Book Review: Assistive Devices for Daily Living

Book Review

Reviewer: Dr P Vyasamoorthy

Date of Review: 23^rd Nov 2006

Assistive Devices for Daily Living. By Dr SD Gokhale and Dr Abhijit Joshi

Sequel Infoemedia Private Limited, Pune. October 2006.Pune. pp 220 including 44 pages of colour photos. (Also available as CD) Price Rs 250/- (Available from  International Longevity Center, Pune)

This book is unique and the only one on the subject in India. Elderly people as well other disabled persons require a number of Assistive devices to lead a normal life and to be accepted by the society. For example, persons with hearing loss go for hearing aids, people with low vision go for spectacles or use magnifying glass and adults suffering from incontinence opt for adult diapers. This book on Assistive Devices for daily Living looks into all aspects of such requirements of senior citizens and other disabled persons.

As the book is the result (report) of a project undertaken by the International Longevity center, Pune, chapters like preamble, Aims & Objectives of the project, Terms of   reference, definitions from National Policies on Disability & ageing, Methodology are all given in initial chapters. Chapter 6, erroneously titled "Definitions and National Policy on Disability and Ageing" which should in all probability called "Classification scheme for ADDL" contains the intellectual input from ILC. The classification scheme developed is exhaustive and serves the purpose of the directory extremely well. Chapter 7 on market potential for Assistive devices is brief and sketchy but nevertheless useful as it provides pointers about the future scenario.

Bulk of the book  (65%) is devoted to systematic listing of about 465 Assistive devices. For each device the name, brief description, manufacturer, his product identification code, specification, price & currency are given. Where illustration is available, a reference to the photo section is given.  All photos (in colour) are given in one sequence after descriptive tables, to minimize cost of production. Following table gives the spread / distribution of info among various categories:

                       

SN	Category	Number of devices
1	Orthopedic Support	125
2	Bathing	31
3	Toileting	25
4	Bed and Chairs	27
5	Pressure relief	11
6	Comfort and dressing	31
7	Kitchen & dining	29
8	Household	24
9	Home health	7
10	Mobility	59
11	Moving and handling	36
12	Low Vision devices	53
13	Hearing Aids	3
14	Security Ads	3

There are a number of useful appendixes. These include a list of books (32), a list of experts (11), a list of resource organizations (43) and a list of manufacturers – foreign 14 and Indian 17. If complete details, including the publisher & price have been mentioned in the case of books, the list would have become more useful.

The directory part in itself is highly useful. Comments added by the compiler [examples: Toilet Frames suitable for Indian conditions); Commode chairs (design can be easily adapted); Standup Kit (highly recommended for institutional use) etc] add value to the user. Most important benefit of the book is that we come to know about the existence and availability of hundreds of Assistive devices for seniors.  

The font chosen is very small and the printing itself is very light in many pages, which is difficult for senior citizens to read. I am confident that the publishers will take care of it in the next edition.          

The book is also available in CDROM format. It is a collection of Adobe acrobat pdf files representing the printed book.  Adobe reader, available as free download, is all that is needed to use the CD.

This book is indeed a mine of information, aimed at making the life livable and worthy of living for disabled seniors.