Emily Ladau
This episode is sponsored by Clip Different.

Kyle Khachadurian
The Clip Different Pro is a revolutionary first of its kind automatic fingernail clipper that safely trims fingernails with the simple touch of a button.

Emily Ladau
And the transcript for this episode is sponsored by SeamlessDocs.

Kyle Khachadurian
SeamlessDocs

is an E-signature and form automation platform that enables governments to go paperless and deliver better online services to citizens and staff.

Emily Ladau
Hi, I’m Emily Ladau.

Kyle Khachadurian
And I’m Kyle Khachadurian.

Emily Ladau
And you’re listening to another episode of The Accessible Stall.

Kyle Khachadurian
What are we going to talk about today? Emily, can you believe

we did that in one take?

Emily Ladau
Boy, we never ever get through our intro. It’s usually like the third time. By the time you all hear us. But we did it. High five, up top, *high five noise*

Kyle Khachadurian
Almost like we’re professionals. I know I’ll just edit a sound effect, I don’t know why I made one myself.

Emily Ladau
Anyway, so what are we gonna talk today? We’re going to talk about assistive and adaptive and accessible technology. And the impetus for this particular episode topic is our fantastic sponsor, Clip Different. For real though, we’re excited because Clip Different reached out to us. And they were like, Hey, we have this really cool contraption. I don’t think they said it like that. But you know, I’m paraphrasing here that people can use to clip their fingernails if they do not have the ability to use a traditional fingernail clipper. And I, always the skeptic, am like, No, you don’t show me that. And they did. They showed us that. And it’s now the only thing I used to clip my nails. Not even kidding.

Kyle Khachadurian
It is seriously a game changer. Like I was so skeptical. No offense Clip Different guys, that this wasn’t going to work as they intended or as as what they said it was but I got it in the mail. It was like oh, my goodness, it really works.

Emily Ladau
Well, I think this actually goes to show that we wouldn’t just put any product as a sponsor of the show.

Kyle Khachadurian
No, we said that from day one that we would never do that unless we use it and liked it ourselves. But like, it just seems strange to me, like out of everything that this accessible nail clipper would be like the coolest thing. I don’t know, it was just cool that it works.

Emily Ladau
It’s really cool. And my hobby is taking a picture of the little drawer full of nail clippings when I’m done and sending it to Kyle

Kyle Khachadurian
Little does she know I’m actually creating a little photo album out of them. And this Hanukkah, I’m going to send it to her.

Emily Ladau
Honestly, that’s an art form. And right now I have blue nail polish on my nails. So I’ll send you the blue nail clippings. It’ll be incredible.

Kyle Khachadurian
This is the most greatest day of my life.

Emily Ladau
Anyway, so if we haven’t totally grossed you out, the reality is that everybody needs to clip their nails, right? Unless you don’t have fingernails, is that a thing? I hope we’re not being ableist here. I’m being serious.

Kyle Khachadurian
Well, I mean, if you don’t have fingernails, you probably don’t want to figure it out clever. But you can also probably appreciate the coolness factor of it anyway.

Emily Ladau
Right. Well, okay, I guess, if you’re an amputee, this is perhaps not the market for you. But the point is, adaptive technology is something that can benefit everyone, and maybe not so much the technology itself, but the mindset is what’s really important. It’s that mindset of, Okay, here’s something that you have to do, but you may not be able to do it in the conventional or prescribed way. So what can we do to take technology and turn it into something that makes your life a little bit easier.

Kyle Khachadurian
We always say that like people with disabilities, the original life hackers, as a sort of a quip for the fact that we have had to adapt to things since the moment that we were born. And it’s so nice to me. And it’s interesting to it’s not just nice, but it’s really cool to see that same mindset in a product that I mean, frankly, I would never have thought, a nail clipper of all things which goes to show you like that we all still have like, well, I’m speaking for myself, but that we all have like, biases for some reason, because I-I’m still stuck on that. And meanwhile, when I think about it, it’s like, well, why can’t the nail clipper be adaptive? The answer is there is no answer. Of course it can. And they’ve made it.

