A Day in the Throne
Jake Aaron Cohen
Introduction The main aim of this assignment is for me to gain a brief insight into the life of someone who is disabled by spending a day in a wheelchair. Throughout the day, I will stay in character and attempt to perform daily tasks as I would normally without a wheelchair.
Synopsis The aim of this extra credit assignment is to achieve an understanding in the areas where a person who is disabled might be excluded, how they are treated in public and other possible insights that either limit or
surprise me. I will be documenting my behaviour and actions so I can storytell my experience. From this, I will then identify areas for potential redesign and consider the implications of physical disabilities in future projects.
University of the Arts Fall Semester 2015
People & Mechanics Extra Credit Assignment
tasks Home navigation
1
Taking out the rubbish
5
Going to class
15
Using a public lift
19
Using an accessible toilet
21
Attending class
27
Buying snacks
29
Having lunch
33
Home time
35
findings Insights
37
Design opportunities
41
Reflection
42
Home Navigation
01 | A Day in the Throne | Jake Cohen
Starting the day My day in the wheelchair began as soon as I got dressed. The first task of the day involved me simply navigating around the apartment so I could pack my backpack and somehow attach it to my wheelchair. This proved difficult as the wheelchair barely fit through the doorway separating the bedroom and living area. I had to position the wheels tightly and accurately enough between the walls of the doorway
in a position where I could force myself through (scratching the paintwork on the way) into the next room. After packing my bag, the only position on my wheelchair that seemed most appropriate to store was over the push handles on the rear of the chair. It seated quite well here, although it involved a lot of bodily twisting to fit it over securely. Jake Cohen | A Day in the Throne | 02
Getting ready My day in the wheelchair began as soon as I got dressed. The first task of the day involved me simply navigating around the apartment so I could pack my backpack and somehow attach it to my wheelchair. This proved difficult as the wheelchair barely fit through the doorway separating the bedroom and living area. I had to position the wheels tightly and accurately enough between the walls of the doorway 03 | A Day in the Throne | Jake Cohen
in a position where I could force myself through (scratching the paintwork on the way) into the next room. After packing my bag, the only position on my wheelchair that seemed most appropriate to store was over the push handles on the rear of the chair. It seated quite well here, although it involved a lot of bodily twisting to fit it over securely.
Jake Cohen | A Day in the Throne | 04
Taking out the Rubbish
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Household tasks Before leaving to attend class, I had the task to empty the rubbish bin. Collecting and fastening the rubbish bag was fairly simple; the difficulty here was finding a place to store the rubbish bag. I couldn’t fit it onto the back of the chair as the bag scraped along the floor, and I didn’t want to place it on my lap. The only other option was to place in on my legs, supported by the wheelchair footrests. 07 | A Day in the Throne | Jake Cohen
Next, opening the door to then leave the apartment proved a challenge as it was a fire door, and I had to position my wheelchair carefully and push the door open (and keep it open) whilst exiting. Even making my way through the hallways was difficult as there were many tight corners, and I was only just getting used to controlling the wheelchair.
Jake Cohen | A Day in the Throne | 08
Dealing with steps The next challenge perhaps posed the biggest problem throughout my day in the wheelchair - how to I get down steps? It was impossible to pass this section of the hallway safely without the help of others. As I only had one assistant to help me, there was no option for me but to stand up and carry the chair down myself. The chair itself is really heavy, so this must be a difficult task for even two
people to take care of with someone in the chair. Luckily, the rest of the journey to the exit of building could be taken by the apartment’s small lift. Upon arriving, a gentleman noticed me, and held the doors open for me to squeeze through. I could not turn around in the lift, and when leaving out of the ground floor, I had to reverse out, leading me to hit the walls of the lift numerous times. Jake Cohen | A Day in the Throne | 10
Designs for disabilities Leaving the lift proved difficult, thankfully, however, the door to exit the building had a large button for people with disabilities. This feature just opened the door automatically. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as useful as I had anticipated. It only opened one door of a two-door passage. The one door that opened was slightly too narrow to fit my wheelchair through, so I had to force my way through 11 | A Day in the Throne | Jake Cohen
the one door, pushing open the second closed door on the way. Not only was this difficult, but doing this repeatedly wouldn’t just cause damage to the door, but also to my wheelchair as well. It was also a struggle guiding my wheels over the floor edge trim, as my wheels would just spin, meaning I had to use greater force to just push over it.
