• Handicapped but Successful
    Awake!—1988 | October 22

    • Adjusting the Environment

      To help disabled persons maximize their possibilities, basic adjustments can be made in their homes, their outdoor surroundings, and in their means of transportation. Some 500 million persons in the world are estimated to have a functional disability affecting movement, vision, or hearing. To make life more comfortable for them, the social-welfare authorities in many countries submit design guidelines to architects and designers. This has led to helpful adjustments that have benefited handicapped persons.

      Many who are handicapped have worked out ways to make life easier for themselves. Wheelchair users, for example, have seen to it that their homes are more convenient for them by having certain doors and thresholds removed, or by having door hinges moved to the opposite side. Some have had cabinets fixed on the wall at waist level, electric switches changed to the large rocker type, and electrical sockets positioned higher on the wall.

      A disabled person is sometimes the best inventor of his own aids. Bo, a young man in Sweden whose legs were paralyzed in a car accident, worked out how to make his wheelchair more comfortable and easier to maneuver. He constructed a wheelchair that even enabled him to climb stairs! Now he is working as a wheelchair designer at a local factory.

      However, it is usually wise that the need for physical effort not be eliminated. Otherwise a disabled person’s lack of exercise may lead to such problems as stiff knees, swollen legs, and weakened muscles. Thus, while using an electrically propelled wheelchair may be an excellent aid at times, using one’s own arms to power a wheelchair can give the muscles, heart, and lungs good exercise.

      A wheelchair should be as individually designed as possible. A person handy with tools can help in adjusting the seat, height, balance, weight, and function of it to best fit the user. “I have found that a wheelchair should be as narrow as possible to be practical,” says a young man after having completed a trip around the world on his own. He traveled by air, train, bus, and ship in an arm-propelled wheelchair.

      Dressing and undressing are often problems for the handicapped. Ready-made clothing is usually not designed for them. Siw, a middle-aged handicapped woman in Stockholm, Sweden, says that she finds it easier to wear a sleeveless cape instead of an ordinary coat. Also, she replaces buttons and zippers in skirts with elastic. In fact, the need for comfortable clothing that she can manage has turned Siw into a skilled stylist and dressmaker.

      Some simple adjustments may help one-handed persons or persons with weak arms and hands get along better in the kitchen. For example, fastening can and bottle openers to the wall will make them rigid and accessible. Driving stainless nails through a cutting board will help a handicapped person keep items such as a loaf of bread in place while slicing it. And a double suction disk can keep flat-bottomed pots and plates in place while the handicapped is beating and stirring ingredients in them.