1.1 Identifying Need
Detecting The Problem
Those with lessened fine motor control in their arms, hands, and shoulders have many obstacles to overcome in their daily lives. As those parts of the body are used very frequently, the simple acts that those with able bodies take for granted may present extreme challenges to those with disabilities. Arthritis is a common condition among elderly around the world. As it is likely that all people may experience some arthritis conditions at some point in their life, the product that we design could possibly help millions, if not billions, of people around the world.
Yet accessible instruments are not solely for those with arthritis. Anybody with a hindrance in their upper body control is able to benefit from personalized assistive devices. For example, many elderly have reduced flexibility. This makes their already bad situation worse. With painful and limited mobility, the world’s elderly population have to fight an uphill battle every day just to remain independent.
Our team focused on accessibility issues that impact those with hindered upper body movement, as is it a growing concern for our aging population. A grandmother of one of our teammates has voiced concerns about the strain of daily tasks on her body. Living alone, she also has no one else to help her with these tasks. Relatives that live close by are able to help on occasion, but are not there every day to help with daily tasks. Her situation, unfortunately, is not uncommon.
We have discovered some pre-existing products that are designed to simplify the task of dressing oneself. They are called clothing hooks and are typically a wire hook system on one side of a wooden dowel. We found the different kinds of clothing hooks to be relatively similar to each other, and have determined that their design does not help the user to the fullest extent possible. The youtube videos that demonstrated the usage of a clothing hook were done by those with typical finger dexterity and grip strength. Many with arthritis find it difficult to firmly grasp items with a tiny radius - especially one without a grip or guard to help the user maintain hold of the item. The tiny radius of a dowel would be hard to continually use, and we believe that there is a solution to this issue. Additionally, the long length of the clothing hook can make its usage unwieldy. A shorter or varied-length device would be capable of giving users more choice in how they wish to use their item.