Taichung Furniture Repairers Give Disability Equipment a New Lease on Life

Furniture repairers in the central city of Taichung are turning their attention to the increasing numbers of abandoned crutches and walkers.

Transcript

00:00Cleaning up a crutch and walkers and wheelchairs.

00:06Maintenance workers in the central city of Taichung are giving disability equipment a

00:11new lease on life.

00:12We will first look for the problem and then we will repair it at home.

00:18We will see if we need to re-wrap the leather or remove the stitches.

00:23Liao and his colleagues usually spend their time repairing second-hand furniture.

00:28Now the centre run by the city's environmental authorities is also taking on assistive devices

00:35as more people pass them on, often hardly used.

00:39If a patient is sick or has a short-term injury, they can buy new equipment.

00:43If the patient is cured, they will no longer need the equipment and will be given to the

00:50cleaning team to do a clean-up.

00:52The done-up devices are then sold at reduced rates.

00:56People with disabilities can even apply to the city to get them for free.

01:00The scheme has already found new homes for dozens of crutches, walkers and beds, prolonging

01:06their lives and helping those who depend on them.

01:10John Su and Louise Watt for Taiwan Plus.