Emily Ladau
And there’s so many products in my life that I would love to see adopted. I’m not even sure that any are particularly coming to mind right now. But I think that just goes to show that so many things are so ingrained in your life. If somebody had asked me what product do you need adapted? I don’t think I would have been like nail clipper. Seriously!

Kyle Khachadurian
No, me neither!

Emily Ladau
Also, it really does work for me, especially because my motor skills are not that great. I’m very, very good at cutting my fingernails really deep, or pulling the cuticles and being a bloody mess when I’m done. Sorry, this is so gross.

Kyle Khachadurian
It is gross. But I think that you’re being very relatable right now. Because I do the same thing.

Emily Ladau
I gotta tell you the next innovation that I need in my life is clip different toe.

Kyle Khachadurian
Hear that, guys?

Emily Ladau
I want some of the cuts of that profit. But for real. Now that we have the fingernail situation solved, can we just talk about how I can’t actually reach my toes?

Kyle Khachadurian
What?

Emily Ladau
I really can’t reach them.

Kyle Khachadurian
I learned so many new things about you. Every time we do an episode, I used to think I knew everything about you. And every time we record, I learned something new. I mean, now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense.

Emily Ladau
So yeah, so I have arm contractors. And both my arms only extend out to 90 degrees, guess I’m giving a visual description for the people who don’t really know me. And then when I put my shoes on, I can reach to put my shoes on. But I cannot get in a position that would be safe or simple for me to clip my toenails. And so these basic body care things that I would like to do independently, I rely on other people, which there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, because lots of people need care in various forms. And so for me, toenail clippings is a form of care that I need. In my dream world, I would be able to do it myself.

Kyle Khachadurian
You know what you need? Like 10 clip differents, and like 10 mini clip differents for your toes. And you just like, assume that position, and it’s all done in like 30 seconds.

Emily Ladau
I feel like I want a giant machine that will do that. Yeah, that’s what I want.

Kyle Khachadurian
Yeah. It’s so funny, because I told a friend of mine with CP about the Clip Different. And it was so… it was one of those things that the universe lined up. And she was like, man, I really wish I had a way to cut my fingernails. Well, and I we had just, we had just gotten done doing the interview that you guys are about to hear. And I was like, do I have their product for you. And I think she bought one. Yeah.

Emily Ladau
I mean, now what I really want. And I suppose this is me not so subtly asking for sponsors. But more to the point, forget the sponsorship, I really just want people to reach out with useful adaptive products and be like, Hey, we actually want to make your life easier.

Kyle Khachadurian
And that’s another reason why we liked or loved the Clip Different guys, because that is exactly what they did. They were like, We have this really cool thing, you guys have a really cool podcast, you should tell your audience about our really cool thing. And you can tell everything about it. It’s just this huge labor of love. And it even has a little section on the website for like all different kinds of disabilities, and why the Clip Different works for that particular kind. They really put a lot of heart and soul into it.

Emily Ladau
And you’ll hear in the interview. Also, the gentleman who invented this tool does not identify as having a disability. And he does have a lot of experience, personal experience with people in his life who identify or identified as having disabilities. And so I know that people in the disability community tend to get a little bit concerned when someone without a disability is like, hey, I’ve got something that’s going to make your life easier. But at the same time, when I really appreciated about Clip Different is they’re clearly testing it with actual disabled people. They didn’t just like put it out on the market and say, hey, disabled people, we solved the problem for you.

Kyle Khachadurian
Yeah, and you’ll hear in the interview to that, I mean, we’re not going to spoil anything, because we want to surprise you guys, but you’ll hear in the interview that they actually went back and redesigned part of it when like a new type of disability that they hadn’t thought of was like put in front of them. It’s super cool.

Emily Ladau
Yeah. So I mean, yes, we’re talking about a fingernail clipper. But I think the larger takeaway that we want people to have from this episode is really about inclusive and accessible design thinking in general, because wouldn’t it just be so exciting if everything was designed with accessibility in mind for the disability community? I mean, I realize that’s a tall order, but at the same time, I wish that there were simple tasks that were easier for me. I mean, quite frankly, the that I think about it, the more that I realize I do use adaptive equipment in my day to day life, like a thing that I call the “sock, putter onner”.

Kyle Khachadurian
I love that thing, that thing is genius.

