EXCLUSIVE: A day in the life of an independent developer of assistive aids
Graham Law, an engineer and the owner of Celtic Magic, which develops highly specialised extreme sensitivity devices for people with complex needs, discusses his role within the assistive technology sector, who he works with, and what he loves most about his role.
Describe your current role
“I’m an engineer specialising in electronics development. I’m also a volunteer Remap engineer and it was my work with Remap, a UK charity that designs custom solutions for the disabled communities around the UK that inspired me to create Celtic Magic (pronounced Kel-tic). Celtic Magic is small – just me – although I use other small companies local to me to manufacture my designs, allowing me to do what I do best and that is develop custom niche equipment.
“The niche I specialise in is developing extreme sensitivity devices, where a user has got beyond nearly every other aid commercially available and when even the lightest of buttons is beyond their use. That’s the little corner of niche-ness I like to occupy. Then small and nimble becomes the best size for a company to be, and I can often customise and tailor my aids to an individual’s precise needs.”
What does a typical day in your life look like?
“You can imagine that I do not have a typical day as the title of this piece requires. So I must talk about a typical ‘enjoyable’ day when my bookkeeper is not on my case for some obscure receipt from China or the website provider has broken my website, such things are here to test and you must drive on through.
“As my customers are worldwide, the real start of my work day is over breakfast when I check emails that have come overnight. Today I learned how Bob in Australia is getting on with his Celtic Magic J2 super light joystick, in this case for gaming. It is important for me to know how happy he is, having killed more zombies than the day before, and it makes me smile. He has never managed to play any game until now and why not enjoy dispatching zombies.
“Last week I was posting six prototype products for trials to UK healthcare professionals [HCPs] for eight weeks of testing with their patients. It is interesting how some HCPs really get very enthusiastic about trying out early prototypes whilst most perhaps feel too busy.
“And I now interrupt writing this piece as I have a video call…
“That was a HCP from London seeking hands on advice on trying out one of these protype devices that I shipped last week and it just landed on her desk yesterday. She has a very challenging 19-year-old patient that has deteriorated to the point of only having a slight twitch to be detected on his left cheek and no usable eye movements.
“This new product is called I-Click, a muscle twitch switch, and it is a modern take on that used by the late Professor Hawking. It amazed me when I was approached to design the I-Click by a US HCP that it was not available as a commercial device. So, with a little frustration I will hopefully ‘magically’ fill that gap.”
What is working in your niche like?
“Over the years this is a trend I’ve noticed with disappointment: where some devices previously available have been withdrawn from sale for what I suspect is a lack of commercial viability.
“This is my niche. I have the skills and knowledge to recreate, and, with modern components, powerful microprocessors and the advent of quality 3D printing, I can often make them even better and cheaper.
“But back to my typical day, I do need to line up another short production run of a couple of products, and the manufacturing instructions need tweaking. A tedious but necessary job. After I have the ducks lined up, I may even cycle over to the small manufacturing company I use in the rural Leicestershire village of Rearsby where I can enjoy a quick cuppa and catch up with the engineers there.
“One of these products is the Feather joystick that I began designing at the start of lockdown in 2020, again after a friend from One Switch was bemoaning the lack of exceptionally light joysticks, in his case for game play.
“A challenge I took up, and the final Feather uses no springs as it floats on a magnetic field, which offers a world beating sensitivity of less than five grams, which can be adjusted. While it can be used for gaming, it is more often used as a mouse for control of popular digital devices.
“I need to stop writing this article as my next job from my ‘Things to Do’ list has just popped up, so I’m going for a daily walk. I can answer emails, hopefully in a sunny spot, and dream up the next assistive aid to be created that the world has never seen before, such as last year’s G-Click device, a gyroscopic switch that self-positions and auto re-calibrates for accidental movements. Now that was a good idea!”