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A helping hand After finally making my way out of the building, I realised it was raining. Not only was this a nuisance as I was getting soaked, but it also made my surface grip poor as the wheels has minimal friction. Many times I would turn the wheels and they would just spin. Not only this, but when approaching puddles, I would find myself sliding into them as the chair wants to pull itself into the deeper areas
of the ground, made especially made difficult by the slippery floor. Upon reaching the rubbish bins, the janitor approached me and almost snatched the bin bags away from me without asking. At this stage, I wasn’t complaining, as I had difficulty even just moving around, let alone having to lunge myself up to throw the rubbish away. Jake Cohen | A Day in the Throne | 14
Going to Class
15 | A Day in the Throne | Jake Cohen
The daily commute It was now time to make my way to class. As it was raining, I wanted to try and keep myself dry by attempting to use my umbrella which I had stored in my backpack. Using the umbrella was much more difficult than anticipated, as I needed both hands for the wheels. It couldn’t be propped either, as it was a very windy day. I eventually stuck to using my non-waterproof hood. 17 | A Day in the Throne | Jake Cohen
Crossing the roads made me nervous as I felt I had to make my way across quickly. I also felt anxious as it seemed like I was being watched by the parked cars facing me. My hands were also filthy from the dirt brushed from the wheels, and the force I had to use to push myself up the curbs really strained my arms. When getting to the University, I had to rest before making my way to the 5th floor.
Using a Public Lift
19 | A Day in the Throne | Jake Cohen
Sharing with the “abled” Leaving the lift proved difficult, thankfully, however, the door to exit the building had a large button for people with disabilities. This feature just opened the door automatically. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as useful as I had anticipated. It only opened one door of a two-door passage. The one door that opened was slightly too narrow to fit my wheelchair through, so I had to force my way through
the one door, pushing open the second closed door on the way. Not only was this difficult, but doing this repeatedly wouldn’t just cause damage to the door, but also to my wheelchair as well. It was also a struggle guiding my wheels over the floor edge trim, as my wheels would just spin, meaning I had to use greater force to just push over it. Jake Cohen | A Day in the Throne | 20
Using the Accessible Toilet
21 | A Day in the Throne | Jake Cohen
23 | A Day in the Throne | Jake Cohen
Transfers Keeping in character, before class started, I decided to use the accessible toilets. Again, I struggled here with the fire door, but once I made it into the bathroom, the large space was easy to navigate with the wheelchair. What was more challenging than expected was getting the correct angle to transfer from my chair to the toilet. I
tried multiple times to find a position that worked for me. Once in this position, the handle to the right of the toilet was the main support for shifting my body weight. I used both the wall handle, and my chair’s armrest to make this transfer as there was no support grip to the right of the toilet. Trying not to use my legs in this activity was difficult as people become so self-reliant on them for everything. Jake Cohen | A Day in the Throne | 24
Shifting my body weight Perhaps the hardest component of using the accessible toilet was lifting myself up from my wheelchair and onto the toilet. As I gradually became reliant on my wheels throughout the day, it was hard to transition back to a task without my wheelchair and then shift my whole body weight without the use of my legs. This meant the key area of support for this transfer instead became my arms. 25 | A Day in the Throne | Jake Cohen
Jake Cohen | A Day in the Throne | 26
Attending Class
27 | A Day in the Throne | Jake Cohen
Sitting at the desk The issues within the classroom were minimal, perhaps so as it didn’t require much movement. Other classes might have proved a little more difficult should they require move movement around the classroom. The biggest difficulty was positioning myself at the table to work. The armrests of the wheelchair did not fit under the table, and so it meant that I had to sit far away from the table and
learn forwards, which was, for me, fairly uncomfortable as I like to be close. The only other difficulty was getting through the door of the classroom, which took a few minutes as it involved lots of maneuvering and correct positioning to fit through, a problem which became more persistent and infuriating throughout my day in the wheelchair. Jake Cohen | A Day in the Throne | 28
Buying Snacks
29 | A Day in the Throne | Jake Cohen
Inclusive designs Whilst on break in my class, I decided to visit Wawa to buy a drink. Both entrance doors were held open for me by multiple people. Wawa being the busy place it normally is meant that it was quite troublesome at some stages to squeeze myself through people, and even the narrow aisles. One person pulled their friend out of the way as they didn’t notice me trying to get past. Luckily, this store
was somewhere I knew, so I didn’t have to browse. I normally use the Coca Cola Freestyle machine, and so I did so whilst still in character. I normally operate this vending machine with the touchscreen, but luckily I noticed a disabled icon on the machine, and pressed this. This allowed me to control the screen with arrows at shoulder height, instead of having to reach up to the screen. Jake Cohen | A Day in the Throne | 30
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Making the purchase With my drink poured, I then wanted to head to the checkout to pay. As I had to use both of my hands for pushing the wheels of the wheelchair, I had to hold and balance my drink somewhere on myself, or my chair. The most suitable place, to me, was in between my legs as I could maintain a grip of it with my thighs to make sure it did not fall over whilst moving around.
