Inventor special travel bed for disabled children
Lotte Leufkens: ‘Think in terms of simple solutions’
She was sitting in the lecture hall in Delft and heard the story of a father with a disabled child. Their biggest problem: sleeping outside the parental house. ‘That’s dangerous, because children with spasms, autism, Down syndrome, you name it, can easily climb out of bed or fall,’ nods Lotte Leufkens.
She turned out to be the inventor the father was secretly hoping for and developed a special travel bed for multiply disabled children. ‘A kind of tent that makes any standard mattress safe for sleeping within five minutes. It’s inflatable, so light, and fits into a weekend bag.’ Her prototypes were a huge success. ‘I got so many thanks – and even gifts – from families who could finally take a weekend off, or let their children stay with grandparents, to take the pressure off at home.’