A national charity that provides bespoke, often ingenious, equipment for disabled people, Remap, held its annual awards ceremony near King’s Cross in London earlier today (27 June).
One of the winners was Nigel Barnicle, who received the Remap 50 award for building a ‘buggy-board’ that safely and securely attaches to the back of 15-year-old Tom’s tricycle. The teenager has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, and needed to strengthen his leg muscles after surgery. He loves being active, his parents said, but he was too fast on the three-wheeler and not safe to go off on his own. “He got on it and he was gone and they couldn’t keep up with him,” joked Remap CEO David Martin.
Inspiration from husky sleds initially sounded dangerous, said Barnicle, but he bought a £10 bike and borrowed some metal and put something together. The completed buggy-board can be easily fitted or removed, has a handrail for passengers and brakes that can be applied if needed. Tom’s parents can also push from the back to help get over slopes.
The device “encapsulates the ethos of Remap,” said Martin. “It’s about applying the ingenuity of engineers to improving the quality of life for disabled people.”
Tom’s mother said: “Now we can go off-road, we can go places we couldn’t before, and it’s just incredible. For Thomas it means freedom, it means independence, more independence than he could ever possibly have, and it’s been such an extraordinary process from start to finish.”
Other Remap panels around the country are reportedly interested in the design, as is a manufacturer.
‘A massive difference’
Other projects that resulted in awards for volunteers included the wheelchair turntable by Philip Watts, a volunteer inspired by his previous experience working on the railways. He built the device from wood and metal, using locally manufactured ball transfer units. The turntable rotates 90º towards a ramp, letting a daughter take her father out on his wheelchair. The device was credited with returning the man’s freedom, as his daughter previously needed other helpers to get him out of the tight terraced house.
One of the most inspiring creations was a voice amplifier for James, a young boy with paralysed vocal cords, meaning he could only speak very quietly. “Only a year ago, before we started this, he barely talked at school,” said his mother Ellen. “At home he would talk because we could hear him, but it was really frustrating, really difficult at school for him to communicate.”
To overcome the issue, volunteer Niall McCarroll designed and built a small custom-built microphone, pre-amplifier and speaker for James to wear on a belt. Much lighter than equivalent devices for adults, the voice amplifier means he can speak to people without straining his weak vocal cords.
“He couldn’t really communicate at all with friends… now, he chats and chats! It’s made a massive difference,” said his mother.
Making life worth living
Other projects included head-mounted binoculars for a keen birdwatcher without the use of her right hand, a baseball cap and strap for gardening neck support, a guide rail for visually-impaired bowlers and an electronic armband giving position alerts for a worker with cerebral palsy.
“So many of these seemingly quite simple things – not simple for me – make everyday life worth living, and enable people to have all the benefits that we all share,” said Denise Birkett from the Miller Centre Trust, who presented the award for the mounted binoculars.
Personalised aesthetics, as well as capabilities, are also a key aspect of Remap’s work. “I think what is so important in our work is that our volunteers get alongside the beneficiary and they ask them not just functionally – ‘What does this need to do for you and how is it best to work?’ – but also aesthetically – ‘How do you want it to look, and what colour?’ For the kid’s trike, it’s got to match, it’s got to look right,” Martin said to Professional Engineering. “You don’t want something that looks medical, and that’s a particular contribution that we can make. If you’re going to do it personal, let’s really do it properly.”
For more information about volunteering for Remap, click here.
Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.