#inventability

This is a new series where we feature a great website you should check out. We’ll feature a mix of ‘disabled world’ sites and hackability sites. Hacking is a general design principle, and it’s also a grassroots movement made up of many types of people who find and figure out and cobble together stuff to make the world work better.

Today we feature:

One Switch

It is what it says: a collection of resources for people who use one switch. This is an AMAZING site for people who are severely physically disabled. It can be a little hard to read because of the styling, but it’s totally worth it.

From their About page:

I chose the name OneSwitch, as a lot of disabled people I worked for found it easier to control devices using just one disability standard switch. These are simple on/off push button switches that connect to adapted equipment by plugging them into a headphone-style socket.

For example - a Playstation 2 can be used to stop/start music CDs and DVD films. The standard Playstation controller is too small and fiddly for many to use, but with an adapted Playstation controller and a remote switch it’s no longer a problem. This kind of equipment is often called assistive technology or enabling equipment.

For gamers, the SwitchGaming blog covers loads of news and tips for gaming with a single switch input, and it’s been going a decade, so there’s a massive wealth of information and resources built up there.

The Ideas section covers all kinds of actual STUFF YOU CAN DO with one switch: gaming, art, music, etc, but that’s a little sparse compared to the real gold on this website: the DIY section, which is an absolute gold mine of incredible step by step guides to hacking all kinds of electronic equipment to work with one switch, including adapting commercial products to act as switch interfaces and loads more.

Featured Post: One switch to take photos and short videos.

Notes:

This is from my old laptop, so the shell pictured is a Speck Hardshell case. It’s a great case and I recommend it, but on my new laptop I am using a TopiDeal case, which is a lot cheaper (1/3 of the price) and seems just as good to me. This one I have now is rubberised; the smooth case (crystal) might make a better/sturdier bond with the perspex.

Nowadays I use a steelie mount, which might suit you better.

When thinking about how to accomplish a task independently of able-bodied people, I find it helpful to go about it in a physics-based first principles sort of way. That is, go right back to first principles and think what is the ultimate aim of what I’m trying to achieve, what is it that I want to actually happen. This is very different from how you go about accomplishing the action and it’s very important to separate the two.

Here’s an example:

Stuart doesn’t like sitting in the dark. Stuart is quadriplegic. Stuart would like to have the light on at night.

Now, a traditional accessibility approach would be to give you a pokey stick and maybe some kind of harness so you could grasp the stick in your mouth, reach over and poke the light switch with your stick. It’s replacing the hand with a stick. This is clearly rubbish and a solution born out of viewing the world through an able-bodied paradigm: because able-bodied people use light switches, then the accessible thing to do is to make it so I can use a light switch… right?

Nope, the goal here is to turn the light on.

The light switch is the method. It is not the goal. Pressing the button, pulling the handle, turning the switch… it’s all just sending a message; it’s information communicated by a hand. But you don’t need hands. You can send that message in lots of ways. When I want to turn off my office light I say the words “Alexa, turn the office light off” and if I want the office lights to come on I say “Alexa, turn the office light on”. Simple.

To speak to the lights involves an Internet connected light bulb, a website that connects up devices and services, and a smart little microphone which recognises what I say and acts upon it.

This is just one way of solving this problem. Actually mostly my lights sort themselves out. (They are scheduled to come on in the evening and they turn themselves off when it’s bright outside and so on.) There are plenty of ways of solving it for plenty of different levels of disability and you know what, you don’t even have to be disabled to do this sort of stuff. We need to stop dividing up approaches between “disabled” and “able”. It doesn’t help disabled people. We are left with the same old poky stick while people with perfectly functioning arms and legs are merrily voice-texting with Siri and turning their lights on with Amazon Alexa.

So there it is, don’t get the goal and the process confused; think about what it is you want to achieve first rather than how you’re going to achieve it. We don’t need no stinking light switches!

This is a new series where we feature a great website you should check out. We’ll feature a mix of disabled world sites and hackability sites. Hacking is a general design principle, and it’s also a grassroots movement made up of many types of people who find and figure out and cobble together stuff to make the world work better.

Today we feature:

Hackaday

It sounds like a childrens tv programme from the 1980s but it is in fact a fantastic hub of creative hardware engineering that everyone should dip into. It’s full of ideas, help, encouragement and entertainment. I’m totally inspired by Hackaday.

From their About page:

Hackaday serves up Fresh Hacks Every Day from around the Internet. Our playful posts are the gold-standard in entertainment for engineers and engineering enthusiasts.

We are taking back the term “Hacking” which has been soured in the public mind. Hacking is an art form that uses something in a way in which it was not originally intended. This highly creative activity can be highly technical, simply clever, or both. Hackers bask in the glory of building it instead of buying it, repairing it rather than trashing it, and raiding their junk bins for new projects every time they can steal a few moments away.

Our front page is a mix of hacks from around the community as well as our own original content. We strive to promote the free and open exchange of ideas and information. We educate those just learning the art of Hack, and provide inspiration for the seasoned veterans. Don’t be shy; if you want to show off your project, or have found something cool of someone else’s that deserves sharing, send us a link!

But don’t just read Hackaday — you should delve deeper into the community. Document your work on our hosting site at Hackaday.io. Tell the world about your interests and show off the stuff you’ve already built. Start a build log for that project you’ve been dreaming of recently. Make some friends and collaborate with them on a project. Get lost digging through mountains of gnarly hacks.

Featured Post: Ignored Disabled Man Builds His Own Damn Elevator