Engineer creates a device to help Parkinson's sufferer

November 29, 2016

'It makes me feel like nothing is impossible': Graphic designer whose Parkinson's causes her hand tremors is given a bespoke WATCH to help her draw and write again

• Emma Lawton, 33, from London, was diagnosed with Parkinson's at 29 

         Graphic designer's hand tremors were making it difficult to draw and write

• She met with a team of inventors on The Big Life Fix with Simon Reeve
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• Inventor Haiyan Zhang helped create a bespoke 'watch' to steady her hand

A woman suffering from Parkinson's has been thrown a lifeline after a bespoke watch was created to help her draw and write.

Graphics designer Emma Lawton, 33, from London, has been living with the degenerative neurological condition, which is incurable, for four years and was gradually losing her ability to draw because of constant hand tremors.

She appears in the latest series of The Big Life Fix with Simon Reeve which follows some of of the UK’s top engineers and designers as they invent life-changing solutions for people in desperate need.

Emma has been living with Parkinson's for four years and was gradually losing her ability to draw because of hand tremors, but inventors have created a special watch to assist her

At first, Haiyan she starts experimenting with contraptions such as a pentograph and adding magnets to create resistance around the pen - however Emma feels that these only 'magnify' the shaking.

After several experiments fail, the pair begin to lose hope of finding a solution to Emma's problem, with Haiyan calling the challenge 'immense' as she admits she doesn't see her being able to fully regain her writing ability.

However Haiyan, who has in the past created cutlery for disabled people, eventually creates a bespoke watch-like device to help Emma's ability to draw and write by producing small vibrations.

Haiyan begins experimenting with her own ideas such as using a pentograph (pictured) and magnets to create resistance - however Emma feels that this only 'magnifies' the shake

Emma told MailOnline: 'It was getting to the point where I was starting to worry about my future in this industry. I’m quite a resilient person, I will find a way, but I thought it was something I'd never be able to do again.'

She said of the device: 'It confuses my hand and brain into not knowing what to do so I can write better. 

'I have no idea how it works, but it makes my writing legible [rather than] illegible. The sketches are something I would show a client. It’s still a little bit shaky, it’s never going to be a perfect straight line, but it’s better.' 

Emma is now looking forward to finding out whether the watch can help with other aspects of her life that she struggles with, like texting on her mobile phone. 

Haiyan eventually creates a bespoke watch-like device and app to help Emma's ability to draw and write by producing small vibrations. They refer to it as 'the Emma'

Emma said of the invention: 'I have no idea how it works, but it makes my writing legible [rather than] illegible. [My drawing] is never going to be a perfect straight line but it’s better'

'It takes me forever to type out a text and god knows how people understand it,' she said.  'It takes ten minutes to compose a text.

'And with cooking too, because there’s always a possibility I’ll cut my finger off. I’m excited to see. The potential is there I don’t know why it wouldn’t [work]. 

'It makes me excited about the fact my future back in my control, it’s back in my hands. 

'I’m quite a stubborn person and  don’t like anything decided for me, so to feel like this now is pretty amazing.

'It makes me feel like nothing’s impossible which is a really nice feeling because there’s been so much work into Parkinson's recently from a medical perspective. It doesn’t feel like a dead end any more.'

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