First Meeting
We started by introducing ourselves and our goals: the team, Alisha Sarang-Sieminski (an Olin Bio Professor) and I, hope to practice User Oriented Design for One in the Mobility Space, and T hopes to enlist some engineers/designers to help him with his well founded anxieties around falling.
A little background: Because of spinal cancer T has and artificial lumbar as well as much lowered strength and dexterity in his legs especially his left. T has always been really athletic, a cyclist and very outdoorsy. After strenuous Physical therapy T can now use a bicycle again and likes to go on solo walks with his single cane called a Canadian Crutch, but in both cases T fears that if they fall in a secluded spot, they wont be able to get back up alone.
Next we all got on the ground and experimented with how we get up. What tools and muscle groups do we use and where would help be useful. We note that T can get up independently from a seat in a chair, although not from the ground.
The braces that T uses to keep the angle of their ankle, to prevent dragging.
The specialized end of the Canadian crutch. Having a can now on only one side makes T feel even more vulnerable to fall the other way.
