One week of empathy training (2019)
I used to work with upper limb amputees. Learned a lot there.<p>There's a standardized testing kit for prostheses and injuries that's surprisingly low tech and amazingly useful: The Southampton Hand Assessment Procedure (SHAP)<p>It's very basic. Things like pouring a glass of milk, opening a deadbolt, tying a shoe, picking up a quarter, buttoning a shirt, etc. Being able to pass any of these quite simple tests is very forgiving, you've got unlimited time to do it.<p>But the very large majority of prostheses fail outright.<p>I never really though of how hard it was to just hold a cup of coffee before that, nor to build a prosthetic that could close a jar of jam.<p>Really opened my eyes to the world around me. Disability tech is human tech, full stop. What helps a wheelchair bound person helps a pregnant one, and a veteran, and an old one too. We grow stronger by making things possible for all of us.<p><a href="http://www.shap.ecs.soton.ac.uk/about-usage.php" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.shap.ecs.soton.ac.uk/about-usage.php</a>