Developing disability equipment- what do you need?

Krish_5

Hi Scope Community, my names Krishan and I'm a designer in the automotive, industrial and furniture world. It's always been my intention to use design to contribute to health care and disability equipment as from personal experience, while some get on just fine with the equipment they're provided (NHS being the standard kit?), some users do struggle without then having to pay large amounts for improvements or something more specialised.

I currently have some ideas I'm hoping to start with orthopaedic splints and wheelchairs, but I wanted to see if anyone has any real issues they're experiencing themselves or in daily life helping a loved one. It could be difficulties or a helpful improvement to the equipment you are currently using, or indeed an issue you wish there were a helpful solution to.

Please be as free thinking as you like and hopefully we can come up with something potentially very useful.

Kind regards,
Krishan
https://www.linkedin.com/in/krishan-parmar-0a891a8a/

northwestmum2

My son has a night splint and though it has a kind of coloured pattern on hes still not keen on it as hes just 15- if its not appealing kids/teens wont wear it.

Krish_5

Hi northwestmum2 thank you for the reply. This is one of the issues I've come across with splints, which extends to permanent users I've spoken to who feel slightly more conscious in summer wear (shorts/skirts etc) so is definitely something I'll begin work on.

It'd be good to find out the model he uses and your sons idea of a better splint? Maybe there's something in personalisation to feel more connected to it- less like a purely medical piece. Kind regards

JennysDad

Just saying hi, @Krish_5, and welcome. Kudos to you for looking into this.
I used to create 'personalised' learning resources for my then school's virtual learning environment, and found one of the biggest problems to be issues around copyright.
Again, kudos to you for looking into this.
Warmest best wishes,
@JennysDad