Paying for my drink at the checkout posed no significant problems. I was able to make the transaction successfully in the time it would normally take me in my “abled� body. I continued to carry the drink away with me in between my thighs, and once again, people held the door open for me as I exited the store. Jake Cohen | A Day in the Throne | 32
Having Lunch
33 | A Day in the Throne | Jake Cohen
Comfortable seating? After class finished, I then made my way to the dining hall. Although getting here posed no significant problems, navigating around the dining hall and getting food was extremely difficult. The vast amount of tables made it difficult to squeeze past, lots of people made it a chore to move around, and I had to face sideways and lean to place food onto my plate, which was very straining on my body. Not
only this, but none of the tables seemed suitable for me to use as I couldn’t fit my leg rests under them, meaning I had to sit a fair distance away from the table. I eventually decided to just sit the plate on my lap as it was more of a chore to lean forwards. The salt and pepper pots, along with the napkins, were also pushed far back on the tables, meaning I couldn’t even reach them when leaning forwards. Jake Cohen | A Day in the Throne | 34
Home Time
35 | A Day in the Throne | Jake Cohen
The return to freedom After returning to university to attend afternoon classes, it was now time to go home. It was still raining, making maneuvering the chair still difficult, but luckily I wasn’t too far away from my flat. I bumped into the same issues incurred when leaving my flat in the morning, the main one being the small set of stairs, resulting in me having to stand up and carry my chair as there was no other way.
Getting home, my hands were filthy from all the dirt that had traveled onto me from spinning the wheels of the chair. My muscles were also aching from wheeling myself around all day and my legs were numb. It was a relief to finally be able to get out of my wheelchair and walk again, where I could perform tasks more quickly and efficiently and become reliant on them once more. Jake Cohen | A Day in the Throne | 36
insights what made things difficult?
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slippery wheels
fire doors
aching arms
Heavy rain meant my wheels would just spin, resulting in a lack of surface grip
Just opening a door was difficult; having a door wanting to close on me was even harder
Pushing my constantly wheelchair made my arms ache almost immediately
door width
steps
wheel spin
Many doors were just too narrow for me to successfully get through with my wheelchair
Leaving my apartment was impossible in the wheelchair due to a small set of steps
When trying to pass over floor edge trim, the wheels would just spin unless using lots of force
uneven surfaces
angle of approach
dirty hands
Many uneven pavements led me to keep steering in a direction I didn’t want to go
Getting through doorways involved maneuvering the wheelchair a specific and precise angle
The rain meant that dirt would travel onto the wheel grips, resulting in dirty hands
insights how did people respond?
staring
open doors
assistance
I found an unusual number of people staring at me simply because I was in a wheelchair
As people saw me coming to a door, they would be more than willing to hold it open
Even in areas where I wasn’t struggling, people around me would often ask if I needed help
stalling
visibility
sympathy
AWW!
I observed seeming looks of pity from others; one person actually saying “Awww!” whilst walking past me
People on the streets, tended to stall behind me instead of walking past, even when there was room
As I am at a different height in the wheelchair, people in stores tended no to see me as easily
Jake Cohen | A Day in the Throne | 40
wheelchair storage improvements to wheel surface grip visibility options for reversing stabilising designs for uneven surfaces
user & wheelchair weatherproofing
wheel mudguards
DESIGN OPPORTUNITIES?
easy fixes ramps instead of steps wider doors
narrowing of stubs on the wheels flat floor edge trims
Reflection
I challenged myself to complete this extra credit assignment because I was interested in finding out what it might be like to be paraplegic. I was interested in discovering how everyday life might be different, and by completing and documenting my day in the wheelchair, I was able to gain an insight into what it might be like to live in a wheelchair. Spending a “day in the throne� was a very eye-opening experience into the subtle yet chronic difficulties wheelchair users experience. Some of these problems were perhaps predictable, others I only discovered through making this experience happen. I was eager to start this challenge, but I was almost glad that the day was over
and that I could use my legs again - being so heavily reliant on them is something most of us are unaware of, and once this privilege is taken away, simple day-to-day tasks become a challenge. From the experience of this completing this assignment, I now hold a bank of knowledge and design opportunities related to wheelchair users that can be taken into consideration for future inclusive projects. Spending a day in the wheelchair was also a great technique to get under the skin of someone who is paraplegic. From doing this, their everyday wheelchair issues become more relatable, resulting in a greater understanding the underlying problems. Jake Cohen | A Day in the Throne | 42
Jake Aaron Cohen
Industrial Design
University of the Arts