Post

Jo Sharp
@jofeanelwa.bsky.social

This is brilliant and I don't know anybody but I will definitely share it. Also I would totally be up for making some of these if anybody needs it and can supply the right fabric.

Baruch
@bdespinoza.bsky.social

I can't help but think that this problem was solved by someone's grandmother decades ago, probably multiple independent times. But those designs are probably lost to the winds of time.

Calm Down
@calmdown01.bsky.social

Excellent idea. Whilst I'm not in a lab, I can see their value beyond it. I work in a polytunnel with plants and want to dabble with wood/metal turning and can't find a lab coat that fits. It's always about my lap and knees needing good coverage. So, I tend to use a long denim apron.

Geoff Smith
@fogcat.bsky.social

This is the sort of thing that reveals my unconscious bias. Until I read this post I'm sorry to say I'd never even considered that something like this is desirable. Sorry, I will try to do better.

Erin
@thevelvetsun.bsky.social

You see how in the picture she is putting her hands in the pockets which are located at her knees? In regular lab coats the pockets are much higher up and inaccessible when sitting in a wheelchair.

Banda Bassotti
@orpach.neocities.org

From the photos, it looks like the back is missing from the bottom and looks less likely to form a lap pool. I think the lower pockets are moved too. Imagine trying to take off a standard lab coat quickly without standing up.

Jwb52z
@jwb52z.bsky.social

I'm not in the UK, but I am wheelchair bound. What exactly makes a specific kind of lab coat necessary? The picture makes it look like an ugly poncho.

Jake McGehee
@jacobmcgehee.bsky.social

Lab coats aren't important because of how they look; they're protective by covering the skin and are often made out of materials that are protective as well. It may look like an "ugly poncho" to you, but lab coats are really important personal protective equipment and it's dangerous for wheelchair

Jwb52z
@jwb52z.bsky.social

I know how they look doesn't matter. I should have been more precise in my words. I meant that the picture didn't look like what I would call a lab coat. I'm used to seeing the long white ones that doctors wear.

Anna Landre
@annalandre.com

Our design is being made to suit a wet lab that doesn’t use those types of coats, so we aren’t making one of those as of now! But any final designs of ours will be made open source, and I bet there are some open source patterns already out there of the howie design — so u could combine them!

Renee
@renaissancedreamer.bsky.social

Not a lab environment but I’ve been looking for something for kitchen use (protecting body & legs from spills & hot liquids and possibly working like a spill-proof oven mitt if a hot item needed to be set on the lap)

Compton Scatterbrained
@comptonscatter.bsky.social

I suspect walking/crutching chair users would adapt themselves to labs differently than fulltime chair users and both groups are great for testing but it looked to me like the focus was more on fulltimers. My friend with MS does a lot of stand-ups at grocery stores for example.

Anna Landre
@annalandre.com

Our focus is on both full time and part time chair users, as long as they use their chair while working in the lab! We want to try to make the design as broadly useful as possible, and we don’t yet know how the user needs will differ.