Darren Lomman

DREAMFIT Foundation began when Darren Lomman, then a 19-year-old engineering student at UWA, met Shane, a paraplegic, who told him his one wish was to ride a motorcycle again. Mr Lomman, a motorcycle enthusiast, undertook the challenge and designed a hand-controlled motorcycle that was successfully approved for the road in 2006. The resulting media coverage led to hundreds of people with disabilities asking Mr Lomman to help them reach their dreams. The not-for-profit organisation now has 10 paid staff and 150 volunteers including designers, engineers, occupational therapists and dream coordinators, who meet with clients and ask them about their dreams, challenges and frustrations. A solution is then identified and customised or, if an existing solution can’t be found, created. National expansion is on the agenda for 2014, with a satellite workshop planned for NSW. Dreamfit has also started the process of manufacturing its custom solutions to export on a global basis. Mr Lomman was named Australian biomedical engineer of the year in 2005 after his one-and-only academic paper was published in a biomedical engineering journal. He has also been named WA Young Australian of the Year, WA Young Person of the Year, WA Citizen of the Year (Youth) and has won numerous other awards. He stepped down as head of Dreamfit in August 2016.