 The Next Generation Perkins/APH Mechanical Braille Writer Braille, an essential communication system, needs communication devices to make it more usable and accessible. One such device is the Next Generation Perkins/APH Mechanical Braille Writer, designed and developed by the Perkins School for the Blind and American Printing House for the Blind.
In the end of the nineteenth century several different tactile reading and writing systems were in use. They depended on the slate and stylus, tools developed by Charles Barbier and Louis Braille. The slate and stylus allow for a quick and consistent method of embossing Braille writing.
David Abraham, a wood-working teacher at the Perkins School for the Blind, first produced the original Perkins Brailler, a Braille typewriter, in 1951. It has since been used in over 170 countries worldwide. A Braille typewriter has six keys, each corresponding to one of the six dots of the Braille code. It also has a backspace, a space key, and a line space key. Prior to the invention of this typewriter, it was relatively difficult and cumbersome to write Braille.
The Next Generation Perkins Brailler, developed in 2008, is more ergonomically designed, requiring less force to type. It is also smaller, lighter, and quieter. The redesign of the Brailler started with exhaustive international user research, among those who use and know the Brailler best. The product designers, along with engineers, questioned children, adults and teachers in the US, Malawi, South Africa and India, across all age groups. Through the research, they also gained other insights such as the need to erase a Braille error without scratching it out with your nail, or a wooden eraser. The ability to adjust the margins without reaching to the back of the machine was necessary. Users wanted to read what has just been brailled without supporting the page with one hand and reading with the other. It is more environmentally friendly, comes in fun colours, and is has tactile design elements.
The Next Generation Perkins/APH Mechanical Braille Writer is one of the forty-seven silver award winning ideas at the IDEA awards. You can read more about it’s new features here. Do see the video below, which explains the redesign.By Armeen Kapadia
 NuDrive in use NuDrive is the world's first lever-drive propulsion accessory for manual wheelchairs. The basis of this design was to increase independence for millions of wheelchair users, with greater ease and less strain on the body. Apparently, it reduces the force needed to self-propel by up to 40%. This product acknowledges the fact that physical restrictions can be seen as creative challenges.
The user can propel themselves both forwards and backwards, maneuver and brake by pushing the levers. There is no need to spin the wheel rims by hand. This improves both posture and shifts the load on the shoulders. It is hygenic. Hands would stay warm and dry and won't come into contact with the usual dirt from the pavement. It is even suitable for users suffering from arthritis as it requires no fingers or hand dexterity. NuDrive is designed so that it fits almost any manual wheelchair with 24 inch metal spoked wheels in seconds.
Users who have owned NuDrive have had positive reactions. It is a lot easier to get up slopes, posture is usually straight and there is much less strain. The power behind each stroke is maximized. It has also helped tackle more difficult or uneven terrains. Now with NuDrive, the user can brake easily and avoid nasty clashes.
The system was conceived by Robert Orford when he was just 19. Robert came up with this idea while doing work with a disability group. He was encouraged by the fact that his idea could be useful when he saw his friend Emily using it. He won the Young Designer of the Year Award for his design. He founded Pure Global Ltd when he was 20. He has since raised more than £1 million to develop NuDrive and bring it to market. He developed the system in association with London Associates and the Aspire Centre for Disability Sciences at the Royal National Orthopedic Hospital. It costs £349.
If you are interested in knowing how it works, read this paper.
By Sanjay Basavaraju
 The Ironing Board Mirror Enabled by Design is a site that’s “all about people powered products”. Enabled by Design is a community concerned with finding ways to transform equipment for people with disabilities, by making it more useful, aesthetically pleasing, and funky. Why should the image of assistive equipment be boring and drab?
Enabled by Design was started by Denise Stephens, a 30 year-old who suffered from multiple sclerosis. "It's about removing the stigmatising image of assistive equipment and encouraging designers to adopt the concept of inclusive design," she explains. "I feel very much that the disabled community are put in a box. Things are designed and produced, and then you get the disabled community saying: 'We can't use it.' They try to retrofit the equipment to people. Why not take that into consideration during the design process?" It is also an attempt to turn on its head, "the uninspiring one-size-fits-all approach to assistive equipment.
When Denise was in her early twenties, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. This condition would alter the whole course of her life, as she says, “You almost feel like an alien in your own life.” You can’t do the things you once did. With multiple sclerosis, came periodic relapses, extreme pain, constant visits to the hospital and fatigue. She could no longer hold a full-time, or even a part-time job, though she struggled to for a long time.
