University of New Hampshire faculty member Therese Willkomm calls
herself “MacGyvette.” But Willkomm doesn't fight crime like
the resourceful 1980s television sleuth; rather, she fashions tools
from everyday objects that make life easier for people with
disabilities.
Willkomm, clinical assistant professor of
Occupational Therapy and
director of ATinNH at the Institute on
Disability at UNH, is a
specialist in assistive technology, which she describes as
“solutions for easier living, learning, working, and
playing.” And while the users of her solutions have some form of
disability - from an aching back to extensive paralysis - Willkomm's
work rarely deals with expensive wheelchairs, specialized computers or
complex communication systems. “Eighty percent of assistive
technology costs $100 or less,” she says.
Willkomm's assistive technology solutions employ custom items she
“MacGyvers” from inexpensive, ordinary items such as
Plexiglas, PVC, and assorted tapes as well as off-the-shelf products
like wheeled carts, easy-grip tools or two-way radios. And like
MacGyver, Willkomm is speedy and resourceful - her trademark is
creating solutions in five minutes or less.
“One of the things I've struggled with is how long people have to
wait for a solution,” says Willkomm. “Often times, people
are literally dying while they wait. What I'm trying to do is a whole
paradigm shift. What can we do today that can make a difference?
Willkomm shares her creativity in a book, “Assistive Technology
Solutions in Minutes: Make a Difference Today!” that helps her
students and others find and make quick, easy solutions. Another recent
publication, “Solutions for Easier Living Located in Your
Neighborhood,” highlights solutions found in most hardware,
office supply, or discount department stores.
Among her favorite assistive technology solutions:
-- Using a plastic flagpole holder, epoxy putty, and Pam cooking spray,
Willkomm mounted a camera onto a wheelchair, giving the user - a
school-aged boy - a new way to connect with his classmates.
“Cameras are great for kids who have a hard time
communicating,” she says. “I'm always blown away by what
they take pictures of.”
-- To help an 18-year-old with a brain injury that affected his ability
to remember daily hygiene sequences, Willkomm created a rap CD (played
in a shower-mounted CD player) that cued each showering activity, from
“turn on the water” to “put the soap on the
puff” to “rinse off the soap.”
-- For a dairy farmer with a high-level spinal cord injury, she rigged
a two-way radio with a large spring-loaded Plexiglas button so he could
call his wife if she was in the field. She mounted it next to his
wheelchair; a rubber bumper inside the plastic holder let him activate
the call button on the radio with very little head or hand movements.
Willkomm has a special affinity for the dairy farmer; she credits her
“make it in minutes” approach to growing up on a dairy farm
in Wisconsin. “You're taught how to fix things fast - if the cows
get out, you've got to fix that gate now,” she says. She honed
her craft at the University of Pittsburgh, where she received a Ph.D.
in
Rehabilitation science and technology and wrote her doctoral
dissertation on ergonomic risk factors and tractor modifications for
farmers with spinal cord injuries.
After working in the field for 25 years and serving as an adjunct
professor at UNH for eight of them, she joined the UNH faculty in the
fall of 2005. She holds a joint appointment to the occupational therapy
department and the Institute on Disability as the director of New
Hampshire's statewide assistive technology program.
An aging population and changing health care make Willkomm's assistive
technology solutions more relevant than ever. She cites a World Health
Organization statistic that says the number of people with disabilities
will continue to rise, but the money to support them remains level.
“That means we've got to be creative,” she says. “We
need to empower the people most influential in the lives of people with
disabilities: the family members, the teacher aides, and job
coaches.”
At UNH, Willkomm empowers the next generation of occupational
therapists. In the course Introduction to Assistive Technology, she
challenges her students to make an on-off switch with nothing more than
a business card, some foil tape, and speaker wire. Every student
receives a copy of her book and a tool kit that MacGyver would envy,
complete with a miniature blow torch and other fabrication tools, epoxy
putty, several pieces of acrylic, speaker wire, and specialty tape.
“Am I trying to turn all my students into MacGyvers? No,”
she says. “But I'm teaching them creative problem solving.”
Willkomm's books “Assistive Technology Solutions in
Minutes” or “Solutions for Easier Living Located in Your
Neighborhood” are available through the Institute on Disability
at UNH:
http://iodserver.unh.edu/iodbookstore/.
University of New Hampshire
8 Garrison Ave. Schofield House
Durham, NH 03824
United States
http://www.unh.edu/news
