Report faults TSA’s treatment of amputees

Posted on June 30, 2010

From scattered news blurbs, I did get the gut feeling that it was a rather good idea to stay away from the USA - until they solved some of their domestic problems.

I mean, we all along knew there was clear abuse that some TSA guys played out on amputee travelers. As traveler on USA airports, you have next to no legal rights. With the US patriot act, one can be detained for years or decades without any charge or legal rights either. This does sound extremely difficult and unsympathetic. One generally is at the mercy of people such as these:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2010/05/latest_tsa_screener_drama_noth.html

Jan. 3, 2010: A TSA agent was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for behaving erratically. The guard had just gotten off duty and was heard saying, “I am god, I’m in charge.”

Jan. 6, 2010: An internal investigation discovered that four LAX TSA agents used drugs at an after-hours party. All four were tested for drugs and one came back positive. That employee was fired.

Jan. 7, 2010: Video showed that a Newark Liberty International Airport screener allowed a man to bypass a security checkpoint and enter a terminal to see his girlfriend. The move forced passengers to clear the terminal and reenter the screening process. The guard was disciplined and back on the job by March.

Jan. 22, 2010: A screener lost his job after pretending to plant a plastic bag of white powder in the carry-on luggage of a passenger at the Philadelphia International Airport. A spokeswoman called the behavior “highly inappropriate and unprofessional.”

Jan. 28, 2010: The screener was put on desk duty after she wasphotographed sleeping in plain sight at LaGuardia Airport.

Seems like my gut feeling was right (see below). So, until the Americans resolved their attitude issues, I figured it was probably safe to stay away as much as possible, give my money to other holiday destinations and keep following the news.

Filed Under Disability and the public, Discrimination, Stigmatization, Travel | Leave a Comment

Invitation: Armwear Exhibition at Royal College of Art, London, UK - Kensington 25 June – 4 July 2010

Posted on June 17, 2010

Becky Pilditch has been creating bespoke pieces of armwear which explore empowerment, choice and identity, at the Royal College of Art, London. A series of objects were created for Holly Franklin which explored the relationship between Holly, her hands and her peers, for positive social interaction. Images at http://www.superprostheticsproject-gallery.tumblr.com

Becky and Holly would love to invite you to come and see the exhibition and have a chat.

SHOW TWO Kensington 25 June – 4 July 2010, 11am–8pm daily (closed 2 July), free admission.

Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU
Animation; Architecture; Communication Art & Design; Conservation; Curating Contemporary Art; Design Interactions; Design Products; Fashion ; History of Design; Innovation Design Engineering; Textiles and Vehicle Design

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Socket length for long forearm stumps - extreme back-to-back mount of Ossur Icelock pin-lock and wrist

Posted on June 13, 2010

This is invasive works.

To get my long stump (~6cm behind wrist) to still allow for correct socket length, and to allow usage of regular components, we did some things.

My wrist (see series description) has a central bore (image below, left). This is necessary to allow for the pin to protrude through the pin lock (hole, image below, right) into the wrist space.

My socket (image below, right) contains an Ossur Icelock. As I figured out, its distal metal plate (round shiny plate) is quite thick and so lots of that material can be milled down without problems. The lock still works perfectly well.

So if it is necessary to achieve a correct length (not an over length) for long below elbow stumps, grinding down parts and keeping at it is the way to go. This is what I did to my socket that was 2-3cm too long: as proof of concept, I reduced the length dramatically and took the resulting shortened socket to the prosthetic technician to clean up. Now I have two perfectly measured sockets.

Looking at the cross section of the end of my shop-issued socket (diagram, left), the wrist (w) sits on top of some epoxy (e) that constitutes the end of the socket and holds the pin lock (pl) in place.

I removed a lot of bulk (diagram, middle, “remove”) and milled down into the metal plate of the in lock (pl) to gain another 3-5 mm. Even the plastic unlock button does not require a full casing, that can be partly removed as well.

The result (diagram, right) is an extremely tight construction that only works if the wrist has a central bore.

Disclaimer: I knew what I was doing. If you don’t get it right, you risk damaging possibly expensive parts. So you are definitely on your own with this.

Filed Under Prosthesis, Socket/liner | Leave a Comment

Socket control of pronation and supination [demo]

Posted on June 13, 2010

My forearm stump allowed only very limited pronation and supination until three months ago.

As it appears, there are some ‘technical promises’ around that include a promise for better pronation and supination as part of their promised betterments:

Osseointegration
High-fidelity sockets

I found that just for good pronation or supination, neither seems to be necessary. In fact, all that had happened was that I shrank and as a consequence, my previous sockets had become both rather wide and loose.

Filed Under Prosthesis, Socket/liner | Leave a Comment

Art and Disability - “Greasy Spoon” by Brian Walker

Posted on June 13, 2010

While not all photographs - even if supported by Otto Bock - manage to show really good taste and a deeper glimpse into the real life of disability at the same time, some photographs do.

This picture from Brian Walker’s series “Precious Fleshous” is titled “Greasy Spoon”. What a profound picture that is. Did you ever try to actually pick up a greasy spoon with a prosthetic arm? Did you ever have problems picking up something but instead of blaming it on the prosthetic or the overall situation, you’d rather call the spoon “greasy”? If they build something the wrong way, prosthetic parts manufacturers indeed recommend ergotherapy to get the patient going - but naming this by name is a taboo. Is it true that arm amputees may tend to stop ordering steaks and start ordering cut up “dog-type” food to avoid having to use knife and fork in a restaurant? I don’t know about y’all but I caught myself early in that process.

And this image just taps on a whole array of ramifications.

Filed Under Art, Attitude, Disability and the public, Media | Leave a Comment

Art and Disability - Vom Makel des Charmes und vom Unsinn, die Kombination von Behinderung, Submissivität, Objektfetisch und Oberflächlichkeit andauernd als was anderes anzupreisen

Posted on June 13, 2010

Charme [ʃarm] der; -s; nur Sg 1. der reizvolle, positive Eindruck, den eine Person od. Sache auf jemanden macht <der Charme einer Frau, einer Stadt; bezaubernder, unwiderstehlicher, weiblicher Charme; Charme ausstrahlen; (viel) Charme haben> 2. seinen Charme spielen lassen gespr; sich absichtlich liebenswürdig und höflich verhalten (meist um dadurch einen Vorteil für sich zu erreichen)