A Love Letter to Movement

Marcus Thompson (Kāi Tahu – Ōraka-Aparima) is an innovator, inventor and entrepreneur in the accessibility space, dedicating many years to bettering the lives of wheelchair users through his commitment to developing equipment that enables the simple, yet crucial fundamentals of movement. The proud father of four was born in Ōtepoti and raised in Twizel. Marcus now lives in Ōtaki, on the Kāpiti Coast. As a wheelchair user himself, he developed Whanauka Ltd. to bring his inventions to life.

Kaituhi SASCHA WALL spent time with Marcus to learn about his journey: what inspires him, what he is currently working on, and where he is headed in the future.

SPEAKING WITH MARCUS THOMPSON, IT IS EVIDENT THAT HE IS AN ARTIST. His use of metaphorical language laced with poetic analogies seems like it is straight out of an Art History textbook. Adorning the walls of his studio are collections of bright paintings that bring to life both his space and his kōrero. He speaks softly about his beginnings – from whānau, to whakapapa, to the accident that led him to this mahi.

Marcus worked as a kaitā, and later a high school kaiako teaching outdoor education, engineering and art, regarding himself as a “lifelong artist.” Clearly passionate, he is a collector of hobbies, an example of excellence and has poured his skills into many different things. “I’m from the Bates-Cowie whānau in Riverton, with whakapapa to Ōraka-Aparima, originally from Whenua Hou. My nanny, who's passed away now, grew up in Dunedin where I was later born. I then grew up in Twizel. So, the South Island… that’s me,” says Marcus.

Growing up in Te Waipounamu, Marcus developed a strong passion for skiing. As his skiing improved, he built confidence on the slopes and his ability to navigate them intuitively at high speed. “I was a serious ski racer early in life, got busy at university, didn't do much skiing. Then I had kids. Once the kids were big enough, I got back into it. “I was thinking, quite seriously – okay, I'm going to have a crack at the Olympics in ski racing. Unfortunately, I then broke my back so that whole plan got derailed.”

Above: Marcus competing in a ski race at Mount Dobson in 1988.

After his ski accident, Marcus sustained lifelong injuries that led to paraplegia and the use of a wheelchair for independent movement. While he didn’t spend long discussing the impact of sustaining such a serious injury, it was clear it involved a difficult period of adjustment.

When it comes to accessibility, the range of adaptive equipment developed for disabled people varies widely. From prosthetic limbs to wheelchairs to commodes and hoists; these tools exist to enable individuals with disabilities to adapt to a world that is built for the able-bodied.

When we kōrero about ‘wheelchair users’, it’s important to see the person – a person using a tool and not to define them by
that tool. The use of a wheelchair, though it may appear restrictive to those of us with functioning waewae, represents freedom and independence to those who do not. And like any tool, the better it is developed, the better the user can engage and perform.

For many people, such an accident might have stopped them from continuing to play sport, but Marcus was determined to maintain movement and began playing wheelchair basketball. Through this journey and the connections made, he found adaptive surfing and Waka Ama.

Above: Gold winning finish from Aotearoa Para-Mixed V6 in the 500m turns race at the International Va'a Association World Sprint Championships 2018 in Tahiti. 

“The beautiful thing about Waka Ama is that para-paddlers are considered one of the elite groups amongst the Open Men's, Open Women's and within the age groups. So, we're on the same stage with the same resourcing and same support [as able-bodied athletes], as opposed to being off in a corner like wheelchair basketball.

“To do a competitive sport with other able-bodied people of my age and with my children has been wonderful. It's been real cool.” In 2017, while Marcus was still working as a high-school teacher, continuing to compete in parasport, he began thinking deeply about his relationship with movement.

Through extensive research, he has found that thriving has a lot to do with our relationship to balance-based and minute movements. Sitting static, whether in a wheelchair or a simple desk chair, lessens our ability to participate in those movements. In his eloquent and articulate nature, he explained what he has discovered and what he aims to do about it. “We are in good health when we move and when we move with rhythm. And I don't mean necessarily a music rhythm, but a rhythm that's of respect to our body, our environment.

