We celebrate the 15 years of the GoTo seat with Dawn, whose request to our Innovation Centre led to the original design. It was later produced commercially by Leckey and as well as being available to purchase, it can now be found in supermarket trolleys across the country!

The humble beginnings of the seat began back in 2009 when Dawn approached the Innovation Centre because she needed help taking her daughter Cassidy to the supermarket. Cassidy wasn’t able to sit unsupported in the toddler trolley seats and pushing both the trolley and a wheelchair would have been extremely difficult.

Cassidy has cerebral palsy which makes sitting unaided very difficult for her and sitting in a standard trolley seat without any support would have been dangerous for her.

That’s when Dawn got in touch with the Innovation Centre team and they got straight to work with designing and producing the first prototypes. These were unsuccessful but the team were not phased and set to work creating the final prototype. This gave Cassidy plenty of support so she could sit upright in the trolley. They could finally shop easily and Cassidy could feel included.

As soon as word got out about the seat, the phones went crazy with people asking for similar products for their child! The team set up a small production line to try and keep up with demand but it was clear that the GoTo seat was going to be big!

That’s when Leckey physiotherapist, Laura Finney reached out to the team and soon the first Firefly GoToSeat became available!

The seat has gone on to help children all over the world, not just in shopping trolleys but in swings, at picnics and family parties. the list goes on and the possibilities are endless!

We are very proud to have bought the GoTo seat into existence and played a part in helping children with disabilities feel included.

Dawn told us her story in her own words:

If you have an issue that you think the Innovation Centre Team can help with, please get in touch.