The Japanese never fail to offend. Someone over there thought, “Let’s make old people in wheelchairs more useful by creating a wheelchair that also buffs and shines floors!” and so it was. Here’s a video of this ridiculous invention, which shows how the wheelchair-user has no control of the wheelchair while it’s in cleaning mode, with the user needing to be pushed or driven via remote control by someone else. And it needs to be plugged in too like a vacuum. Can this invention be any stupider?
See, I love bitching about annoying inventions for people with disabilities, because I figure someone has to do it, so why not me? Everyday I scour the web for the latest products to hit the web that cater to people with disabilities for all the disability writing jobs I do. And some of the things I come across just have to be talked about.
Think about all the money and time that’s wasted going into these inventions; inventions that will never take off. All that money could’ve actually gone to something useful for the disabled population, like low-cost durable wheelchairs for the newly disabled in Haiti, or maybe further research into a wheelchair that can REALLY climb stairs. But a wheelchair that buffs floors? WTF Japan.
I recently complained about this solar power wheelchair from the UAE. While green, the solar panels that collect energy and power the chair are fixed onto this huge winged roof that sits atop the wheelchair like a wedding cake topper. Truly ridiculous. Too big to allow the chair to enter any building, and there’s no word on how one removes the solar panel roof. This is a perfect example of how the real-life needs of wheelchair-users can sometimes be completely looked over by these absent-minded inventors.
I can’t end this blog on a negative note though. Not my style. Here’s an AWESOME invention - a three wheeled wheelchair - that was created by students at MIT, specifically for wheelchair-users in developing countries. The singular front wheel is ideal for rough terrain. Brilliant! Let’s get a 1,000 of these to Haiti asap, kk?
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