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I will keep an eye out for curved "flatware." I hope handle is bulkier as well as curved. Further to DOORKNOBS: It strikes me that this is a political and awareness problem, not too much less important to ACCESS than wheelchair ramps and wheelchair-width doors. If you can't readily open a door, you don't have access. My mother, the Parkinsonian, recently moved to a nursing home. It is recommended that they keep the door to room closed when leaving for the dining room, etc., since some residents wander. But her hands are weak now (ah, this woman who used t have a grip of steel), and, especially from the angle of her wheelchair, she cannot open the (unlocked but closed) door to her room. My theory is that all designers are 6-foot, 175-pound, muscular males, who have no conception of the problems their products present to smaller, weaker people. I am thinking of the door-open button on my mothers microwave. Once you figure out that that elegant slightly recessed lozenge is the door open button, you have to exert who knows how many foot-pounds of effort to depress it enough to release the catch behind it AND the second, much highter catch. I cannot do it one-handed; I have to wrap the fingers of one or both hands around the edge of the macrowave and then push w both thumbs. I am 5-5, 128 pounds, reasonably strong. Bottom line, WHEN BUYING THINGS FOR YOUR ELDERLY AND/OR PARKINSONIAN FRIEND, look for products that require very minimal exertion .. far less than you may be able to exert. On Wed, 9 Feb 1994, Mark Wilson wrote: > Well you're right. The products are expensive. And I don't believe the > prices are always justified. Some of it I would think is simply related to > supply and demand issues. In Italy the door knobs ARE NOT predominantly > round, but are the straight-handled type (lever-handle I should say - the > easiest to use). There are some beautiful plastic alloy handles which are > incredibly hard, but have really nice > finishes and are cheap because they are injection molded. I would need to > consult one of my reference books, but even if you bought the cheapest lever > handle (costing no more, or even less than a round handle) it would probably > cost a few hundred dollars to replace all of the handles in one's house. > I'll look into it, and when I come across a source, I'll let your know. The > biggest problem is probably a cultural one. It is just part of our builder's > tradition to put in a round handle when building a new spec house. It is my > belief that the average builder or housing developer has the round handles > put in because no thought is given to it. It is what everyone else is doing, > so "let's do what everyone else is doing" is the attitude. I think with a > little pressure that could be changed. I've never seen one, but I'm sure > that someone could compile a listing of building hardware and household > products which consider disabilites. If anyone knows of one, I'd appreciate > your passing it along. > > Regarding my product: I developed a new line of eating utensils - I hesitate > to say flatware, because they have an interesting curve to them - so I call > them CurvedwareTM! Even though they resolve the vast majority of the > problems > of anyone with almost any kind of hand impairment, they ARE NOT "Adaptive > Utensils". They don't have cuffs or straps, but require only minimal gross > motor movement to use effectively. They are also made of the highest quality > stainless steel with great attention paid to the details. I designed them > for some relatives with > arthritis and MS. As it happens a handle requiring minimal finger and hand > movement (starting with the hand in the natural, relaxed position) is useful > for > anyone. The reason this is so important, it that stress in the hand not > only makes using a utensil more difficult, it worsens the condition of almost > anyone who has a disease which is central nervous system related. That > covers most of them. I must say I was surprised when doing the patent > research that a handle of this sort had never been patented! In the 500 > years that flatware has been around, they haven't changed from the basic > "stick with a head on it". > > As a product designer, I have always found it fascinating that the cockpit of > an F-16 is designed better for a person with mobility problems (of any sort) > than most (probably all) cars! They have "headsup" display for all > instruments so that they don't have to move their eyes to look at the dials; > they have a stick with various controls requiring almost exclusively gross > motor skills to use to do a whole series of things. The design team knew > they needed to make things easy, non stressful, etc. etc. It is a paradox in > some ways, that so much attention and sensitivity is shown for the use of a > war machine and yet so little sensitivity is shown in products we use every > day. > > ANYHOW, I would be happy to send literature to anyone interested. I made a > GIF file that I could email, otherwise I would be happy to send literature > by snail mail. They are not ready to market yet. We should have the first > stamped sets in about two weeks. If things go as planned, we will start > selling them the beginning of April.