Düsseldorf, 14 September 2026 – Coming together to talk about barriers, medical aids, prejudices, visibility, family, work, mobility and independent living. Above all, however, they speak from experience: At REHACARE 2026 community creators, activists as well as voices from the disability community become the trade fair’s key sources of impulse.
From 23 to 26 September REHACARE in Düsseldorf will bring together people involved in rehabilitation, prevention, inclusion and nursing care. These include companies, associations, politicians, care practitioners and specialist retailers, but increasingly also those this is essentially all about: people with impairments, chronic conditions and their relatives.
Under the guiding theme “Independent Living” REHACARE will show what inclusion means in concrete terms revolving not only around products, technologies and care solutions. It will also address the question of how people can live, work, travel, care for themselves, become visible and shape their own everyday lives.
“REHACARE is the platform where innovation, care and the human perspective come together. Especially voices from the community reveal what is ultimately at stake here: mobility, everyday routines, inclusion and an independent life,” says Hannes Niemann, Director REHACARE International.
A central new meeting point is the Community Hub by X Carstens and REHACARE in Hall 7. Here the assistive technology and disability community will be given a dedicated stage for all four trade fair days. Around 20 creators as well as influencers from the community will be present. They will read, discuss, tell stories, moderate, answer questions and meet with the people who would normally follow them on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube.
This means that digital visibility will turn into real-life encounters. People who speak online about their everyday lives with disabilities, about medical aids, barriers, body images, family, care, mobility or rights can be experienced in person at REHACARE. They are experts in their own right and provide exposure for what is often overlooked in the typical expert debate: the everyday perspective.
The Community Hub programme will feature personal stories, talks, roundtables, readings, entertainment and Meet & Greet opportunities. The protagonists will include actor, comedian and moderator Tan Caglar (@tan_caglar), author and creator Hülya Marquardt (@huelya_dennis) as well as Wioletta Wyrwol, known as “The One-Armed Lioness” (@wioletta.wyr). They all represent different life journeys, experiences and topics within the community.
Likewise, the REHACARE Report 2026 shifts the perspective of persons concerned centrestage. On 23 September REHACARE will present results from the report on the provision of medical aids in Germany. Under the guiding theme “Support System or Savings System?” voices from the community, public, care and stakeholder associations will discuss what quality provision of medical aids has to deliver in everyday life.
This media and community debate will be facilitated by Sabrina Lorenz (@fragmentsofliving), activist and podcaster. Panellists include André Dietz (@andredietz), actor and author, Moritz Brückner (@moritzbrueckner), para-athlete, speaker and community ambassador, Kirsten Abel, Secretary General of the health-policy initiative “Wir versorgen Deutschland” as well as Barbara Kleinow, board member of BAG SELBSTHILFE.
On Friday, Tanja Kollodzieyski, known as “Rollifraeulein” (Miss Wheely) on Instagram (@rollifraeulein), will speak together with Dr. Monika Rosenbaum from the “NetzwerkBüro Frauen und Mädchen mit Behinderung/chronischer Erkrankung NRW” (NetworkOffice Women and Girls with Disability/Chronic Condition North Rhine-Westphalia) about the opportunities and limits of AI for women with impairments under the title “Hey AI, make everything inclusive!”.
