ENVIRONMENT DESIGN FOR THE MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED

BY

JACOB WAISWA
DISHMA INC.
P.O. BOX 8885,
KAMPALA-UGANDA
WWW.SITUATIONHEALTHANALYSIS.BLOGSPOT.COM
WAISWAJACOBO@YAHOO.CO.UK

Distributors of the original manual wheel chairs did not make prior inquiries about nature of physical disability, injury or infection-causing disability. They distribute wheel chairs –regardless of their incompatible.

This contributes to more co-morbid cases –more deformations or defects than the already existing medical case of disability. The spine-cords and the back bone can get abnormally postured due to incompatibility of wheel-chair with the shape, comfort needs and size of the disabled person.

Care involves lifting the heavy disabled person on and off of the wheel chair at some point, care takers and most family member’s experienced burnt-out syndrome –sometimes leading to rejection and abandonment of the disabled children or persons. That renders them helpless as no one else helps them out to use toilet or bathroom –which increases infection on another hand.

The impoverished family members cannot afford meeting the necessary resources to access special education, to acquire accommodation space enough for rehabilitation exercises and facilities that enhance proper hygiene and sanitation, like appropriate toilet and bath place.

As a result, it also increases the risk of infection related to poor hygiene and/or improper disposal of waste “products,” and above all, they were left to sit stationary, which -with time affects locomotion in the limbs as arms and limbs rigidity ensues.

It is anticipated that the creation of the multipurpose wheel chair will not only create a big sigh of relief for families and caretakers, but it would also increase and sustain hope of disabled-persons living a more fulfilling and productive life.

They, for example, would be able to roll of the multipurpose wheel-chair onto the normal sleeping bed, adjust the back-rest to a rest bed when fatigued and conform-ably sleep -as though on the normal bed.

With the three bottom support-seat layers, he or she would be in position to use the top layer for official purposes –as to go to school, make visits, and to socialize or play, while the last layer would have a potty or toilet provision and bathing safety and support seat structured in a way that drains out water as the disabled persons bathes.

The product can be cheaply produced using local resources and donated to rehabilitation projects twice a year. The multipurpose wheel-chair, also, would help the disabled person pursue are physical developmental activities like washing, helping out in the job, brush his or her teeth, arts and crafts, support socialization, attend school with confidence and with far lessened burden to care-takers.

The multipurpose design would ease the development of the disabled person –mentally, physical, (able to do basic self-help ventures as going to bed, toilet, bathroom, being able to change clothes, economic (attend to economic endeavors as selling items, crafts making, for career development and the confidence to try and succeed in all ventures of life), and relief caretakers and families from the stress of physically lifting off and one the disabled person from the wheel-chair, and have the disabled person enjoy sustained hope and love from his or her family.

A lot of existing wheel-chair technologies would help fastens the development of the multipurpose wheel-chair. Much of the old wheel-chair components not indicated here could be used as well, for example, the brakes and others -which obviously must constitute the new design.

The multipurpose wheel-chair design would be presented hand-in-hand with an environment-fit design for the disabled-persons, supportive community linkages –as to and from policy makers, or have the design integrated into the usual environment systems of social interaction.

Such supportive systemic elements eventually enables disabled person to attain basic education, to have decent housing, to have love and respect, to access medical care, to get applied life skills training, attend rehabilitation workouts, and access to new technological advancements that improve their lives further. Such is a model other helpless physically or mentally handicapped children can benefit from as the project grows.