The pains of using a wheelchair whilst shopping

Hi All

I’m currently enrolled on a product design degree, and in this final year I have decided to create a product that improves the lives of disabled people.

It would be extremely valuable if you could have a go at my questionnaire. Its just a few questions and it should be attached to this post.

Alternatively please could you share with me some instances where you felt: let down by the effectiveness of any disabled products; dissatisfied with facilities provided by supermarkets (particularly using a shopping trolley); a product improved your standard of living. Any comment or idea you have will really appreciated and will help to start developing a concept.

Thank you

0 members like this

Attachments:

Questionnaire.docx, 93 KB

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Angela Cavill-burch on November 8, 2013 at 14:29

Re Wheelchair products : many wheelchairs are designed with sharp edges and points where a disabled person can hurt themselves or their carers. Examples, leg lifters with levers that stick out, curb climbers catching ones heels, head rest posts that stick out at thorax level endangering carer, push handles at wrong heights, foot rests made out of thin sharp edged steel. Wheelchairs that do not recline back far enough. Bad design is rife in this industry. We have a wav-evolution car which looks like a great design until you use it with a severely disabled person, not having a passenger door that you can separately open to get access to the persons legs is a pain, securing system that means crawling all over the disabled person to hook up and unhook.

Lack of accessibility out and about is the norm. Restaurants that do not think about access to their tables by people in wheelchairs, height and design problems. Brand new opticians that make no accommodation to using their testing equipment by those in wheelchairs. Stores that block up their walkways with temporary sales items. Supermarkets that get loads of restocking stuff out blocking walkways etc. Stores like sports direct that cram so much stuff in that wheelchair users feel claustrophobic in their stores. I could go on forever.