Packaging help is finally at hand for disabled people

Packaging help is finally at hand for disabled people

Does packaging drive you mad?

Imagine how an arthritis ­sufferer feels. Sometimes I get so infuriated at not being able to extricate the product from its wrapping that I feel like smashing it with a hammer.

I want to plonk the product on the desk of the CEO and challenge them to open it without breaking fingernails and tearing skin. So let’s make ­packaging easier for arthritis sufferers.

Why don’t companies subject products to consumer testing for ease of unwrapping? Those tests should include people with poor vision and disabilities like arthritis, as well as older people with a weak grip.

To get a feel for this as medical students, we were sent out on the streets into shops and supermarkets ‘disabled’ by eyeshades, our fingers bound together and our feet manacled.

We got a dramatic experience of what life was like for people weakened by age and disability, and the difficulties they faced day in, day out. We learned that with arth ritis of the hands and fingers, you can’t turn on a tap, hold a kettle, lift a glass or turn a door knob, let alone open tightly packed products.

In this country, there are 10 million disabled people and 14 million grandparents. And nearly a third of the population is over 65. That’s a lot of people to ignore. So it’s good news that Cambridge University has come up with a concept called ‘Inclusive Design’ which is aimed at putting the consumers of all kinds at the centre of product design so they become easier to use and enjoy â€" regardless of age, disability and physical strength.

Researchers in Georgia Tech Research Institute in Atlanta, US, has designed a special pair of gloves so that manufacturers can understand the impact of arthritis on product and packaging design.

In Australia, this challenge has been taken up by Nestle packaging experts working with Arthritis Australia to come up with an Accessibility Benchmarking Scale.

On five o f their most popular products, they’ve imitated the way debilitating disease restricts movement, grip and strength and has designed a new easy to grip bottle and easy to open cap for a nutritional drink.

Nearer to home, Cambridge University has worked with Nestle since 2009 on Inclusive Design to meet the needs of more people. Inclusive Design tools can be used to test how to make products easier to handle.

I watched a video where eight small changes to a product’s design made it easier to open, read the instructions, get the product out of the box and of course most importantly, to enjoy it.