Providing automotive mobility solutions to increase the quality of life for people with disabilities.
BraunAbility is the global leader in wheelchair-accessible vehicles and lifts. Founded in 1972 by Ralph Braun, the company offers the most diverse and trusted products in automotive mobility.
11/06/2025
Marissa Bode’s role as Nessarose in the first Wicked film was a milestone for authentic disability representation. It gave viewers with disabilities— especially the next generation—a chance to see accurate and authentic disability representation. Now, in Wicked: For Good, the story is being adapted to ensure that representation continues—setting a new standard for inclusivity in Hollywood.
ID: A child who uses a wheelchair exits a wheelchair van, looking towards a movie theater. She is wearing a pink dress and crown.
11/03/2025
Veterans Day is approaching. In recognition, we invite Veteran customers to share their stories. If you served in the Armed Forces, and you own a BraunAbility vehicle, share your story with us: https://www.braunability.com/us/en/mobility-story.html
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). In recognition, we'd like to introduce you to Burnie Blackmon, one of our most loyal customers and team members.
Blackmon has worked for BraunAbility since our founding in 1972 (with one short sabbatical) and was close friends with our late founder, Ralph Braun for decades.
Today, he works in BraunAbility’s Customer Experience Group, where he draws from lived experience with a disability, helping BraunAbility customers find the same mobility independence he has found with BraunAbility products.
While there's much to do to get more people with disabilities in the workforce, we're proud to know our transportation solutions are helping team members like Burnie from around the world get to work every day.
A BraunAbility employee since 1972, Burnie Blackmon was close friends with our late founder, Ralph Braun. Today, he works in BraunAbility’s Customer Experience Group helping BraunAbility customers find the same mobility independence he has found with BraunAbility products.
10/27/2025
We're proud to ensure all the spooky Halloween festivities are accessible to people with disabilities!
We are proud to offer an entirely ADA compliant vortex tunnel in our haunted house! Thanks to BraunAbility and The Children’s Museum Guild, wheelchair users and parents with strollers can fully enjoy the tunnel experience with ease!
Get tickets to Bewitched BOOseum Haunted House to experience it in person: https://bit.ly/3HIwy0x
10/24/2025
Proud to invest in the next generation of skilled welding professionals at our manufacturing headquarters in Winamac, Indiana!
Thank you, BraunAbility! Your generous donation of PPE ensures our first-year Winamac welding students are safe, skilled, and ready for future career opportunities. We’re grateful for your continued support of our students and programs! 👩🏭👨🏭
10/24/2025
Disability inclusion isn't spooky!
Center Grove Orchard in Des Moines, Iowa has a hayride wagon, equipped with a BraunAbility lift —making sure fall fun is accessible for everyone.
10/21/2025
As Halloween night approaches, remember that true inclusion means celebrating with everyone—no matter how they move through the world.
10/10/2025
October is Spina Bifida Awareness Month. In recognition, we're sharing the story of Annie Keierleber, whose family relies on their BraunAbility Toyota Sienna to take them to all their favorite Disney Parks throughout the year!
"When we first got it, it was early on, so we were grateful for it, but we didn't see how much we needed it until later. We were grateful to have it looking forward to the future."
10/03/2025
Purchasing your first wheelchair van comes with a lot of questions and considerations. Not sure where to start? Check out our beginner's guide to buying a wheelchair van:
Ready to buy a wheelchair accessible van but not sure where to start? Read our guide to understand the buying process from pre- to post-purchase for drivers, passengers, and caregivers.
09/30/2025
POV: Wheelchair vans on the way to change some lives.
📸: via Instagram
ID: White wheelchair vans on a car hauler.
09/24/2025
Sam Scribner keeps his BraunAbility Chrysler Pacifica in pristine condition—thanks, in part, to a well-used car wash subscription.
While he jokingly admits that getting a car wash 12 times a week "might be a bit excessive", it's important for Sam and his fiancée, Katarina, to take care of the vehicle that has provided them with freedom, mobility, and peace of mind as they navigate life together as an interabled couple.
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An American garage is the birthplace for some of the world’s largest market leaders and distruptors. Like so many before him, Ralph Braun could be found in the late hours of the evening to the early hours of the morning building what he could never have dreamed would be the foundation of the world’s largest wheelchair accessible vehicle manufacturing company.
Within the industry, he’s considered one of the greats. There is something about someone pouring their mind and energy into a project. It’s admirable; it’s crazy; it’s impossible not to want to follow them around the corner to see what comes next.
Ralph kick-started the beginning of the mobility industry by creating the technology he needed for his own life. Growing up a multiple child of “dirt-farmers” in the small town of Winamac, Indiana, Ralph was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy at the age of seven and largely renounced as having a limited quality and quantity of life left. Defying the diagnosis and the doctors, while he would eventually require the use of a wheelchair (and later, a three-wheeled scooter of his own invention), he lived a full life full of invention, integrity, and imagination.
Ralph, together with his dad, created the first three-wheeled power scooter, which he named, aptly, the Tri-Wheeler. The invention attracted the attention of many who saw it and before long, orders for the scooter began to roll in. It was in his parent’s garage in that small Indiana town that Ralph would incorporate and begin to assemble the scooters by hand for his customers.
During this time, Ralph was also working a full-time job at a factory in town. When the cold winter months made road travel dangerous on his three wheels, he started to look for a fourth - and created a personal wheelchair accessible vehicle with a full-size lift that he could operate with hand controls from the comfort of his Tri-Wheeler.
Everything to follow created what is now known as BraunAbility, a global company that manufactures wheelchair vans, lifts, seating products, and other vehicle mobility products. We work with over 200 dealerships who are staffed with trained mobility consultants to help our customers understand our broad product portfolio and to help them discover which of our products work best with their needs. And with so many locations across the United States and Canada, we are never too far away should you ever need us.
To learn more about BraunAbility’s history, visit our About Us page: https://www.braunability.com/us/en/about-us.html
