There are a lot of things that we tend to take for granted just because it comes naturally to us – things like breathing properly, looking at a sunrise, listening to your favorite songs, etc. Eventually, we realize that there are people in the world, maybe even people around us, that find simple things to be a challenge because of some conditions that they have. That’s why I love it when people come up with or collaborate with persons with disabilities to create products that can make life a little bit easier for them.
Designer: Sarah Hossli
The act of sitting down and standing up is something that most of us are able to do naturally. But as you grow older, it becomes a bit more challenging as you reach your twilight years. They say that we are currently in a phase of a rapidly aging population and so we need to rethink things as simple as sitting and standing. If you’ve been around an elderly person, you see that they sometimes need to be assisted when doing these simple actions. But what if there was a chair that would help them out without needing the assistance of other people?
The designer worked with a retirement home (Generationenhaus Neubad) in Basel, Switzerland and came up with the T’ROI chair. It is basically a comfortable-looking chair whose main feature is its extended arms. This slight change to a regular chair will actually help the elderly or those with infirmities to sit down on it and get up later on without needing the assistance of other people. They are able to use the extended arms as their sort of a balancing grip to help them stand up or sit down.
While we automatically try to help the elderly when we see them having difficulties (well, most of us I guess), there are also times when they don’t want to feel totally useless and want to retain their dignity. That’s why having products like the T’ROI chair can give them more confidence in moving around despite their age-related impairments. The secret to a chair like this is to have sturdy materials that will prevent the elderly from slipping or getting into other accidents.
The chair seems comfortable enough which is something they would also need as sitting for a long time can also bring all sorts of aches and pains. It would be better if there was some sort of ergonomic feature for it that can help protect their backs, bones, and joints. But as it is, the T’RIO seems to be a pretty useful piece of furniture that can help the elderly.
