Makers Making Change Helps Occupational Therapists Find Affordable Assistive Technology Solutions for Their Clients
Since ’s inception in 2016, we’ve made it a priority to help occupational therapists across North America find affordable assistive technology solutions for their clients.
As a corporate partner of the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT), Makers Making Change has attended the CAOT conference every year since 2017. In 2018, we hosted an OT buildathon at the CAOT conference in Vancouver.
In our assistive device library, devices range from low tech solutions like the 3D printed , which can help a person with arthritis more easily grip a pen, to more high tech in nature, like the , a mouth operated joystick, which allows people without the use of their hands to use smartphones and tablets.
However, unlike commercial devices which are mass manufactured for profit, Makers Making Change devices are built by volunteer makers for the cost of parts, allowing occupational therapists to provide low cost solutions for clients. The designs are open source, meaning that the devices can also be customized for a clients needs.
Each week leading up to the CAOT Conference, we’ll be looking at occupational therapists and their experiences with Makers Making Change. If you’re attending CAOT 2022 in beautiful Whistler, BC, come say hello to us at booth #16.
“It’s a Really Good Way to Ensure That They Can Continue That Communication With Family”
Marla Calder, an occupational therapist at the Stan Cassidy Centre for Rehabilitation in Fredericton, New Brunswick has some great successes with the LipSync.
“It’s a really good way to ensure that they can continue that communication with family, I mean most of us get up and the first thing we do is check our phone or check our tablets,” she explains.
“We take it for granted how often we get up and reach for our phone or we reach for our tablet or we send a quick text, or that sort of thing. Everybody wants to be able to do that, you know, that quick communication or that quick access to tech.”
For a recent inpatient client who was recently discharged with a LipSync, the assistive device had him thinking about returning to work.
“Even when we first set it up for him, he’s like, ‘I can call my sister on my own,’ and I’m like, ‘You can call your sister on your own, it’s all there, you control it,’” Marla says.
In addition to the LipSync, Marla also uses the Adaptive Gaming Kit – which features a variety of 3D printed assistive switches to be used with an Xbox Adaptive Controller – at Stan Cassidy’s gaming clinic.
“We always need switches and we’re always testing out what’s the best switch, where to put it, that sort of thing, so we’ve got a lot of the Makers Making Change switches down there,” she says.
Marla has recommended Makers Making Change to other occupational therapists in her consultation work.
“We recognize the importance of it for a lot of people, because again, technology can level the playing field for people, it can give them the resources that lets them do things that they otherwise can’t,” she says.
“There’s so many other things usually that they have to pay for in the run of the day, or with equipment, or that sort of thing, so if we can try and find stuff that is fairly low cost or easy to get to them, it’s certainly beneficial, it certainly saves time because if you’re going through third party funding, there’s always that long process too.”
Marla has also appreciated the opportunity to network with Makers Making Change chapters and other professionals.
“It’s just been a really nice collaboration and sharing of ideas – it’s not such guarded stuff. People want it to help the better good, like to help people who have disabilities, and not make it out of reach or unattainable or unaffordable, so that’s been a great collaboration that way.”
Looking for device that suits your clients needs? Check out our with 150 devices available open source addressing a wide range of needs. Have a need that isn’t addressed in our library? Suggest a to our community of makers. Looking to join the Makers Making Change community?
This post originally appeared on the ɱٱ.