My dad was fiercely independent until his last days, turning away all kinds of help even though accepting it would have certainly prolonged his life as well as improving his quality of life. As his health declined after his strokes I found myself with a growing interest in technology-based assistance.
[bummer, the link died]
http://www.pcworld.com/article/160752/bathrooms_become_smarter_with_touch_screens.html
Proof of concept? No doubt about it. This and lot of other stuff, some/much of which runs *very* close to what I’d immediately discount due to privacy and security concerns. (But then again, I’m healthy!)
The thing is, the population’s median age is rising fast and I firmly believe it’s technology, robotics, and so on that’ll help folks like me more gracefully cope with the problems that crop up as our bodies and minds reach the end of their service lives. By sheer numbers alone there simply won’t be enough human caregivers to go around.
Gotta start somewhere!
Fun article with a few implications they haven’t thought of.
1. The bathroom (along with the kitchen) are the worst two places to put medicine cabinets due to heat and humidity. All my meds are in the bedroom closet. Having severe roomnesia (thanks, Rich Hall for the Sniglet), when the mirror tells me to take my meds, I’m not going to remember what it said by the time I get to my meds in another closet.
2. Personally, that toilet better do more than elevate, because if my mirror talks to me, it’s gonna scare the crap out of me.
3. Psychiatric interviews always include questions about auditory and visual hallucinations; however, they are phrased, “Do you see or hear things that no one else does?” Being alone with my ablutions, there’s no one else present. “Yeah. My bathroom mirror shows me pretty pictures and talks to me.” Okay — off to the funny farm!
I’m not knocking adaptive technology — it’s got my severely (99th percentile) dyslexia nephew out of special ed, into normal and honors classes, and off to college. But this bathroom is at the proof-of-concept level.
BRB — my mirror is calling me. :-D