BRAZILIAN DESIGN FOR HANDICAPPED PEOPLE :
PROJECT OF A TOILET SUPPORT THAT FITS ALL TOILETS

The average design is often directed towards the 6 feet western white male that can afford industrial products. This kind of design neither contemplates the majority of the global population nor normally focuses the handicapped people. Besides, there are few designers dedicated to this growing handicapped population (due to the progress in the medicine and to the improvement of the socioeconomic conditions). This is not an easy approach, because it needs the interaction of professionals from several areas for reaching the goal of meeting the needs of a handicapped person: physicians, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, educators and so on. 

An occupational therapist from the Jati School in Sao Paulo, Brazil, who assists special necessity people with cerebral paralysis has realized the need of a toilet support so as to permit these people to be helped in the training process for stool directly in the toilet. So far as we know there are not in Brazil devices that retain the trunk to maintain the body stability during this act. It was searched nationally  and internationally equipments relative to toilet supports. It was also done a participative observation at that school in order to know the resources that have been used to do the sphincter control training, for recognizing the special demands of these patients and the physical problems they have and to raise data that could help the execution of an ergonomic project. In the enterprise management there is a parallel, that is the participative development of a product according to the clients´ desires. The focus on the client is the central challenge that demands efforts of understanding, capturing and translating their needs towards actions and decisions inside a product development process.

It was developed a toilet support project that meets the needs mentioned above. This project of toilet support has trunk support, seat belts and feet supports and fits all toilets. It may be used by the family that has only one toilet at home.

We can conclude that it is very important the work a designer in the social area, a field with a progressively larger projection in several countries. The social inclusion and the communitarian responsibility mainly in the fields of  health and education are turning the designers´ work essential in their function of making the world a better place for all.

BONSIEPE, G. & YAMADA, T. Desenho Industrial para pessoas deficientes. Brasília: CNPq, 1982. 
COOPER, Rachel Ethics and Altruism: What Constitutes Socially Responsible Design? In Design  Management Review  Summer, 2005.
PAPANEK, Victor  Diseñar para el mundo real-ecologia humana y cambio social Madrid, H. Blume Ediciones, 1977.