David Constantine

David Constantine MBE is founder director of Motivation, a charity transforming the lives of people with mobility disabilities around the world.

David is wheelchair dependent, following a diving accident in 1982. With his collaborator Simon Gue, David set up the first Motivation project in Bangladesh in 1991, after graduation in industrial design from the Royal College of Art, and has since worked tirelessly to build a sustainable charity that gives disabled people in the developing world access to a wheelchair that is specifically suited to their disability, need and environment.

 

Under David’s leadership, Motivation has become internationally recognised as a leader in designing, producing, and distributing high-quality, low-cost wheelchairs for developing countries. The charity has advised the WHO and helped to develop global standards for wheelchair design and provision; and has also developed a range of low-cost sports chairs for the International Paralympic Committee that have enabled hundreds of disabled people to take up sport for the first time.

David travels extensively around the world, giving inspirational talks and lectures on the subject of disability. He is an adviser to, and trustee of numerous organisations, and is an award-winning travel photographer.

David is a past RSA Student Design Awards award winner, and in 2010 was awarded the RSA Bicentenary Medal for his outstanding contribution to the advancement of design in industry and society.