AWE and EASE
_{Design of Multipurpose Gardening Tools for People with Cognitive Disorders}

Description

The Southwest Virginia Training Center (SWVTC) is a facility for people affected by mental retardation. The residents of the facility take part in many activities for both skill building and recreation. One such activity is gardening. The gardening procedures in place were very laborious for them and a large number of residents could not participate due to their physical and mental disabilities. The aim of this project was to develop two gardening tools, the Enhanced Accessible Seeding Equipment (EASE) and the Accessible Watering Equipment (AWE) that would allow all but the most severely disabled residents (physically and/or mentally) to participate in these activities.

Outcome

Models of the two gardening tools along with specifications document and design guidelines were created. AWE was designed to fit on different types of wheelchairs and could water plants at different heights & orientations. EASE was designed to handle different types of seeds & soil. The control could be attached to any part of the body & activated by pressing.

Features such as a single switch operation compensating for physical disabilities and enhanced cueing and feedback systems to improve cognition and mental capabilities were incorporated. The development of the project was done based on human factors guidelines and followed a systems design approach.