Ironing Problems

[AmyL]

Hi

I'm a university design student and am looking at the problems that people might face with household tasks like ironing, inparticular I was thinking of how hard it must be for users in wheelchairs to carry out the ironing completely independently. An ironing board is bulky and not especially light. I have seen the ironing boards that are smaller and fitted inside a cupboard on the wall and I was wondering if anybody has one of these and what they think to it? As far as I can see they are smaller than standard ironing boards, and there is no opportunity to move around, you would be fixed to ironing in that one place. Do people actually have this sort of space available on the wall to fit one of these cupboards? Alternatively, is it easy for a wheelchair user to use a standard ironing board?

I want to better understand what I believe is a problem and try to design a solution that would be better for people in wheelchairs, and hopefully also people that don't user wheelchairs but have a difficulty standing for a length of time. I want to give people more independence and make a solution that suits many more users than existing products currently do.

I have read through the rules for this site and understand that it's alright for me to ask things like this that might count as research, so I hope nobody minds.

Thanks

Amy

[sharbutt]

Hi Amy

When doing your research you may also want to speak to the members/users of the following sites.

www.thewheellife.com (an online community of wheelchair users, their friends and family.

and

www.wheelchairusers.org.uk

Hope this helps you.
Best of luck

Sharon

[AmyL]

Thanks for that info!

[Indy]

I'd imagine the guys over at enabled by design may have a few ideas for you as well:

http://enabledbydesign.org/blog/

[Tedamott73]

Im not able to login either we will get to work on this maybe server problems but we will get it up soon

[AmyL]

What height would you consider a good height for the ironing board to be for it to be suitable for you?

How big do you think the board should be to be good enough for you to iron your clothes? Can you reach both ends of the ironing board you currently have or is it too long?

[Attaftich]

:? Can anyone help?

We have a Willerby Vogue caravan, where the ironing board pulls out from one of the top drawers. It is smaller than a normal ironing board. Does anyone know where we will get a smaller sized ironing board cover?

Thanks in anticipation. :wink:

[Attaftich]

It might be worth trying the Betterware catalogue. No, Im not an agent touting for business its only because there was one through our door at the weekend and I remembered this. They do small ironing boards and covers. Cant remember the price of the cover but the board was around £7.99 Good luck.

[AmyL]

Would you want an ironing board that is specific for wheelchair users or would this just feel like another piece of specialist equipment? Would you prefer to have an ironing board re-designed to be suitable for your use but also able bodied people can use it?

Thanks!

[AmyL]

Do you like the traditional style of ironing board which is freestanding or would you be happy with something which attaches to the wall meaning you are restricted to just ironing in one location?