The Lad Collective, work with Braille House to launch world-first accessible bedding set to help the world make the bed more easily.
Brisbane-based start up The Lad Collective has designed a world first bedding set to help 4.4 million Australians living with physical and intellectual disablities to make their bed.
Bill Ovenden who helms the start up with his brother Edward, said the everyday task of making the bed could be a struggle – or impossible – for those living with disabilities, particularly the blind or visually impaired. “Since our sheets hit the market, some of the most rewarding feedback we’ve received has been from people living with disabilities Australia-wide telling us how the corner straps on the fitted sheet make it easier for them to tuck the sheet under the mattress,” Bill said. “We realised our product was helping people typically overlooked by the home bedding space. “This is what gave us the idea of creating a NDIS and Aged Care-approved bedding set which was even more inclusive than our previous products.
Murwillumbah mother Robyn Tickle said the sheets had enabled her 23-year-old disabled son Jason to make his own bed for the first time.
“Jason feels mega proud of himself and I am one proud mum because he has never been able to make the bed with normal sheets,” said Ms Tickle. “You should have seen his face the first time he accomplished the task.
With the help of Braille House, The Lad Collective had also designed a sheet set with braille and tactile lettering on the labelled corner straps to make it straightforward for blind and visually impaired people, as well as those with physical and intellectual disabilities, to work out which corner goes where and quickly tuck the corners in at the correct spots.
Vision-impaired Australian Paralympic athlete, triathlete and adventurer Gerard Gosens is no stranger to the importance of inclusive products like these. “For people who are vision-impaired, often the smallest things can make the biggest difference,” Mr Gosens said. “Using the braille and tactile features of these sheets, visually impaired people can easily discern where each corner strap should go and make sure the bed set is colour matching and correctly sized and that’s a great source of independence. ‘The bedding set’s box also features a raised QR code, enabling users to scan the code and be directed to a webpage containing a step-by-step video and audio tutorial explaining how to use the sheets. Many times I’ve received instructions in a box and just been unable to read them,” Mr Gosens said the sheets offered both convenience and an increased sense of independence.
Braille House General Manager Richard Barker said “The Lad Collective were exhibiting a strong and sensitive commitment to inclusion, and they wanted to ensure that they used the correct and appropriate braille and tactile elements, so they engaged with Braille House to assist. By modifying their product to be more inclusive, The Lad Collective was setting a powerful precedent for other businesses. Braille House is always happy to work with organisations that want to make their products accessible.” He also said, “Products like TLC sheets will be an enormous driver for change because other organisations will look at the social justice philosophy of this organisation and think ‘What can we do within our organisation to be more inclusive?”
The Lad Collective offer direct-to-consumer shipping on all their products, available at https://www.theladcollective.com/pages/ndis
