Sally Gore

Multi-adjustable chairs for children with disabilities.

There is a growing demand that severely disabled children should be offered a normal-looking, comfortable alternative to highly supportive wheelchair seating to facilitate relaxation and social integration. An evaluation of five chairs, funded by Medical Devices Agency, an executive agency of the Department of Health, was undertaken with potential and actual users of these chairs to investigate the chairs function with respect to the childs posture, and what features were effective. Twenty-nine children tried five chairs for up to 30 min in each; and a postal survey received 100 responses. The chairs seem to meet many users postural needs (78% of postal survey; 31-72% of short-term evaluation depending on chair); the chairs adjustability and availability of special features are important in meeting the needs of this user group; evidence of poor design and its implications are discussed.

Evaluating equipment for people with disabilities: user and technical perspectives on basic commodes:

Disabled people often do not use the equipment supplied to them. Past work indicates that there are many reasons for this, including the low priority given to user views by the designers and manufacturers of such equipment. A number of different methodologies have been used to evaluate equipment. This paper describes an evaluation of basic commodes, a project funded by the Medical Devices Agency, Department of Health, in which both a user survey and technical tests were employed. A sample of 18 basic commodes, divided into four categories, was evaluated by 40 users, a questionnaire being administered to determine user views. A series of 13 technical tests was also carried out. The results showed that the preferred commodes as indicated by the users did not necessarily perform well in the technical tests, with at least one of the products having potentially serious design faults. It is suggested that users, therapists and engineers each have an essential contribution to make in the evaluation of equipment for disabled people.

An Evaluation of Kettle Tippers

The Disability Equipment Assessment Centre, Southampton, funded by the Medical Devices Directorate, Department of Health, which undertakes a rolling programme of equipment evaluation, has recently completed an evaluation which included kettle tippers. All commercially available kettle tippers (n=6) were evaluated by subjects (n=25) with impaired grip or mild tremor, following a standardised test procedure. The mechanical functioning of the tippers was also examined. A higher proportion of subjects experienced difficulty in pouring as the force required to do so was increased. A high proportion of subjects rated all tippers as stable, with the exception of the Sunflower tipper with a kettle filled to minimum capacity. The majority of subjects (88%) found using a kettle in conjunction with the tippers easier than using a kettle on its own, but important individual differences between the tippers are described.

Bracing the Fractured Femur

Out of 800 delegates at the W.F.O.T. Seventh International Congress in Jerusalem, approximately 80 were students. 9 countries in all were represented by students at various stages in their training. These were: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Israel, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, U.K., U.S.A. Apart from the chairman of the Students Symposium, who had been officially invited to the Congress, the students of the O.T. Training Centre, Edinburgh were, to my knowledge, the only association actually to raise funds in order to send a representative. All other students appeared to have financed themselves.