Emily Ladau
Yeah. And I use a shoe horn sometimes. And I guess these things are probably more mainstream than an adopted nail clipping tool. But at the same time, I don’t want these products to have to be called adapted anymore.

Kyle Khachadurian
Yeah, yeah.

It shouldn’t be special. I mean, I like that it is because this is just the world we live in. Like, I’m glad that it’s here. But universal design doesn’t just apply to buildings that have stairs in them, you know, it can be applied to everything that we consume, and everything that we use, and Clip Different is in a very unique position that it’s quote, unquote, just a fingernail clipper, but it really is one of it’s a great example, something that you can achieve that if you just thought about accessibility as part of the forefront of your design, because you don’t have to be disabled to use it. I mean, I passed it around my house. And you know, me and my parents all tried it out. And we all liked it, like they’re not disabled. But it’s just a great example of of what you can achieve when you really do think about accessibility first.

Emily Ladau
Yeah. And another point that I want to raise, because I know that there are also skeptics when it comes to development of these accessible and adaptive new technologies. One of my favorite writers, s.e smith wrote this article for Vox about how disabled people don’t always need all these fancy gadgets, we really just want accessibility to be built into the environment around us. And, you know, the crux of the article was really talking more about things like how everyone thinks that they’re the first one to invent the stair climbing wheelchair, and stuff like that, you know, and everybody wants to invent the next new big thing to help the disability community. And I do think that a lot of it is, you know, sort of unnecessary, because, I would prefer that the world just focused on building in access, rather than coming up with a ton of fancy new gadgets. But at the same time, within reason, I think that some gadgets are just very clever and very necessary. So it’s really a balance, like, I think there needs to be a balance of, yes, we’re going to work on creating this adaptive technology, but we’re also going to focus on making the world itself a more accessible place.

Kyle Khachadurian
Yeah, I think that’s like a case by case basis thing, right? Like, it’s something as big as a building, you know, make the… adapt that to the world and make it accessible for everyone. But, something like a fingernail clipper, like, a fingernail clipper, that’s accessible is just a, you call it a gadget because it’s like, cool it it does something unconventionally, but a regular fingernail clipper’s, just, you know, it’s it’s about as much a gadget as, as the accessible and it’s just something that we take for granted, because it’s just something that like everybody uses.

Emily Ladau
Yeah, totally. And, you know, all of this is making me think of, you know, Barry Lewis on YouTube.

Kyle Khachadurian
Oh, yeah.

Emily Ladau
A guy who–

Kyle Khachadurian
My Virgin Kitchen.

Emily Ladau
Yeah, he, like, changed his name to Barry Lewis on YouTube. Now, if you look him up, but he does these really fun, kitchen gadget testing videos,

Kyle Khachadurian
That’s right!

Emily Ladau
at the beginning of every video, he’s like, now, before you say anything, or make fun of these, remember that some of these do legitimately help people with disabilities be more independent in the kitchen. And the first time I heard that, I was like, subscribe.

Kyle Khachadurian
Yeah, I think I don’t. He used to not say that, and I think somebody pointed out to him, and it was just one of those things where he was like like, Oh, yeah, of course, he just had said it ever since.

Emily Ladau
Yeah. And those kitchen gadgets are probably the best example of gadgets that I don’t know, maybe you don’t need them. But they definitely do vastly improve and make more accessible kitchen experiences.

Kyle Khachadurian
And it’s a really good example of kind of what you’re talking about, too, because you know that to your average person who isn’t disabled, like, a lot of them are probably gimmicky. But given the circumstances, depending on what it is like for you or for me, it could make it could be the difference between us being able to make something and us not being able to make something.

Emily Ladau
Yeah, I love all of the fancy choppers and things that make it safer to handle blades because I’m not great with dexterity. And so I love that stuff. And I guess the nail clipper probably in a way relates to that too, because Clip Different has a blade inside of it, but it’s protected. So I can’t cut myself on it.

Kyle Khachadurian
We really tried. I really tried. I mean not not No, No, I’m serious. Because I not to like I didn’t willingly put my you know, it was just like, I just wanted to test it. Like, oh, you you call it safe. Okay, that’s like really put my finger. Wow, it really is safe.

