Warryn Introduced Chair for the day Chris
Chris introduced our guest speaker Lloyd who would be speaking later on the "man/machine interface”
Thanks for the photos Roger
President Deborah told us about a fundraising opportunity at the Gympie Muster. It would involve collecting full bins and taking them to collection points in six hour shifts.
There would be camping available so we could enjoy the Muster in addition to volunteering
Subsequently, RC Toowoomba Metropolitan has taken the lead role, however we are invited to be involved.
The Muster runs from the 28th to 31 August
"Born in a cyclone" President Deborah acknowledged the wet and windy conditions coinciding with her Birthday Party, but swore there would be an Aftermath Party to come
Sally introduced Lloyd
Dr Lloyd Walker in recognised as one of Australia's leaders in the policy and practice of assistive technologies (AT) for people with disability and older people.
He was Director - AT Market Policy & Innovation at the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) to the end of January 2025. In his work nationally and internationally (including to the WHO), he takes a collaborative, evidence-based approach informed through his lived experience of disability to deliver better outcomes for all stakeholders. In November 2024 he was recognised with the David Dewhurst Award by Engineers Australia.
Based on the Sunshine Coast, Lloyd lives with his Environmental Engineer wife, Michelle and continues to contribute to a number of community and Uniting Church activities in his spare time.
Lloyd works with Dave at the repair cafe.
What is AT? (assistive technology)
An early example is the pirate hook
World War I – gas victims
World War II/President Roosevelt - had polio and cerebral palsy
The iron lung -children survived polio, but .…
Australia – cochlea implant.
Now you can drive with a joystick
Now you can drive with a joystick
Lloyd was born with a short left leg and hip impairment
Mindset was the biggest barrier
Mindset was the biggest barrier
The medical establishment tended to "push away""
No cure equals a "failure"
No cure equals a "failure"
Communication not so important
Australian Environment – four-wheel-drive chairs required but there are a few options
Pyramids diagram
Hand control for cars
Prosthetic arms – there is now one that implants into the bone
Prosthesis for faces
Prosthetic arms – there is now one that implants into the bone
Prosthesis for faces
Late 2000 walking exoskeletons for military use
Predictive text
Acceptable design - homes – "silver level" accessibility required
Eg grabs in showers, continuous path of travel.
1% to 2% cost increase
Eg grabs in showers, continuous path of travel.
1% to 2% cost increase
Rotary – "wheelchairs for kids"
On the board of Motivation Australia.
Product now fit for purpose.
Product now fit for purpose.
A question from Mark – donated wheelchair graveyards in third world countries?
Material – bearings – position of wheels needing to be further apart, a "whole list” of problems
Material – bearings – position of wheels needing to be further apart, a "whole list” of problems
AT now foundational in homes and life in general
Drawer dishwashers, barcode reader
Drawer dishwashers, barcode reader
Diagram with 4 kg light wheelchairs, nano patching and digital twinning.
The brain "that heals itself”
The brain "that heals itself”
Motor neuron disease - "Voice banking"
Now with AI all that needs is 25 minutes of speech.
Now with AI all that needs is 25 minutes of speech.
An interesting observation that when children are given power wheelchairs and the ability to drive them, they "runaway"
Diagram with over 65 in the bottom left corner and NDIS top right quarter – not for over 65
Deborah asked about respirators/wheelchair combinations
Chris - Stephen Hawking test subject, but he preferred his “tech talk"
"People taking part in society”
ABC's disability presenter Naz is vision impaired has an earpiece
Question from Derek re NDIS and its bad publicity
Government began processes with mixed messages
Not cutting services but trying to stop rorting
ACCC/ Tax Office/Federal Police working together
$1.2 billion per year for tech = $3 million a day
Some providers/companies/banned/jaol time
It's getting challenging to rort
Postcode lottery
NDIS – not "the" solution.
For instance, not involved in schools
For instance, not involved in schools
Chris thanked Lloyd
Directors reports
Pam reporting on RUSCCF nurseries now presented to the north and south of the coast. Suggested no Rotary meeting that week in lieu. 29th of May at the Caloundra Golf Club 6:30. Rotary club of Caloundra to do the raffle
Mark - Vocational visit to the Salvation Army would be on 8 April - please pre-pay.
Tracey – Derek to be a new member
Derek “contact" with the Club difficult -needs fixing."A wall”
Hopefully now emails to trose.sec.gmail.com@clubrunner.email
Hopefully now emails to trose.sec.gmail.com@clubrunner.email
A final joke from Corporal Warryn.
Police in Caloundra have been "doorknocking" because somebody has broken in to the police station and stolen their porcelain toilets - "They have no new leads and nowhere to go”
Police in Caloundra have been "doorknocking" because somebody has broken in to the police station and stolen their porcelain toilets - "They have no new leads and nowhere to go”
George Bernard Shaw was a thin man, and Winston Churchill once took a jab at his slim frame:
Churchill: "Looking at you, Mr. Shaw, one would think there was a famine in England."
Shaw: "And looking at you, Mr. Churchill, one would think you are the cause of it."
Churchill: "Looking at you, Mr. Shaw, one would think there was a famine in England."
Shaw: "And looking at you, Mr. Churchill, one would think you are the cause of it."
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright and a renowned satirist.
Here are some quotes from him
Here are some quotes from him
1.Marriage is an alliance entered into by a man who can't sleep with the window shut, and a woman who can't sleep with the window open."
2."You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?'"
3."A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul."
4."There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart's desire. The other is to get it."
5. "Statistics are like Swimsuit : what they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital."
6. "Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man. And socialism, it's the opposite."
7. "Marriage is an alliance between two people, one who never knows why, and the other who never knows how."
8. "Marriage is an institution that allows two people to endure together the troubles they wouldn't have had if they had remained single."
9. "Never trust a government that is afraid of its citizens."
10. "Common sense is the most widely shared thing in the world: everyone thinks they are well supplied with it."
11. "Capitalism has its drawbacks, but socialism has many more."
12. "Democracy is a system where the people are free to choose who will govern them as long as it's always the same ones."
13. "The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence."