Design Within Reach

Well, I may be visually impaired, but I'm blessed with very good health, confirmed by the fact that I use no prescription medications. And three days a week I go to a fitness center for two hours or more. Until I started that regime a year ago, I would walk up to two miles a day. I had a career in occupational therapy for 44 years. I worked with physically handicapped patients, first of all, 20 years in the service, and then I saw how there was such a need for well-designed equipment. This prepared me for my next career that happened three decades later. For five years I was engaged as a conceptual designer. That's a term I coined for myself because I wanted to create a job for myself at IDEO, IDEO, a very well-recognized design engineering firm in Palo Alto. They took me on. I advised on equip products and services for the low vision and elder populations. And it soon became known that there was somebody in her 90s on the payroll at Silicon Valley. A woman at that. And this led to my being picked up by the media. And then I was invited of all places to the White House to speak at the conference on aging. And there my message to the people I spoke to was design with us, not for us. My recommendation to any designers here for these populations is to go and live in a senior residence for at least a week, preferably a month. And you will have a first hand view of what the spoken and unspoken needs are for that population. People who have mobility needs, who have loss of vision, loss of hearing, and loss of memory. For eight years I have lived in three different senior residences up to 185 units. And I've had a front row seat on seeing what the needs are of this population. I found what the needs were for mobility, for balance, for vision loss, hearing loss, and memory loss. And I have designed up to 30 pieces of equipment and clothing. Most notable, I tried to design airbags worn at the waist to prevent hip fractures and mitigate brain injuries. It didn't work. But my most vigorous attempt was to design a more dynamic walker that allowed for arm leg opposite arm leg normal gait patterns. Well, I've worked at it for years. It hasn't worked yet. My most consistent observation is the misuse, the premature use, and sometimes the inappropriate use of the walker. I believe that the use of the walker prevents good posture. It prevents arm leg opposite normal gait. And worse than that, they lean on it, put pressure on the arms, and may injure the shoulders. Instead, for my own use, for vision loss and safety in ambulation, I use adapted ski poles. And these I recommend for many reasons you will already know. Good posture, automatic arm leg movement, and good use of the hip muscles where the reflexes for balance are so important. I like to say, keep your ears over your hips, and your hips over your heels, and your less aptus st But nose over toes, you'll be in for a t I would Uber elders I define very clearly as someone 95 and beyond who is living a fulfilling life and a purposeful life. In the new book I'm writing, this is my fifth book, I'm writing a book and the title of it is, Healthy Aging Begins in Adolescence. And I'm dedicating it to Uber elders. I believe that healthy aging can be stay vertical and move forward with a sense of h Thank you very much.