Emily Ladau
Yeah. And I think that the biggest point I can make is that if we’re going with the kitchen gadget analogy here. So first of all, the kitchen needs to be accessible. So before you even get into the use of gadgetry in certain areas, yes, the kitchen itself needs to be accessible. But once you’ve made it into the kitchen, now it’s time to make that experience accessible. And so I think that there are different steps to accessibility. But I suppose that’s a bad way of putting it steps to accessibility. But hahaha, you get what I mean.

Kyle Khachadurian
I’m going to clip this for the Instagram clip. I think I just found it. Steps to accessability. That is the worst best thing. I love it. Oh, Emily.

Emily Ladau
Oops

Kyle Khachadurian
We always go too far in between recording sessions.

Anyway,

I think that’s about time while we get off these stairs of accessibility

Emily Ladau
Steps.

Kyle Khachadurian
Steps? Oh, excuse me. I think it’s about time now that we introduce you to Tom McMullen, the inventor of the Clip Different Pro.

Emily Ladau
We’re pretty big fans of him and we think you will be too.

Kyle Khachadurian
He’s so wholesome. Wait till you hear this guy.

Emily Ladau
We are very excited to have a special guest with us today to talk about something that we are huge fans of so special guests. Would you like to introduce yourself?

Tom McMullen
Sure, very special. Tom McMullen. And I created the Clip Different, automatic fingernail clipper.

Emily Ladau
So clip different reached out to us a little while back to share with us some information about their product. And Kyle and I being the slight tech nerds and adaptive technology geeks that we are were like, oh my gosh, yes, we totally want to find out more about this. So Clip Different was kind enough to send us the machines to test out and I have to say I’m a huge fan.

Kyle Khachadurian
Yeah, so am I, works so good. Or so well.

Emily Ladau
So Tom, can you tell us a little bit about what the Clip Different is, what it does? And tell us a little bit about how you got the idea for it?

Tom McMullen
Sure. Sure.

I’m coming off of have a very great morning yesterday. Myself and a couple of their of our team people were at a walk, MS walk where they raise funds for MS. And there were thousands of people there. And we had a table in a banner and and let people know what we did. And there were so many people that came by and just said how would you have thought of this? They were just so surprised that at the simple this thing was and that that nobody had ever thought of it. And and how could I who I am very healthy and and have no disabilities of any kind other than the things that are hidden somewhere. And how could you have thought of this and, and so that always brings me back to early in my life. When my year and a half old sister came home from the hospital after being diagnosed with Polio. I was 10 years old. And I knew there were no there was no one in my family who was going to take responsibility for her recovery, her that gaining strength back in her leg that she was affected. And so I took responsibility. And every day I start the day out with having lifting her up in the dining room table and doing her exercises and stretching her leg and strengthening your leg. And that’s how we finish the day. And then I got to be with her and watch her go to school and have casts on her foot where she had various surgeries and whatever. So my whole life was was different than a lot of people’s. And when I was 19 I went on a date with Trudy and Trudy walk with a limp and I said Trudy, you’re limping. And she said yeah, he had Polio and I was a little girl and I walked with a limp. While when I went home and I told one of my sisters, Marcy, I said, I just met the girl I’m going to marry. And so Trudy and I got married four years later. And and, and we were married for 36 years before Trudy passed away. And it turned out when she was 32, through various medical things that happened, they found out that she really hadn’t had polio that she had a tumor in her spine from a very young age. And it was, it was causing all sorts of trouble with her leg and, and so the doctors at the Mayo Clinic, thought they could operate and take this out. And, and it turned out they couldn’t and they didn’t give her a long time to live and, and so she spent, well actually she lived 25 years after that. But she spent the first seven years after that surgery that she had major surgery, walking or walking with a cane and and doing the best she could and then after that she had to use a wheelchair. And so I was never her… was never, she was never dependent on me. And I was never dependent on her. I was her eyes were walking down the street somewhere and she was in a wheelchair, I’d be scanning what was ahead, so that so that she didn’t hit the big crack in the sidewalk, or somebody would come through the intersection on a bicycle, whatever it was, and I was her legs, you know, in the evening, maybe be home and she’d asked me to get something and pick it up and bring it to the bring it to her in a chair or whatever. And so that was her eyes and her in her legs. And, and so and so when I was 40 years old, I was in my office on the phone, and I got off the phone and I had to clip my fingernail and I clip my fingernail. And I looked at this fingernail clipper and I said, how do people with hand issues…? Not that my late wife had any hand issues, hers were with her legs. But how do people with hand issues cut their fingernails? And so, this idea came to me and I say the idea came to me because I didn’t get it, there’s no way I could have stuck with developing this product and spending as much time as it did. I spent 35 years developing this product and hundreds of thousands of dollars. And I had no talent in my hand. So I had to hire everything done it I have an idea. And I go to a engineering company or go to a manufacturing people or somebody in the stamping business or, and, and I had to build models, I had people build models for me and I tried and tried and tried to build in this product and never got it to the point where I wanted it. And I was looking for products for people that were sightless. And people that had arthritis and, and, and even for infants where the mother would try to clip a baby’s fingernail and not cut their, their fingers. So I after so many years, I

