The J. Walter Weatherman Game
Background
To make the most of learning to live with a broken arm, I created the J. Walter Weatherman Game in tribute to Arrested Development’s one-armed man of lessons. While couched in humour, I hope to make the most of finding accessibility issues in everyday designs that I never noticed previously and to share workaround tips with others who might find themselves with an arm in a sling or cast someday.
Scoring is as follows:
- Every time I figure out how to do a two-handed operation with one hand: 50 points
- Every practical workaround or design improvement I come up with in doing so: 100 points
- Every workaround or design improvement I blog about: 150 points
The goal is to hit 50 points per day. Every day I don’t hit the goal scores -25 points. If the scoring seems generous, I expect that coming up with new innovations will get harder as time goes on.
You can read how this all started with the kickoff blog post.
Progress
Current Score: 925
Day 1
- Opening jars with the help of your hip
- Moving a whole espresso setup (or other counter-top appliance) with one hand
- Tamping espresso grinds with one hand
Score: 150 points + 150 for blogging it.
Day 2
- Dressing: when putting on a shirt, sleeve the bad arm first. When taking it off, removing the good arm first seems to work best. I might modify this one over time.
- Dressing: the top button for pants can be tight, so grip it in the second and third finger, using the index finger to hold open the button slot.
Score: 100 points
Day 3
No progress
Score: -25
Day 4
- When putting on a belt, thread it towards the side with the broken arm. The healthy arm will be able to reach around and pull it through. If you thread it to the other side it’s almost impossible to put on.
Score: 50 points
Day 5
- When opening jars with tighter lids, sit on a chair and place the jar between your knees, or on the floor and hold it with bare feet. Remember to initiate the force from the shoulder blade to get the most torque.
Score: 50 points.
Day 6
No progress
Score: -25 points
Day 7
- Opening jars. This was becoming really hard until I cracked the code. Watch the video to see how it’s done.
Score: 50 points +150 for innovation +150 for blogging it.
Day 8
- My brother, who “doesn’t comment on blogs” wrote in to suggest threading a belt through pants while they’re not on my person. This is a brilliant workaround. I can’t claim points for it, but I will consider it enough progress to lose no points today.
Day 9
- When riding the bus, sit on the side opposite your broken arm so that the good arm can grab the bar and navigate while the bus is moving. I have kung-fu balance and usually walk around the bus without holding onto anything. But that’s how accidents happen so for now, it’s bar-holding for me.
Score: 50 points
Day 10
No progress
Score: -25 points
Day 11
- Todd vs. The Tea Kettle. My beloved Paul Revere tea kettle is great but was designed for two hands to fill it with filtered water because the lid won’t stay open on its own. I devised a cardboard wedge that works around this, but think that tea kettle lids should have a means to lock open. Because that’s how we feel when an edge case is our case. See the video of how I reign supreme over the kettle with just one hand.
Score: 50+150 for innovation +150 for blogging it.
Day 12
No progress
Score: -25
Day 13
- Cutting bread. This is among the hardest challenges. At first I tried putting a heavy skillet on the bread and cutting it sideways, but that barely worked at all. Instead, I’ve found one can put the cutting board on a low surface and cover part of the bread with plastic wrap or a towel. Balancing on one foot, use the other to hold the bread over the covered area and cut with the free hand. It works, but it’s not big on elegance or dignity.
Score: I only did this once to see if it could be done. It’s not that practical. 50 points.
Day 14
No progress
Score: -25
Day 15
Bandages came off today. Hooray! Ugly scar now regularly visible. Boo.
No progress
Score: -25
Day 16
No progress
Score: -25
Day 17-21
No progress
Score: -125
Day 18
- Keeping the hand stable while sleeping is tricky. While sleeping with the sling on helps constrain its movement, it still ends up in dangerous positions. I found that resting it on a towel when I go to sleep gives it a different tactile surface from the blanket, which the subconscious seems able to stick with through the night.
Score: +50 points
Day 19-24
No progress
Score: -125
Leave a Comment
This is great. Though I haven’t been using a point system, and my one-armedness is due to carrying a baby around as opposed to a broken arm, I’ve been celebrating my one one-armed triumphs. There’s a lot of shifting the baby from hip-to-hip, so I end up using both arms, but there is the added complication of having to keep whatever I’m doing away from her lunging outstretched hands.
So, even though I’ve never thought about it in that context, accessibility issues can extend to people multitasking in life while trying to accomplish something on their phone/pad/computer…
Babies and busted arms: you gotta be careful with both.
There’ve been a few times where I’ve griped about designs that assume two hands, and I’ve been surprised at how many basic designs in everyday life (shoelaces, for example) expect two hands. There are ways around for those who need to do so for the long term, but this has shown me how deeply the assumption of two hands runs.