Project design of an accessible floater for people with disabilities or reduced mobility:
universal design and accessibility.
VELOSO, Isis Tatiane de Barros Macêdo; JÚNIOR, Agenor Veloso da Silva; LEPRE, Priscilla
Ramalho; LEANDRO, Jessica Santos; SILVA, Ayran Macedo; RIBEIRO, Franciele de Souza;
SANTOS, Keylla Cristina Correia; DIAS, Morgana Barros.
University Federal of Alagoas, Brazil.
This work is part of an extension project of the Federal University of Alagoas and presents
preliminary results of a survey, that consists in the design of a "floater accessible" to persons
with disabilities or reduced mobility, such as the elderly, pregnant women or anyone with
difficulty temporary mobility, within the context of universal design and accessibility. The Decree
No. 5296/2004, the Presidency of the Federative Republic of Brazil, made available by the Civil
Office, lists the accessibility conditions, security and autonomy (total or assisted) for use of
spaces, furniture, urban equipment, buildings, transportation services, among others, the
disabled or handicapped, with the universal design be responsible for meeting the design of
spaces, artifacts and products covering simultaneously all people, with different anthropometric
and sensory characteristics, independently, safe and comfortable. This project is developed on
the Pajuçara Beach, Maceió/AL, whose main activity is tourism to the natural pools through
rafts, main source of income of fishermen that transport passengers to these pools. The tour
takes place during low tide between shoals and reefs, 2 km from the coast. From a demand
identified by Silva (2010), when designing an accessible raft to transport passengers with motor
disability or reduced mobility, it was realized that although they have a suitable vessel to enable
raft trips, could not enjoy the moments rest of the natural pools, since there was no equipment
to provide flotation conditions, limiting their use in space. In the market, there are similar
devices that cost around R$ 1,700.00 which require accommodation logistics and use not
consistent with the existing infrastructure on site. If we consider the socioeconomic profile of
fishermen over the need of having this type of equipment to assist passengers, target audience
of this project, we soon realized that the existing equipment on the market are expensive and do
not correspond to local reality. Therefore, the design of the floater considers requirements low
cost, the manufacturability of simplified and traditional way, using materials and hand labor
available locally, from the perspective of technology transfer (Santos et al., 2007; WISNER,
1994 2004), so that fishermen and other people of low income, in addition to people with
disabilities or reduced mobility, can acquire the equipment. The project allows also be used in
artificial pools, either as leisure or as helper in motor rehabilitation treatments by health
professionals on patients. Thus, we face a participatory project, as pointed out by Veloso
(2010), the search for consistency with the local reality and the real needs of the social actors
involved in the project, an evolutionary process validations, refunds, realizations and varieties
data, involving professionals of Physical Education, Physiotherapists, Design students,
ergonomists and users in data, information and testing prototypes. The methodology used is
hybrid, based on the product design development methodologies (MUNARI, 1998; Couto, 1999;
Lobach, 2001; Baxter, 2003; DE MORAES, 2010; Bonsiepe, 2011) from the perspective of
Universal Design, Accessibility and contributions of Ergonomic Work Analysis (WISNER, 1994;
VIDAL, 2002; Guerin, 2003). As part of the research, the students involved in the project
participated in an experiment in the pool of ADEFAL - Association of Physically Handicapped of
Alagoas - partner of the project, guided by trained professionals, to feel, by simulation, the
difficulties that people with disabilities have in pools, as paraparesis, hemiparesis and
tetraparesis. This practice was important for the generation of ideas that led to the construction
of a prototype. Based on the survey data, the concept was developed to provide easy
packaging and transportation, besides having low cost. To enable the fluctuation conditions, the
"floater" (Figure 1) requires swim noodles, made of polyethylene foam, found easily on the
market (Figure 2). Thus, once removed the swim noodles, the device can be easily folded,
stored and transported by fishermen and other users (Figure 3). The next tests will be
performed in the natural pools of Pajuçara Beach.
FIgure 1: Floater 1
FIgure 2: Swim Noodles Figure 3: Folded Float References
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