Able Table: An Experience
The sounds of the exhibition faded as I watched him slowly
approach the Able Table stand. I had observed him over the past two days, his
face lacked a smile and his body seemed to hold a tension within itself,
displaying a certain awkwardness to the world in which he meandered. At
exhibitions some people tend to slide up kind of cautiously to stands, not sure
if they want to attract the attention of an overeager sales assistant before
they establish for themselves some level of interest in the product or service
on display. Others don’t hesitate, ready
to do battle of the buying or ripping apart variety. He rolled up to us with a
determined look in his face, a no nonsense gait born of a presumably difficult
life climbing to the higher echelons of managerial position. He avoided our
feeble attempts at eye contact. His focus was on the Able Table alone. The low
mumble from the motor of his wheelchair stopped. His head facing down, he
positioned himself in the correct slot. His arms rested on the table, he looked
up and a tear trailed down my face as his demeanour softened, his body relaxed
and the most wonderful smile uncovered itself from his stoic lips.
“This is the table I have been looking for all my life” were
his words as he took out his laptop and started the process of accessing the
Able Table for its potential as his future work environment. I met Martin’s eye
and our anticipating lungs recommenced drawing in air.
The adventure had started nearly a year before the Mobility
Exhibition in the RDS. Martin Finucane had been at home one day recovering from
a serious back injury of his own when his wife, Esther, strolled in and told
him to go out the back and build her a table to help in work. Esther works as a
care assistant in residential facility in Navan helping people in wheelchairs.
Martin who had just come out of a stint in a wheelchair himself said “Of course
honey” and that was the spark which ignited a revolution in the care of disabled
persons. The next day he started the whole process of designing a table which
could facilitate in a social inclusive manner the care of a number of people in
wheelchairs at the same time. Eventually after much toil and effort he came up
with a design which both him-self and Esther were happy with and so was born
the Able Table.
Over the centuries different inventions and creations have had
the potential to change the lives of the whole of the population of the earth
and some have in the most fundamental of ways changed the lives of specific
sectors of the human clan. The Able Table is one such invention, it
revolutionises the care and well-being of people who suffer with disabilities.
It allows for hand over hand care for up to four people all at once. This may
not mean a whole lot to able bodied persons outside of a care or hospital
environment but if you have spent years and perhaps decades been cared for on a
one to one basis with no social interaction, well then the opportunity to finally
have a meal around a table with others is a fundamental life enhancing revolution
in the quality of your daily life.
The Able Table also improves the lives of the carers and
nurses who have dedicated their lives to the care and well-being of others. They
are the ones who cry when they see Mary’s head rise from her chest for the
first time as her arms rest on the table. They are the ones who return the
smile of Tom who after years of gloom finally laughs at the stories been told
from the other end of the table by Pat, a man who up until the Able Table has
held his stories inside of himself. These amazing carers are also the ones who
can now join in the conversation around the table and whose work load is eased
because of the ease and convenience of the table’s unique and patented design.
People in wheelchairs can never usually fully sit into a
table, the depth of their chair imposes a void between themselves and the point
of contact with the table-top and hence distances them from other people.
Martin decided this was not acceptable, that everyone deserves the right to be
included in society at the most basic of levels. Prior to our table dinner time
was a lonely half hour for people in care homes, as they ate or were feed on a
one to one basis on individual trays. But the Able table is now here to create
a complete paradigm shift in the way people perceive those in wheel chairs. No
more are they outside of the social circle, they are now in the heart of it.
The effect the table had on the man at the start of this
article is replicated on a daily basis with people in care facilities where
Martin and his Step Daughter Cariosa bring the most wonderful gift anyone can
give another, the gift of companionship, breaking the cycle of isolation and
bringing them more fully into the human family.
We are appearing on the Dragons Den on Sunday the fifth of
June. The June bank holiday when hopefully the sun shines and the dragons will
see what I saw the day Martin came into me with his business idea. As an
accountant I hear people’s stories on a daily basis but with Martin Finucane I
saw not only a product, wonderful enough to potentially change people’s lives for
the better, but more importantly I saw in Martin himself a man with something
special inside of himself, something which cries out to be encouraged to
blossom into the reality of a mission to improve the world for those with
disabilities.
@Eleanor_McEvoy @able_tablehttps://www.facebook.com/theabletable/?fref=ts
www.abletable,ie
© Frank McGivney, Financial Controller Able
Table Ltd. 29.05.16
