Watch: Nyle DiMarco reminds voters what’s at stake on election day for people with disabilities

Accessible Toilets in Japan

Found this interesting post about what to expect in Japan! 

(Reblogged from Accessible Japan)

“When traveling in another country (or even your own!), what to do when the call of nature strikes is an issue whether you are disabled or not.  However, for those with disabilities it can be even more stressful of an issue than for others as there are far more regular washrooms in the world than accessible ones.  In comparison to many other countries, Japan certainly gets it right in making wheelchair accessible toilets usable and numerous.

In my native Canada, there is generally a toilet stall at the back of the washroom for wheelchair users.  Unfortunately, it is often just big enough for a wheelchair and doesn’t account for personal care workers or transfers.  Additionally, if the person assisting you is of the opposite sex, it can be difficult to decide which toilet to use – men’s or women’s.

Japan has an excellent answer to this – the 多目的トイレ (tamokuteki toire, “multipurpose toilet”), also called a 誰でもトイレ (daredemo toire, “everyone/anyone tolet”).

Instead of being located near the back of one of the public toilets, these accessible toilets are either placed between the men’s and women’s toilets or just inside.  Occasionally, it may be only on the woman’s side, but not far enough in to create an awkward situations. They are designed not just for people with disabilities, but also for seniors and mothers with young children.  As such, they typically adhere to the following concept:

wide enough to adequately allow strollers and wheelchairs to enter in addition to caregivers, equipped with handrails, diaper changing board, baby chair, sinks for cleaning ostmate bags, and emergency call buttons

These toilets are also readily available.  In case of a pinch, your safest bet is to find the nearest train or subway station (which are plentiful in Japan!) as a majority of stations are equipped with accessible toilets.  They can also be easily found at tourist attractions, public buildings, department stores, larger supermarkets and even in parks.  There is even one on the bullet train!

Of course, nothing is perfect. While the above gives a general description of an accessible washroom, aside from the space criteria they can vary widely.  Of particular concern to people with balance issues, many toilets do not have a tank or backrest to lean on. The second problem may arise from the naming choice.  Everyone/anyone toilet linguistically suggests, well, anyone can use it.  While  most people are understanding, you may occasionally need to wait while an able-bodied girl fixes her make-up or guy changes from his suit.

On a final note, many of these toilets in Japan have automatic door openers – a green button to open, and a red one to close the door.  There are buttons inside and outside the washroom.  The one outside just opens and closes the door, whereas the close button inside will also lock the door.  Sometimes people press the outside close button while entering (thus leaving the door unlocked). The bigger problem can occur when someone is leaving.  As the buttons inside the toilet are often near the door, sometimes people close the door using the button inside the toilet as they leave – meaning the toilet locks with no one in it and making it unusable until a staff member opens it.”

6 Amazing 3D-Printed Body Parts That Changed Patients’ Lives

There’s been a lot of hype around 3D printing, but its applications in medicine are real.Advances in “additive manufacturing” – the industrial version of 3D printing – are being applied toward federally approved medical devices, and have enabled surgeons from Scotland to Chicago to inexpensively visualize medical procedures before performing them. But that’s far from all: Doctors are also crafting personalized bones and joints for their patients. 

Chaotic Moon

Whether you choose the Fitbit, Garmin, Jawbone or the fancy, new Apple watch, there are plenty of ways to track your movement. That is, as long as you’re using your legs. 

Tyler Hively is a content strategist at Chaotic Moon, a software engineering company out of Austin, Texas. He’s also in a wheelchair. After chatting with his sister – who also happens to be an occupational therapist – about the popularity of fitness trackers they realized that there wasn’t a tracker on the market for wheelchair users. Hively decided to pitch the idea to his company and Freewheel was born.  

Freewheel was created by a team of hardware and software developers who worked in consultation with an interaction designer and Hively. 

Using a device that is attached to the wheelchair, the tracker can measure speed, acceleration, distance, altitude, incline and decline. Bluetooth technology then aggregates that info into an app much like many other fitness trackers on the market. To capture heart rate, a wearable device like a smart watch can be used to feed data into the app. 

“Freewheel’s potential is limitless,” Chaotic Moon CEO Ben Lamm says on the company’s website, “and we envision the project developing into a global platform with future applications we haven’t yet imagined.”

Though an exact release date has not been announced, Digital Trends reported that patents were in order and after a few more tweaks over the next few months, the company plans to release Freewheel globally. 

Like Opal:

 and Samson:

These revolutionary digital ear plugs just raised $250,000 on Kickstarter in 3 days 

These are used with people who can’t grip well: 

This is for Parkinsons’s: 

For people who can’t even bend their joints: 

Here’s a product that guides your hand from your plate to your mouth 

This one holds a sandwich 

Like I get it. I used to see things like the fork and think “that’s fuckin’ lazy” or that product that holds a gallon and you just tip it and pour. But then I started working around the disabled and impaired and found out that these products aren’t meant for lazy people, they’re meant for people who need help.