TBNS: Right to Repair, Open-Source Wheelchairs, Human Respect, & Who Gets to Fix Your Wheelchair?

Hannah Henriksen joins Brian Nichols to reveal who actually gets to fix your wheelchair, why right to repair stops at the one device some people can't live without, and how a new Respect America film is pushing open-source power chairs into the mainstream. You own your car. Take it to any mechanic in town. You own your phone... and more and more, you can fix it yourself. But a power wheelchair? Too often only one company is allowed to touch it. So you wait. Weeks. Months. Sometimes longer. Hannah is the President of Respect America, the group behind the Jonny McCoy film seen by over 2 million people. Their new film follows friend of the show Thomas Quiter, who has osteogenesis imperfecta and more than 1,000 broken bones, and who is now building open-source power wheelchairs with high school and college shop classes through the Mobility Independence Foundation. Chairs that cost $80,000 to $100,000. Chairs you can't modify. Chairs only one company can repair. So if it's your property and your body... why isn't the repair your decision? Then we get into the philosophy of human respect, the rules we all learned on the playground, "trust the experts," and why the liberty movement keeps writing white papers when people want stories. CHAPTERS 0:00 You Own Your Car. Not Your Wheelchair. 2:12 Who Is Hannah Henriksen? 3:52 A Twist of Fate Into the Liberty Movement 6:17 The Rules We Learned on the Playground 8:37 "Trust the Experts" 11:51 Why Stories Move People When Stats Don't 13:28 It Could Happen to You 14:30 Thomas Quiter's 1,000 Broken Bones 16:00 The $100,000 Wheelchair Only One Company Can Fix 17:34 Open-Source Chairs Built in Shop Class 19:52 "He Runs Better Than the Government" 20:28 Lobbyists vs. Right to Repair 22:07 A Message That Lands With Everyone 23:47 People Want Stories, Not White Papers 24:42 Fear and Love 25:25 The Beach Boys Professor Story 28:32 How to Keep People in the Long Game 31:00 Finding What Unites Us 32:35 The Michael Scott Win-Win-Win 33:06 Where to Find Respect America 35:01 Hannah's Final Word Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices