Witten by Glyn Hayes (Parliamentary and public affairs at Spinal Injuries Association)
Recently, I had the privilege of attending the “Space for All” program. The central question: “Is it feasible to send a disabled person into space, and what challenges and benefits might arise?”
As I arrived at Bristol Aerospace, I mingled with fellow participants who exuded enthusiasm. Conversations revolved around aviation, and I learned that this group had met five times before.
When we started the workshop, I was starting to feel a bit out of my comfort zone; surrounded by representatives from the UK Space Agency and at least one from NASA who joined online.
The discussion started with some of the history behind the project and of sending disabled individuals to space. There’s already a candidate: John McFall, an amputee accepted into the European Space Agency’s program. While not guaranteed, this represents a significant step forward for people with disabilities.
What struck me most during our discussions was the passion surrounding this topic. Could disabled individuals actually have an advantage in space? After all, they’re adept problem solvers, accustomed to navigating a world not designed for them. Emergency planning is second nature to them.
After lunch we were tasked with creating an outline plan for an experiment that disabled people could do. This is to help create the data and research needed to fully understand the different skills disabled people have compared to non-disabled, and if there are advantages or disadvantages. Or we could look at devising a piece of equipment that could be used to help a disabled person in space.
This was where I felt I made a good contribution, in our team I leaned on my lived experiences from my days in the Army of doing emergency helicopter ditching drills which we managed to expand on and came up with a cognitive task based on an underwater stressed environment. The plus point for this test was that both disabled and non-disabled people could equally take part.
Discussing each team’s ideas, I was impressed by the creativity that each one had. Reflecting on John McFall’s situation, we considered prosthetics. In zero gravity, swelling affects prosthetic fit, leading us to imagine unconventional solutions. Perhaps John doesn’t need a foot prosthetic; maybe he could have a “hand” prosthetic, effectively giving him three hands or a double amputee four hands.
Our ideas were all collated and will be worked on in the coming months to see which one we could take forward and bid for funding. At the end of the day, we all discussed our various skill sets and where we could help feed into the project between these whole group meet ups.
I’m happy to say I found a place suitable for my skill sets and will be continuing on with this project in the hope that one day we will finally see “Space for all” a reality.
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