Sept. 17, 2007 — While watching a wheelchair user in a gym struggling with fitness equipment, industrial design student Ryan Eder thought there must be a better way. There was. Three years later, Eder sketched out the solution as part of his thesis work at the University of Cincinnati.
Called The Access, the universal exercise equipment (still in the conceptual stage) is designed to accommodate both disabled and able-bodied people, and also make it easier for the elderly to work a variety of muscles from the same station.
"People in wheelchairs need more exercise than able-bodied users due to their sedentary lifestyle. There is a trend slowly on the rise with fitness clubs trying to focus more on the elderly because the baby boomer population is entering retirement. This machine addresses those populations," said Eder, who recently won recognition in BusinessWeek's International Design Excellence Awards.
As part of his research, Eder conducted his own informal survey of 45 fitness clubs around the United States. A whopping 94 percent said they did not offer any wheelchair-accessible equipment.
Later, when Eder used a wheelchair himself to test facilities that complied with regulations outlined by the American Disability Association, he discovered they weren't necessarily accommodating.
Making humans invisible to mosquitoes.
Get more Discovery News video here.
"It is an injustice that equipment is not offered for them in public fitness centers," said Eder.
For example, most machines require that the user have a certain amount of dexterity to transition between exercises, weight level, or to grip handles. Paraplegics and quadriplegics are not as nimble.
