Kerrie and Martin’s AT for crafting

Kerrie and Martin Duff have been involved with AT Chat since it started, and have not only featured in multiple videos but also worked with our team. They generously invited AT Chat over to talk about the AT they use in their hobbies and crafts. Being welcomed into their home was like entering an Aladdin’s cave of craft-wonders, with art, sewing and mixed media projects both complete and in-progress on display, just asking to be explored.

When Kerrie was a child, her two grandmothers taught her embroidery and crochet. They passed on to her much of their own collections of materials that she has since expanded upon over the years. Having family and connection at the heart of her arts has continued to be important over the years and a close friend of Kerrie and Martin's was the one to introduce them to craft and woodwork fairs, patchwork and scrapbooking. 

Outside of their family, Kerrie and Martin have connected with a wide variety of groups and events, that have continued to provide supportive communities in which they learn new techniques and discover different types of AT that can make crafts more accessible. Their biggest source of information about AT and new crafts is peer support and word of mouth. For example, while attending a felting group workshop, someone may do a show and tell, which includes some new tech that Kerrie has never heard of, or Martin will be invited to another car club event the following week where he’ll connect with even more people. 

Allied health professionals are also useful sources of information about AT, such as the OT Kerrie saw a few years ago who asked her what she’d like to do that she currently wasn't able to. This lead to her getting a lightweight wheelchair, and later a Smoov and front wheel that could be attached to her wheelchair, to take their dog for longer walks, rather than using her crutches or basketball wheelchair which wasn’t suitable for that purpose.

As I followed Kerrie to her craft rooms, she showed me the sewing machine which she operates pushing a button with her forefinger to start and stop the machine rather than relying on the standard foot pedal for power, ‘My grandmother showed me how to hold the foot pedal between my knees to power the machine, or depress it using my elbow when the pedal was put on the table near my fabric, but being able to use my hand to operate the machine makes it so much easier and far more reliable,’ she said, as she demonstrated with the machine. 

Other low-cost AT such as a mobile magnifier with a light, allows Kerrie to see what she’s working on in greater detail, especially when paired with an adjustable embroidery stand that she can use while relaxing on the couch working on intricate embroideries. Reachers allow her to pick up scraps of fabric from the floor, or reach other items with ease, and lazy susans on her sewing or mixed media desks mean that a range of tools are on hand whenever she needs them.

Felting has been a way for Kerrie to learn craft techniques from others, and explore new AT. As dry felting using fine needles depressed into wool and foam was causing wrist pain, she found out about wet-felting. She also discovered an embellishing machine which makes the process easier and pain free. She showed me a small bowl she’d made, and explained that, ‘the process is important, but also the outcome. You can make something that you can use, but you don't always have to do something that is useful, or that you can give away as a present. It can just be that you're focusing in the moment on what you're doing, so you're not worrying about anything else.’ 

Other crafts that she uses for mindfulness include neurological, or neurographic, drawings and Zentangles, which help to clear her brain and get into a creative zone.

In the shed out the back, Martin demonstrated the tools he uses for his woodworking projects, and the hooks hanging from pinboards that he uses to keep the tools within easy reach. Back inside their home, he showed off the Phoenix bag that they use when travelling and visiting events. It can be attached to the back of their wheelchairs which makes going places with a suitcase and move far easier than with other AT that they’ve tried. 

In addition to ATSA, Kerrie and Martin have attended other events and expos that have led them to new AT and connections. Kerrie also spoke of the benefits of using NDIS funding to bring support workers along to events,to provide her with additional support. As an aside it assists to raise awareness in the community groups of the capabilities of people with disability.

It feels as though there is no limit to the creativity that Kerrie and Martin share, and their love of art was matched only by their enthusiasm to share the crafts that bring them joy, and the AT they use to connect and create.

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