“And so where I've landed is to acquire a depth of knowledge on the working principles, theory and philosophy of balance-based movement and movement variability. Those two things are critical together. We need to be balanced-based so we can feel the world.

“Our relationship to gravity is one of our senses. We shape and detail the world by what we feel through gravity. If you are sitting static on a wheelchair, you're isolated from that. “In a wheelchair, you're on rubber wheels, and so you're not grounded. So, you're isolated from gravity… the body and mind connectivity and interaction is not working because it's not activated by your balance response. “It's depressive. The absence of balance-based movement is a depressive act.”

Following his research and deep contemplation, Marcus was inspired to advocate for movement and worked as a founding team member of Omeo Technology, which developed the now internationally successful ‘Omeo Chair’.

The Omeo all-terrain chair now used by over 1000 people globally.

The Omeo is an all-terrain chair that moves at a range of up to 50km, equipped with a 0-degree turning circle. The chair is hands-free operated and usable for all-terrain use, offering accessibility in spaces previously unimaginable.

“There's over 1000 people around the world on them [the Omeo] now, who are on a wonderful journey, many are people who have been stuck in a chair for quite some time. When you put them on an Omeo, giving them a sense of balance, you give them freedom. It’s an exciting place to work, but it’s just the start.”

Although the Omeo offers that sense of balance, Marcus could see there was still space in the market for a chair that took that movement to another level.

Watching and observing the movements of skateboards, surfboards and skis, Marcus recognised this intuitive movement pattern of shifting weight from side to side as an opportunity for wheelchair users with existing hip and core mobility to utilise. This movement helps to align the body with the task and to transition between movement demands with flow and rhythm.

This period of observation, reflection and development he describes at: “the core content of my story, which is what I call the love letter to movement. The love of what movement means to humanity.” And so, from a hospital room in 2018, Marcus conceptualised his ‘Lean Steer’ chair, which mimics that lean-based steering, allowing its user to glide along pathways. It also has a soft-start, soft-stop function, enabled by the multi-joint, allowing for fluid and intuitive control. The natural momentum gained by gliding in unison with the terrain also means less requirement for pushing oneself along.

If you look at someone standing with their weight on one leg, you can observe the hips arcing. In three-dimensional space, this creates a figure-of-eight as the subject shifts their weight from one hip to the other. This figure-of-eight is otherwise known as the infinity symbol, which is a pattern that repeats itself in many of our natural movements. The mechanism within the body of the ‘Lean Steer’ chair is engineered to mimic this exact pattern of function, which brings this wheelchair closer to the innate human experience of movement.

Marcus began making the ‘Lean Steer’ with Callaghan in 2020. He now has patents in place and is roughly 12 months of engineering and aesthetic development away from a market-ready chair. Alongside the ‘Lean Steer’, he drew plans which replicate the same infinity-symbol pattern of function into an office chair for those whose mahi or education requires them to remain seated for long periods of time. The benefit of these small movements on the brain relate to increased dopamine and overall levels of productivity.

Where the hip-function core of the ‘Lean Steer’ was built as a mechanical device, the office chair has a compliant-materials mechanism making it easily viable for mass production and durability in a wider range of environments. For Marcus these “tools of partnership” honour the connection between the brain and body and recognise the importance of balance-based,
intuitive movement for the thriving of human beings.

“Look at when someone's got a barrier, or an injury and they can't move from that same able-bodied rhythm. But now, what if we go, let's add a tool that can get that brain and body back to a rhythm. A tool of partnership is one that you put with somebody, to pick up where the body leaves off. To then help the person to perform in the most natural way.

“To work to increase the seated health of our beautiful children, our whānau, people across society, from every day static sitting to wheeled mobility is now my cause – my privilege.”

While both the ‘Lean Steer’ and office chair are in development, investor buy-in will be essential to them becoming tangible, manufacturable products. Given Marcus’s unwavering determination and incredible tenacity, one gets the sense that securing the necessary investment won’t be far off.