distribution center in New York City that will provide long-term sustainable employment for people with disabilities.”

More info: http://www.quikiks.com/

Adapted from: http://bit.ly/1Mfcs8C
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=29&v=K1Gst1cVN8I