Published by admin on 17 Sep 2009 at 07:10 pm
Toyota Develops Wheelchair with Toilet Attached
Japan has come up with yet another innovative luxury for people who are stuck in a wheel chair–this time it is a wheel chair that comes equipped with a toilet. Designed as a piece of welfare support, not many of them can be found being handed out for free, however there are some on the market. The purpose of the wheel chair, developers say, is to give dignity and respect back to the elderly and disabled who would rely on others to lift them onto a toilet seat.
With a portable toilet, I would hope that the motorized wheel chair comes equipped with some method of waste removal and neutralizing the scent, because who honestly would want to carry that around with them? The concept is still fresh and innovative, though, and will be a large boon to the independance of disabled and elderly people if the wheel chairs become more widespread. A majority of users–those who cannot lift their own bodies with their own body strength–rely on automated accessories (ie: wheel chairs) to reach the toilet.
A study, taken for practical measures, was conducted in Hachinohe City to further research. Out of twenty-seven nursing care facilities that were asked to take part in the study, twenty-one facilities (with roughly one hundred participants in total) took part in the wheel chair’s further development. The aim of the study was to create a prototype based on the needs of the disabled and the elderly. Issues like hygiene standards and ease of use need to be addressed still before the wheel chair becomes more widespread on the market.
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