includesign LLC

THE STORY: Includesign LLC founder and CEO Diana Perkins wanted to help a professor of hers who used a wheelchair. She worked with her professor throughout the design process to create a collapsible carryall that would help those in a wheelchair with shopping and other everyday tasks. The school project, called the LapSnap, subsequently turned into a business for Perkins. The LapSnap is the first of many products the company hopes to develop to help people with disabilities.


› The LapSnap helps wheelchair users perform everyday tasks more independently by enabling them to carry their belongings hands-free, from shopping to gardening, as well as transporting pets and picking up packages.

› The first prototype was created as a part of Brown University’s engineering capstone course. In order to facilitate user testing, Perkins sewed 10 prototypes to send to wheelchair users nationwide. Professionally manufactured products were then produced at the beginning of 2021.

› The lead time for a new run of LapSnaps is approximately eight to 12 weeks depending on manufacturer commitments. Raw materials are purchased and sent to the company’s manufacturing partners. Each manufacturer creates a portion of the product and sends them to includesign’s main facility, where employees assemble the LapSnaps and distribute them to customers.

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› Includesign employs 11 people. The company is currently designing a version of the LapSnap specifically with quadriplegics in mind, which will have magnetic clasps and other features for those with limited upper-body mobility.

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