Saturnine...

... the disposition of my mind during the design class. An influx of turbulent emotions gripped me when I consider to design my team's wheelchair for the elderly. The degeneration of our generation. The prevailing attitude we have towards those who help nurtured and strengthen us through their prime, the reluctance to show the love that is due to them either by their contribution or simply by the responsibility of the next generation. Why are we designing equipments that render our help to the elder usless, cutting our interaction with them, with the preconceive idea that what we design will take away their disabilities?

Our generation's view of responsibility to the elderly is eroding. In fifty years time, when I'm 75, I will be alone, disabled to even shower myself. Yet, no one will come to my aid, because I'm expected to be independent due to the availability of aids in the market. Paradoxically, these assistive devices will not aid me fully in the daily tasks that I'm to accomplish. Those simple tools and sophisticated machines are not sufficient to assist me in all my tasks. The gloom sets in when I read a study of elderly folks who at the beginning of the study could perform basic bathing task could no longer do so after 18 months eventhough there were aids installed in the bathing room.

I'm reminded on my CP block's resident, Mr Tan, who shared his story of his ailing mother, of the lack of filial piety and the bad decisions made among his ten siblings. The mother under the authority of the sons and daughters who find her a burden and the pain of losing slowly her diginity as she ages which she gained over the years as an adult.

I don't want to shit in a wheelchair.