London South - REMAP - Custom made equipment for disabled people

Latest News and Info

New backrest for WHILL C2

6th December 2022

Jake and his family had chosen a very impressive and stylist new motorised wheelchair, the WHILL C2. However, it needed some modification to suit his frame and their specific needs. Unfortunately there is very limited adjustment available in the chair as it is supplied, only a small vertical movement in the height of the seat, the armrests and the seat back. Once these were at their maximum Jake still had very little support as the built-in backrest only reached to about the small of his back. Also, with such a low back there was no comfortable way for anyone to push the chair when in free-wheel mode, whether it was occupied or not. What was needed was a new back attachment that provided better support and preferably that enabled it to be manoeuvred without using the motor and joystick. One other constraint was that the seat back, complete with new extension, should not project beyond the chair front when folded down in order to facilitate transportation by car.

A general view of the chair showing the low back support roughly level with the armrests

This indicates how low the existing back support is when the chair is occupied

Alternative to sofa raising

6th April 2021

Lynne has poor strength in her lower body and finds getting on and off her sofa almost impossible. She thought the answer might be to raise the sofa, as we have done so many times before. But the sofa was a huge corner affair that would have been almost impossible to do either safely or practically. So another solution was required. There are a variety of possible solutions on the market including booster cushions, cushions designed to work with body weight movement, and mechanical lifting devices. None of these worked for her. What she needed was not only to sit a little higher than the sofa, but also have a way in which she could help herself up using her upper body strength. The sofa offered none of these requirements but there was also no room to have an alternative chair in the room.

Treadmill child safety rails #2

6th April 2021

Henry has cerebral palsy and needs to exercise as part of his endurance training. The JLL treadmill he has is the same model as the one in another project (LINK). It’s popular for this purpose as it can go as slowly as 0.3 Km/Hr which is safe for children like Henry. It also has the very helpful feature of having threaded mounting points on the inside face of the steel upright legs. In cases like these the user needs to steady themselves by having safety rails at the correct height. There is also a danger of stepping on the non-moving front part of the treadmill which could cause a trip. In a previous project the client was 4 years old so the rails need to be mounted slightly higher. As Henry is only 3 they needed to be lower, but also take in to account that he was growing so they needed to be adjustable.

Yale door opener

20th March 2020

The client has a high security night latch with a lever that, due to MS, she can neither turn nor reach from her wheelchair. She has limited arm movement and grip and only in her left hand. The door latch is to her right side. She wanted to be able to release the latch and pull the door open from her wheelchair. She also wanted her assistance dog to be able to release the latch and pull the door open, or any combination of them both working the door.

Hands Up Alternative

16th March 2020

The client is 9 years old and attends a mainstream school. She is significantly affected by her cerebral palsy. Her cognitive and social ability means she is keen to engage with the curriculum and with her peers. However, her physical limitations really impact her ability to independently engage in many everyday activities in school. She requires a 1:1 assistant at all times for physical assistance. She has identified she would like to be able to attract her teachers attention the way that other children put their hands up. But as she can’t initiate this arm movement she relies on communicating with her 1:1 which is frustrating for her. She would like to find a way of visually attracting the teacher’s attention and activate this herself.

Travel Ramp

15th January 2020

A family had rented a house close to their son’s care home to allow them to celebrate Christmas together. Unfortunately the hall had a 24″ (~60cm) restriction on access and the Rea Azalea tilt-in-space wheelchair that he was confined to was 25″ (~63cm) wide. It was impractical to try and lift the occupied chair over the obstruction and there were a number of other constraints: Since the house was rented no permanent ramp could be fitted, the landlord did not want the walls or stairs to be damaged or modified and the ramp had to be transportable in a car because they intended to rent the same house again for other celebrations.

Half-ramp in construction

Underside of the two half-ramps

Removable legs in storage position

Night Time Alert

4th April 2019

A solution was required for use by a mobility impaired client who requires assistance through the night, and therefore needs to frequently wake up their deaf spouse in the night for assistance; the Client also had difficulty speaking. The previous method of doing this was to use a stick to prod their spouse through the night, this method was far from ideal; therefore the Client’s family came to Remap to develop a better solution.

The Client had the following requirements:

The Client had mobility problems and reduced strength, therefore the trigger for the alarm needed to accommodate this. A button and pull cord was ruled out following assessment by the Occupational Therapist.
The Client’s spouse was deaf, so the alarm could not be audible.
The Client’s spouse was also a heavy sleeper, and lights were generally kept on in the hallway, therefore a visual (flashing) alarm was ruled out.
The solution should avoid the use of batteries to avoid having to remember charging things.

Light Switch Adaptation

1st April 2019

The Client had curvature of the spine which meant that they could not operate the light switches in the home without assistance. The client had the following requirements:

A means of operating standard light switches in the living room, bedroom and hallway.
The Client was height impaired with a curvature of the spine, which caused difficulty walking; therefore the solution needed to be operable with one hand, as the other would be occupied with a walking stick.
Client wasn’t keen on the idea of “Smart” lighting or remote control lighting, and just wanted something simple to use and operate.
The Client did not want to touch any of the home electrical wiring, and the light switch itself should not need to be opened up or modified.
The solution needed to be removable at a later date.