Center in Korea crafts assistive technology

From Joong Ang Daily. In the picture, the staff of the Hanbeot Foundation’s Assistive Technology Center take a break to pose for a photo. Front row, from left: Shin Chun-sik, Jang Jae-sang, Kim Dong-hak. Back row, from left: Kim Seo-young, Kim Min-ji, Jeong Young-man.

The sounds of an electric saw and a drill roared from the depths of Hanbeot Welfare Foundation in Hyochang-dong, central Seoul.

Rehabilitation engineers Kim Dong-hak, 49, and Jang Jae-sang, 29, are busy making a customized wheelchair for 31-year-old Kim Byung-kyu, who has a brain lesion disorder, at the Assistive Technology Center on the foundation’s first floor.

There are four other engineers who work at the center with Kim and Jang - Shin Chun-sik, Kim Seo-young, Kim Min-ji and Park Jong-myeong. The center is headed by Jeong Young-man.

Hanbeot was established to assist people with disabilities by providing mobile services, cultural events and other programs.

The center, which is managed by the foundation, is filled with welders, electric saws, air compressors and other mechanical devices.

It’s not the kind of thing one would expect to see at a foundation.

The center makes various devices for people with disabilities to help them live more independent lives. Each device is custom made to accommodate an individual’s body and the nature of his or her disability.

To accomplish this, the four engineers go to the home of the disabled person to assess the degree of disability and the structure of the home. The engineers then return to the center to figure out what kind of equipment best suits the person’s needs and whether it should be made in-house or by another company.

“Assistive technology is made for just one person,” said Kim Dong-hak. “Even a wheelchair has to be created in accordance with a person’s particular physical condition and body shape. The lengths of the armrests and the height of the footrest have to be adjusted to fit each person’s measurements.”

For Kim, the work is personal. He suffered a spinal cord injury in a car accident that left him disabled. He became an engineer at the center in 2004 after having worked as an auto mechanic for 17 years.

One beneficiary of the assistive technology provided by the center is poet Seo Jeong-seul, 61, who suffers from cerebral paralysis. She called the center to ask for help when she began having difficulty holding a pen.

Seo could only move the big toe on her right foot, so Park and Shin designed a stick with a remote control device that she could operate by moving her toe. The center oversaw the construction and assembly of the device, but the work was outsourced to another company.

The foundation launched its assistive technology service after Paek Jin-ang, 61, the director of the foundation, took action to help the people with disabilities who were living in the foundation’s boardinghouse.

One night, after a late night at the office, Park was passing by the house when he saw a light on. He went up to the room to talk to the occupant and discovered that the person couldn’t turn the light off because the paralysis in his legs had left him unable to stand.

The director also found out that there were several people who were using long sticks to manage the power switch, so he set to work designing a remote control for the light.

So far, the center has provided about 3,000 people with disabilities with similar devices since it was established in July 2006. Another 414 people have been provided with other devices that help them manage their day-to-day lives.

Over 20 types of devices have been created by the center. It built a special baby carrier for a female teacher working at a school for children with disabilities in Ulsan. She uses the carrier to hold children on her back whenever they go on picnics.

Another device the center made is a shampoo dispenser for people who cannot move their fingers freely. The device is made out of steel and clamps around a shampoo bottle.

The center’s engineers also created a heating blanket to help keep people who use wheelchairs warm when they go outside in the winter.

In addition to making and designing their own devices, the center also facilitates access to devices that require advanced construction techniques - like the remote control device and a vertical platform lift - by outsourcing the work to other companies and overseeing their construction.

The center is funded in part by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, which has supported their work with a total donation of 530 million won ($435,130) over a seven-month period since last November.

It was the center’s interest in helping people with disabilities live more independent lives that led to its use of assistive technology, Jeong said, adding that he hoped the technology could continue to change lives.