Our Posts

Saturday 14 November 2015

OUR INSPIRATION

We have chosen Disability access as our focus area. Sammy has a young Nephew (Alfie Richards) who requires a wheelchair 6+ hours a day. This makes everyday tasks considerably more time consuming and complicated for not only Alfie but his parents too. Sammy's sister (Emma Richards) has provided the team with valuable insight into her day to day life, the structure in place, the complications and the effects that happen as a result. The following images taken, show how Emma gets both Alfie and his wheelchair in and out of the car. 





























Left: Exterior view of hatch door at the rear of the vehicle, this is where the user can access the ramp.
Right: Wheelchair restrains switch- Allows the user to restrict the retraction of support straps. 





Left: Wheelchair restraint straps at the rear end of the vehicle.
Right: Rear ramp extended. Alfie Richards in his wheelchair, with front wheelchair restraint straps attached. 



Left: Full view of the lowered floor, with all wheelchair restraints in the rear of the vehicle.
Right: Alfie in his wheelchair being pushed up the ramp into the vehicle.


Left: Left hand wheelchair restraints.
Right: Right hand wheelchair restraints.


























Left: Front wheelchair constraints fully retracted and secured. 
Right: Rear wheelchair restraints attached to wheelchair and extended.



Left: Alfie in Wheelchair, fully secured ready for transit.
Right: Rear ramp folded up in away position. 





























Left: Alfie fully secured in his wheelchair in the back of the vehicle.
Right: Position of wheelchair relative to front seats. There is very restricted access to Alfie while he is in the vehicle. This is dangerous as Alfie's mum has no way to quickly access alfie if and complications arise during the journey.



After our initial focused research in our area, we have found that current systems available are alienating to the user and restrict access to the disabled person while in transit. Looking at the existing methods in the area of access during transit, ingress and egress specifically, we have found many areas that could be improved and developed to benefit both the parents/ carers and the child/ disabled person.