Chapter 7 - The Screaming Neon Wheelchair

I enjoyed this chapter because it talked about different technologies and adaptations to existing technologies that are used to help disabled people lead a regular life. The first story about the girl who became injured while hang-gliding but then helped to develop the new wheelchairs reinforced the idea that even out of tragedy something good can happen. I couldn't believe the weight of the wheelchairs before the new lightweight ones were created. Fifty pounds seems like an awful lot for a chair with wheels. Let alone a chair with wheels that had to be pushed around from place to place (I can only imagine how difficult climbing up an incline would be with a fifty pound chair).

It was interesting to hear about the technology that has come out that allows "the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the paralyzed to move." I enjoy technology, especially the kind that is meant to make life easier. I think this is best seen in the invention of the television remote control. Why get up to change the channel when you can change it in an instant without leaving the comfort of the couch?

I had no idea that the initial intention of the Jacuzzi was to help with the pain from rheumatoid arthritis. If I had to guess before reading this chapter, I would have said that it was invented as a leisure way of swimming when its snowing outside. If not that, I would have assumed it was a way of allowing people to share a conversation and some drinks while sitting in a hot tub of water. It makes sense though. The purpose of most technology is to make life easier and take away from the everyday stresses of life. It follows that this same technology should be used to make disabled life easier and give the ability to operate in the world in a fashion similar to everyone else.