Solving problems and making gadgets! Remap – the charity fairy godmother! — Scope | Disability forum
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Solving problems and making gadgets! Remap – the charity fairy godmother!

Sam_Alumni
Sam_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,671 Disability Gamechanger

Remap is a national charity that build custom made gadgets and find solutions that help disabled people be more independent. They help disabled people achieve independence and a better quality of life by designing and making equipment for their individual needs. The equipment is given completely free of charge so the service is accessible to everyone.

One person who used Remap to solve a problem is Sarah Stone, Sarah is a motivational specialist who has Cerebral Palsy.

Cerebral Palsy affects her core muscles. When sitting, she tends to lean heavily on her left arm, causing a lot of pressure on her shoulder.

She had been looking for a solution for years and then got in touch with Remap to see if they could help. She asked them if they could develop a piece of equipment that would alert her when she was leaning a lot, reminding her to adjust her posture. She was connected with engineer Akshaya Ahaja and they worked together to come up with a solution.

sarah stone sat at a desk on a computer

Akshaya studied mechanical engineering at imperial college, whilst studying he wanted a real-world application for his studies to practice his own skills and make a difference. His employers allow use of equipment and workshops out of hours for engineers to build whatever they want.

He got in touch with Sarah to find out what she needed and then brain stormed ideas to come up with a solution, after visiting her at home and talking through her needs and wants he said:

“She didn’t want something that would force her into an upright position, what she wanted was something that would encourage her, or annoy her enough that she would sit up herself”

He went on to develop a lightweight, rechargeable electronic armband for her, which produces a sound when it detects that she is leaning continuously with a pressure above a certain threshold for longer than five seconds. The settings can be changed to gradually improve her posture and this should lead to her developing core strength and other aspects of general health. You can watch the video here:

https://youtu.be/EcqiCN2JHxQ

Remap work with disabled people to find solutions to all problems, both large and small. From something like Sarah’s gadget all the way through to supporting a wheelchair user to get to the top of Mount Snowden!

If you would like to find out more about Remap then head over to the website and we are lucky to have @DavidM from Remap here on the community, so you can ask him questions on this post.

What problem in your life would you like to find a solution to? Let us know.


Scope
Senior online community officer

Comments

  • April2018mom
    April2018mom Posts: 2,882 Disability Gamechanger
    My question is how do you keep a wheelchair clean on the beach? I tried wiping it down afterwards with a clean cloth. My son has a manual one. A plastic covering is not very practical either.
    If you have any other suggestions, I will be grateful to read them! Thanks in advance! 
  • Ails
    Ails Community member Posts: 2,256 Disability Gamechanger
    This is a really good post which highlights the great work that Remap do.  My husband volunteered with them for a while in-between jobs as he is good at creating things from wood and has made a few items to help me, so this organisation was right up his street.  Visiting people in their homes along with an O.T. and seeing how simple inventions could help so many really gave him a lot of satisfaction.  Glad to hear that such a great piece of machinery has helped Sarah so much.     :)
    Winner of the Scope New Volunteer Award 2019.   :)
  • emmarenshaw
    emmarenshaw Community member Posts: 710 Pioneering
    What an insightful and informative post. I’m so glad Remap were able to help Sarah solutions like these are so important.
  • DavidM
    DavidM Community member Posts: 20 Courageous
    My question is how do you keep a wheelchair clean on the beach? I tried wiping it down afterwards with a clean cloth. My son has a manual one. A plastic covering is not very practical either.
    If you have any other suggestions, I will be grateful to read them! Thanks in advance! 
    What a brilliant challenge for us at Remap! Can I put you in touch with one of our groups to see if they can come up with something? Or you could visit https://www.remap.org.uk/contact-remap/ and put in your postcode to find the nearest group.
  • April2018mom
    April2018mom Posts: 2,882 Disability Gamechanger
    DavidM said:
    My question is how do you keep a wheelchair clean on the beach? I tried wiping it down afterwards with a clean cloth. My son has a manual one. A plastic covering is not very practical either.
    If you have any other suggestions, I will be grateful to read them! Thanks in advance! 
    What a brilliant challenge for us at Remap! Can I put you in touch with one of our groups to see if they can come up with something? Or you could visit https://www.remap.org.uk/contact-remap/ and put in your postcode to find the nearest group.
    Thank you!
  • dancinggaye
    dancinggaye Community member Posts: 3 Listener
    I have just written to REMAP to ask for help with my position at my desk and sitting as I have a similar problem with my posture as I slump and my neck crushes my nerves which causes spasms, asI have hyper-mobility joint syndrome and borderline EDS. I am very excited to find this site as I would like to work more at my desk and study a Research MA. I have had to put it off yet again due to my disability assessment fro university not being able to help me. I also stopped my previous Masters degree due to this problem. It has been 6 years living with this since an accident so I would love to be able to move on and develop a new career as a researcher. Here is hoping. 
  • dancinggaye
    dancinggaye Community member Posts: 3 Listener
    I have tried Dragon naturally speaking, and all kinds of software and I did nott geton with it. I prefer to correct my posture and strengthen my core to sit better at my desk and work more efficiently with my posture. Thank you 
  • Philip
    Philip Community member Posts: 34 Courageous
    edited September 2019
    What would make my life easier is an electric wheelchair, not a scooter, a wheelchair, a lightweight one, so I can take out the battery, fold up the wheelchair & put it in the car, also it has to be lightweight to get it into my house as well. It would make all the difference to me & to my wife.
  • dark666moonlight
    dark666moonlight Community member Posts: 7 Listener
    with my cerebal palsy i have schlosis and other disabilities another five so far.i am lucky i live in accomdation to help disabled people live independently. but i still struggle with mine.as i have onle one arm thatc  works well . i taught myself use one with one arm mostly
  • dark666moonlight
    dark666moonlight Community member Posts: 7 Listener
    my typing still slips sometimes sorry
  • richardg
    richardg Community member Posts: 19 Connected
    hi I need a good light as I am partially sighted and  see with an ordinary light is not much good any suggestions please
  • DavidM
    DavidM Community member Posts: 20 Courageous
    Thank you all for ideas and requests (sorry for the delay, I've been on holiday!).
    If you've not found it, visit https://www.remap.org.uk/contact-remap/ to find your nearest Remap group.

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