Plight of the Disabled in Turkey

(Justin) I haven't been posting as much as I should about my work with Kifas. But one thing I do every day is check Twitter for tweets in Turkish about the disabled or wheelchairs. Every day there is a story that is RT'd to raise consciousness about the plight of the disabled. This weekend there were two stories of particular interest:

There was an examination (ÖMSS) for disabled people in order to get jobs as public servants. Over 60,000 people took the exam, but only about 3,000 will be chosen. However, the real scandal was that many of the government buildings where the test was given had multiple stories with no elevators or wheelchair ramps. The news showed people struggling up stairs, or being carried, or worse. The exam apparently allowed about one minute per question but several of the disabled couldn't write that fast.  The name of the exam is also offensive to some as the non-politically-correct word for "disabled" (özürlü) is in the title of the exam. It was nice to see the outrage about this on Twitter, at least.

In another story, what one reporter called a "tragic comedy," a walking bridge was built over a road in Trabzon in which one side has an easy-access ramp for wheelchairs and strollers while the other side of the bridge only has a set of steep stairs. The news showed people in wheelchairs being pushed across and carried down the stairs and parents struggling wıth theır strollers. One wonders how the engineers did not think about this.

Daily you read tweets of people in the subways who can't get up because the elevator is broken, etc. It's difficult here. One source of encouragement is the growing number of advocacy groups harnessing social media to unite around causes and network together. The government and a large number of local charities also show increasing concern.  But there is much work to be done.

Evolution of an Idea

(Justin) Back in early 2010, I was watching PBS NewsHour when a story came on about a man named Ralph Hotchkiss at San Francisco State University who was designing sturdy, low-cost wheelchairs for the developing world. I noted the story because Hotchkiss' non-profit, Whirlwind International, was helping people in those countries build those chairs with local materials. I sent the story to a friend of mine who shared an interest in international development.  Here is the video:


Here's a PBS Frontline story focusing on a Vietnamese distributor of the chair:


I did not know that two years later I would be working for Kifas, a licensed distributor of Whirlwind products, and that the friend I sent the story to would be one of our biggest cheerleaders. Kifas has received large orders for the RoughRider over the last couple years. It manufactures most of the component parts in-house.

Kifas is now diversifying away from Whirlwind for a few reasons, among them that the RoughRider is not adequate for children who need more dynamic support and cannot propel themselves. This is why Kifas is eager to promote its new partnership with XPlore Mobility of Bozeman, MT.  Kifas will soon be manufacturing these sporty new chairs:

There is a lot of sound orthopedic engineering in the Dyno chair above. But you can see that the chair looks almost like a stroller that you'd see a jogger pushing her kids in. This has great appeal in societies where there is a stigma attached to being handicapped.

Have an interest in pediatric orthopedics? Do you have an interest in industrial engineering and manufacturing processes? If so, contact us for more information.