King Philip II of Spain utilized one of the first recorded dedicated wheelchairs in 1595, which was essentially an immensely heavy wooden throne outfitted with tiny wheels and armrests.

A closer look

King Philip II of Spain utilized one of the first recorded dedicated wheelchairs in 1595, which was essentially an immensely heavy wooden throne outfitted with tiny wheels and armrests. Because he was suffering from severe gout, his servants had to physically push the monarch around his massive castle, meaning independent mobility was completely out of the question. It took until 1655 for an actually paralyzed watchmaker named Stephan Farffler to invent a wheelchair with a hand-crank, finally allowing the user to propel themselves without relying on exhausted staff. The evolution of disabled transport basically languished for decades solely because the people who originally commissioned the devices were kings who viewed having someone else push them as a flex of royal authority