She was given assistive equipment, which she says was great as it helped her do things around the house and function normally. However, every time friends came over she would hide the equipment, and she realized this wasn’t right. Her growing concern was that people with disabilities were missing out on good design aesthetics. She felt that the designs for the disabled look 50 years outdated, and unchanged. The equipment could be fun and inspiring, besides being practical. She started Enabled by Design with the help of a friend, Dominic Campbell, who later became a partner.
Enabled by Design has three section, Loves and Hates, where you can rate products, Ideas Factory, where you can say how you would like to improve things, and Product Reviews. Some things featured on the site, such as the Etac Relieve Angled Carving Knife are amazing simple innovations, where slight changes in the product can result in major improvements in a person’s life. Similar are the Electric Heat Pads which are like hot water bottles that wrap around painful joints. The Ironing Board Mirror is space saving, and useful to anyone. The Lifestyle Bath makes bathing much easier for the disabled, or the elderly. The website encourages a sort of ‘open-source’ design, where users can rate the designs, and post suggestions and ideas.
Enabled by Design is a winner at the Social Innovation Camp 2008. As the founder Denise says: "I would love it to be the case where inclusive design becomes the basic design for all products that are manufactured, because that would completely mainstream disability."
By Armeen Kapadia
 Nissan's aging suit Nissan motors is thinking for the future. After 25 years, there will be more elderly citizens driving cars. The problem is that most designers working directly on car design are young. To simulate what it is like to be a 70-year-old person, designers are donning an 'aging suit'. The suit gives designers the mobility and faculties of a driver twice their age.
IDEO feels enacting and role-playing are active sources for insights. They have been doing it for many years. To see a big corporation such as Nissan adopting such an approach is encouraging. Nissan's interaction design team is making an effort to make future car interiors easier to understand and more comfortable to use. Nissan has understood that feelings — emotional responses to what people see, touch, hear and smell in a car — are critical for the design to succeed.
It is challenging to analyze and quantify feelings, which is inherently subjective. Nissan feels that observation can lead to insights. Designers spend hours looking for uncomfortable interactions as people use their cars. The special suit limits movement of elbows, wrists, knees and ankles. Special goggles are worn to simulate worsening eyesight while testing the legibility of markings on switches.
Nissan's Interaction Design team was started a few years ago to ensure logic and simplicity in their design. The interaction team is working with other teams in Design, Engineering, Product Planning, Marketing, Sales and Purchasing.
The motto of the interaction team is to keep surprises as low as possible by making the interiors as familiar as possible. Everything should be understandable and reassuring for elderly citizens without needing to refer to the manual.
In India, Interaction design is commonly looked at as something to do with the computer screen, and nothing beyond that. The aspect of interaction is in all aspects of life, and is crucial in all design disciplines.
By Sanjay Basavaraju
 Mahmoud Mujahed at work One of the main difficulties faced by disabled people is while using public transport. The transportation system and often people too, are not sensitive to the problems faced by them. A disabled Palestinian man, fed up with having to wait for taxis, built his own electric car.
Mahmoud Mujahed, 64, has had severe knee injuries, and can only walk with the help of crutches. His disability forced him to give up work. Unable to afford taxis, he built his own electric car. It took him two weeks to build the car, which works on a 12 volt battery, and the help of a computer system. It can reach speeds of up to 80 miles an hour, and has 20 horsepower. Mujahed says, "Because I don’t work, I don’t have money to pay for transport. I thought I would make a car with three wheels.” The first car he built was too slow, but a friend, Abdul Sultan, suggested he make the car in this style, and it worked. “This is different to any other car and I don't think anybody has done anything like that before. Firstly we can say it's environmentally friendly because it operates on batteries".
Necessity is the mother of invention. Faced with difficulties, people are known to do the seemingly impossible, or very difficult, to overcome their problems. The human creative power knows no limits, as Mahmoud Mujahed proves. It probably goes back to the early days of humankind, when people created the first tools to help them in their work. From making the first spade, to building a car, it is this unique ability of humans that separates us from the animal kingdom. Although some animals have highly evolved problem solving and tool-making capabilities, in humans this ability has developed to a very great degree.
Mahmoud Mujahed hopes the Palestinian government, or an organization, will help take this invention to many others like him, as it can benefit millions of people worldwide.
By Armeen Kapadia
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