OpenAT (Open-Source Assistive Technology) refers to assistive devices whose designs are publicly shared, allowing anyone to study, modify, make, and improve them. OpenAT projects are typically co-created by people with disabilities, engineers, makers, and disability professionals. Because the designs are open, these technologies can be adapted to individual needs, built at lower cost, and improved by a global community, increasing accessibility for everyone.
The OpenAT Design Guide is intended to be an ever-growing collection of resources and best practises for designing OpenAT that is easy to build, adapt, use, and improve upon. The guide includes information on Design for 3D Printing, as well as details on many of the design elements and common commercial components used by Makers Making Change.
This guide is a living document, and is intended to be changed and updates as better measurements and methods are discovered. If you have an improvement or a section that should be added, you are welcome to contribute to the guide.
The content is best viewed using the generated site: https://makersmakingchange.github.io/OpenAT_Design_Guide/
As open source documentation, you are welcome and encouraged to improve upon the Design Guide. Information on how to contribute can be found in the How To Contribute section.
Content Contributors:
- Brad Wellington
- Jake McIvor
- Stephan Dobri
Copyright (c) 2025 Neil Squire / Makers Making Change.
The site content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license (CC BY-SA 4.0).
The underlying site generation tools—Jekyll and the Just the Docs theme—are MIT-licensed and remain under their respective licenses. No part of their source code or assets is relicensed by this site.
Makers Making Change is a program of Neil Squire, a Canadian non-profit that uses technology, knowledge, and passion to empower people with disabilities.
Makers Making Change leverages the capacity of community based Makers, Disability Professionals and Volunteers to develop and deliver affordable Open Source Assistive Technologies.
- Website: www.MakersMakingChange.com
- GitHub: makersmakingchange
- Bluesky: @makersmakingchange.bsky.social
- Instagram: @makersmakingchange
- Facebook: makersmakechange
- LinkedIn: Neil Squire Society
- Thingiverse: makersmakingchange
- Printables: MakersMakingChange
For technical questions, to get involved, or to share your experience we encourage you to visit our website or contact us.