Consider your washroom. Can you get out of the shower easily? Now imagine yourself in a wheelchair. How do you reach the sink? Do you have enough room to open the cupboards? Can you reach the medicine cabinet?

Now ball your hands into fists - you've just simulated the symptoms of severe rheumatoid arthritis. How do you brush your teeth? Can you turn on the taps in your washroom sink?

University of Alberta Industrial Design students considered such questions and issues of basic personal dignity while working out designs for height-adjustable counter/sink combinations, no-hands flossing tools, sliding medicine cabinets, faucetless sinks and load-relieving stools for the 4th Annual Symposium on Universal Design and Aging.

Students weren't left alone to ponder such problems: each team of three designers worked with occupational therapists who provided the physiological expertise needed to build a truly ergonomic and accessible washroom.

This year's symposium has drawn the interest of Alberta Seniors and Community Supports. Supportive Living Director Bruce West says the government department is searching for new ways to accommodate seniors whose health problems make it difficult for them to live independently at home, but don't warrant the expense of a long-term care facility.

Robert Lederer and Lili Liu, professors in the U of A Departments of industrial design and occupational therapy, launched the symposium four years ago. The symposium is a winner for students from both departments they say, as it instills the confidence and knowledge required for careers in health sector industrial design.

"Lili and I have been able to synthesize these two disciplines, using universal design as a vehicle...to create these great ideas," he said.

"From where I'm from, I get calls all the time asking 'Can you refer me to someone who can help us with a design?' or I get grads saying they have these (design consulting) opportunities, but 'Am I trained to do this?'" said Liu.

Lederer explains that the symposium is helping train grads for these kinds of opportunities.

"You've got companies with designers and they're trying to bring in all these other professionals, [wondering] how do you get them to talk and work together? We're doing it here," he said.

And the symposium is more than just a training opportunity. Winners from this year's crop of Industrial Design and Occupational Therapy students could see their product actually going to market, thanks to the sponsorship of Westlink Innovation Network Ltd., a Calgary-based technology commercialization company.