When you push someone forward in a wheelchair, you don’t have eye contact. That has to change, Eindhoven student Wouter Witteman thinks. He devised a wheelchair with a push frame so that people can look at each other while walking.
True inventor
Wouter Witteman is a true inventor. In high school, he and a fellow student were already awarded a prize for a design of a flashing light on a racing bike. Last year, his plan to combat food waste ended up in the university’s top eight most innovative ideas. And now he is coming up with a push frame that allows you to have eye contact with someone in a wheelchair during a walk. “For people with hearing impairment or dementia, this could really mean something,” he says.
Dementia
“For many people, this can add value,” Wouter says. “For example, it is suitable for people with dementia. But also people who are hard of hearing or have difficulty speaking loudly for whom it is difficult to have a nice conversation. For these groups it can really make a difference.”
According to Wouter, the push frames can come in handy in care homes, for example. “Walks are an important activity for people. They need the social contact. We hope to make that easier with the push framess.”
Eldercare
The system was devised by Wouter after he heard a story from a fellow student who works in eldercare. She thought that the elderly person in the wheelchair she was walking with was in good spirits, but at the end of the walk she found that the lady was crying. “So if you don’t see each other, you can get the complete wrong end of the stick,” she says.
The project with the push frames is now at the stage where institutions are running tests with about 20 of them. If that catches on, Wouter’s company will look into making the frames on a larger scale.
Walks
For his own grandmother, the push frame has already proved a godsend. Wouter has taken her out in the wheelchair several times. “I really enjoy it,” says Mia Leunen, Wouter’s grandmother. “The conversation you have with people like this is even nicer than the contact with nature.”
The urge to think of things that benefit people is strong with Wouter. “In highschool I was already working on all kinds of small inventions. I really enjoy inventing new things and solving problems. I like to contribute if I can.”
The original idea for the reverse wheelchair, by the way, comes from Hendrik van Schijndel from Boekel. Wouter Witteman was the one to develop the idea.
Source: Studio040.nl
Translated by: Anitha Sevugan
