A Meet Up with Maker Fun in Chicago

I have mentioned this a couple of times but I’m making it official! Jordan and I are headed to Chicago for a two-day visit. We were able to work out a day in her schedule to meet with her prosthetist, David Rotter. Jordan has grown out of all of her traditional prosthetics. After this year of Jordan taking the lead in creating her own fun prosthetics, we’re hoping she can meet with David to work on some helpful ones as well.

Since we’re flying into the city for a short time, I wanted to figure out a way to bring local limb difference families together. That’s where a friend of mine reached out and offered a chance to hold a meet up at the mHub in Chicago. It’s the city’s first innovation center focused on physical product development and manufacturing. That means there are engineers, designers, and entrepreneurs working on inventing and making things. It sounds like our kind of place. (You can snag a ticket if you want to attend!)

Jordan and I hope we can all hang out for a couple of hours on September 25th, meet each other and also get a chance to meet people who are designers. I plan to invite prosthetists and 3D makers to talk about how design works. Jordan plans to share how she created Project Unicorn with her design partner this year and she’ll share some of her other ideas. I’ll also share how I’m learning to be a design advocate for my child. I’m keeping her in the lead, but I’m learning I sometimes have to help communicate what Jordan is saying to adults if they’re working with her and I notice a communication gap. It is an amazing world where kids and adults with different needs really can lead design that can improve their lives in practical and fun ways. Plus, we’re going to see if we can let the kids who attend this event create something cool on a 3D printer while we’re all together!

I’m super excited to share our design world with friends and families in Chicago! Feel free to reach out to me with any questions. If you can attend, please make sure you snag a ticket online!