I decided a day or two ago that I ought to find myself an avatar for this forum. I wanted something appropriate and so chose a special chair that I designed and built last year and which was partly the reason that I have become more interested in woodworking in the last few years.
I ended up designing 2 chairs for children with Cerebral Palsy for the project that I was working with in Cameroon. They aren't going to win any awards for their craftsmanship but that wasn't the objective. I wanted to make something relatively simple, out of locally available materials that local carpenters could produce and would suit the needs of the many children that the project that I started were identifying. Most of these kids have CP and are moderately to severely disabled, with no support given to them by the state and very often neglected due to cultural beliefs.
This is the prototype of the first model that we produced - (there is also a table slides on and off and can be adjusted so that it remains level and at the correct height)
The second prototype was designed for older children and was solid enough for me to fit into (5'11" and 75kg) :roll:
This didn't have a table but was high enough that it could be used with a regular table. The finished chair was a little different in that the sides were cut away and the 'feet' were positioned further forward to enable a child to stand on the foot rest without tipping it over.
If anyone is interested to know a bit more about the organisation where I worked you can click here: http://www.promhandicam.org. If you'd like to know more about the chairs let me know.
In closing, I hope that with knowledge acquired here I'll be able to participate more in the forum in the future. For someone like me who are a little bit 'cut off' in terms of geographical location, having access to such a large group of knowledgeable people via this forum is a big bonus.
Cheers,
Steve
I ended up designing 2 chairs for children with Cerebral Palsy for the project that I was working with in Cameroon. They aren't going to win any awards for their craftsmanship but that wasn't the objective. I wanted to make something relatively simple, out of locally available materials that local carpenters could produce and would suit the needs of the many children that the project that I started were identifying. Most of these kids have CP and are moderately to severely disabled, with no support given to them by the state and very often neglected due to cultural beliefs.
This is the prototype of the first model that we produced - (there is also a table slides on and off and can be adjusted so that it remains level and at the correct height)
The second prototype was designed for older children and was solid enough for me to fit into (5'11" and 75kg) :roll:
This didn't have a table but was high enough that it could be used with a regular table. The finished chair was a little different in that the sides were cut away and the 'feet' were positioned further forward to enable a child to stand on the foot rest without tipping it over.
If anyone is interested to know a bit more about the organisation where I worked you can click here: http://www.promhandicam.org. If you'd like to know more about the chairs let me know.
In closing, I hope that with knowledge acquired here I'll be able to participate more in the forum in the future. For someone like me who are a little bit 'cut off' in terms of geographical location, having access to such a large group of knowledgeable people via this forum is a big bonus.
Cheers,
Steve
