"[1] Following a motorcycle accident in his junior year at Oberlin University in 1966,[2] Hotchkiss became a paraplegic.
[6] Following graduation from Oberlin, he worked for Ralph Nader in Washington D.C. where he founded the Center for Concerned Engineering.
The 1985 book, "Independence through Mobility: A Guide Through the Manufacture of the ATI-Hotchkiss Wheelchair,"[8] now available in PDF form through the Center for International Rehabilitation,[9] is an early example of open design or open source hardware.
Hotchkiss also advocates for disabled people in developing countries after being asked to help a group of disabled mechanics in Nicaragua, where often up to five people would have to share single wheelchair.
Since then, Hotchkiss has been working on developing a wheelchair called the RoughRider, which is lightweight, inexpensive, and designed to handle difficult riding conditions.