Remap - Custom Made Equipment For People With Disabilities

What we do and how we work

 Remap is a national registered charity that has, for over 40 years, provided one-off technical aids which help disabled people of all ages to enjoy a better lifestyle. Every aid is given free of charge to the user. We make things you can’t buy, often because they are unusual and demand is too limited to make commercial production worthwhile. An interface for a drum synthesiser for a paralysed drummer; a device to allow someone with severe arthritis to open their door are amongst the many thousands of projects we have completed. You can view a short YouTube video about Remap made by the Hull and East Riding Panel here.

Each year Remap turns out £2 million worth of individual aids that money just can't buy. We are one of the UK's most cost-effective charities and our engineers are the most innovative of scrap recyclers. A defunct dishwasher or some old car parts will, in skilled hands, often become components of aids that open up new horizons for many hundreds of disabled people.  There is an old saying that an engineer can do for a penny what any fool can do for a pound. We turn scrap materials into useful stuff. For every £100 (and pro rata) we are given we produce (if costed in commercial terms) over £2,000 worth of lifestyle enhancing equipment for our clients.

Our History

Remap was formed in 1964 by Pat Johnson, an engineer working for ICI at their Billingham plant. Pat had a sister who had infantile polio which presented her with physical problems in coping with her day to day life.

At the time Pat founded what became Remap (Rehabilitation Engineering Movement Advisory Panels) he was living in Stockton-on-Tees. His sister lived in Hertfordshire and was confined to a wheelchair, but had upper body movement. Because she was widowed, she relied on her children and neighbours for day to day support with her mobility. She even needed help getting her wheelchair down the two front steps to go to the shops.

Pat bought an old black Ford van and repaired it to take a load of scrap timber he had obtained (probably from ICI) down to Hertfordshire.  He built a wooden ramp up to his sisters front door and also installed an electric hoist, with a runway, above the ceiling in the hallway, bathroom and toilet of the bungalow. He was particularly pleased with this as the hoist and track were entirely within the roof space, with only the hoist cable and control pulls projecting through a slot, protected by rubber flaps. His sister was overjoyed with the ramp and hoist as they immediately gave her a level of independence she had never enjoyed before.

Pat was greatly affected when he saw how much difference what to him had been fairly simple aids made to his sister's quality of life. He became determined to be the catalyst to bring similar benefits to others. The project at his sisters house was what led him to the concept of Remap and soon other engineers and technicians at ICI became involved with his idea and helped it to grow. 

Remap steadily expanded and now covers the whole of the UK. Operating at a local level its 1500 volunteers design and manufacture special one-off pieces of equipment for people with disabilities where no suitable commercial product is available. The service is available to all and no charge is made to the client. Over 3500 jobs are carried out each year on a total budget of under £200,000. It is estimated that since 1964 over 80,000 jobs have been completed.

Major Pat Johnson RE died in September 2002. Thanks to his vision and effort Remap still builds ramps and, now, much more. We still use what others consider to be scrap to improve the lives of others. We still use inventiveness and experience to produce innovative solutions to problems so that people can get on with their lives.  His ideas have more than stood the test of time and, thanks to him, the lives of thousands of people have been improved.

(I am grateful to Tony Johnson, Pat’s son, for providing the information on the foundation of Remap)