I was remarried after four years after my wife passed away and my present wife’s son was at my house and and I had this fingernail clipper automated sitting on my kitchen table. And I said, David, I’ve been creating the same problem over and over. I’ve created a monster. Take a look at this and tell me what you think. And he walked over and looked at it. He said do it this way instead of that way. And within five seconds, I had the concept I had the Clip Different design in my mind. And and then we were a year to market before after that. And it was 35 years. Well, I say that the idea got ahold of me. And I just took it to its logical conclusion. It wasn’t me. And I was I walked into the into Whole Foods, one of the places I eat lunch about a year and a half ago, and there was a gentleman walking out and he had one arm. And I said, sir, how do you cut your fingernails? And he said, I can’t. He said my wife cuts him I said–, and he said I hate it. And I said I’m working on a product that will you’ll be able to cut your fingernails by yourself. And he looked at me and got real close to me and maybe even put his hand across his heart. And he said, why would you think of us? And I just told him I said all the story is so long. I’ve been thinking about these people for 35 years. And at one point, about two years before the whole foods guy or a year and a half before the whole foods guy when I got the ID on the clip different. I thought I know more about the underserved people in the fingernail clipping business than anybody in the country, anybody in the world I had been through and I tried it and I– done worked on products. And I thought if I don’t finish this, if I don’t bring this to market, who will? Tt’s up to me. And that’s how the Clip Different came about.

Emily Ladau
All we can say is that we are so glad that it did. And we love that story. I wish that you could have seen our faces as you were taking us on that journey.

Tom McMullen
Well, my face is full of sincerity when I go on that journey, because I just feel so blessed. When I meet the people, when I go to our website and see Cooper, who had he had bloody fingers and fingers were just sore and raw. And we met him at a at a little conference we did down in Rochester, Minnesota about four or five months ago, and Cooper’s parents bought him a finger–one of our Clip Different. And then three weeks later sent a video of Cooper using it and and he was sitting watching TV, clipping his fingernails with our with our Clip Different. And his he she said hold up, hold up your hands and show him your hands in his hands are all cleared up, cleaned up. I mean, he smiled. I mean, that carries me that fills me and, and so the that helps me be as absolute focus as I am to get this product to the people that could benefit from it.

Emily Ladau
Well, I have to tell you, I am the person who manages to clip her fingernails and cut too deep and start bleeding and pull a cuticle and make a giant mess. But I’ve been using Clip Different, no joke, since it was sent to me. And I’ve now used it probably three or four times. And every time I get so excited. And I send Kyle a picture of my clean fingernails and my little drawer full of fingernail clippings. And I’m like, look!

Kyle Khachadurian
yeah, it’s such an amazing product. Truly.

Tom McMullen
Emily, I’ve never seen anyone use our Clip Different Pro for the first time who didn’t get a smile on their face. So that is my… I’m trying to tell my team let’s pass out smiles. Let’s try to get as many people smiling as we can. So all saw a lot of smiles yesterday during this MS walk.

Emily Ladau
Well, if you have us smiling that is for sure. And we’re wondering if you can tell us some words of wisdom for other people who are looking to create adaptive technology and you know, bring something into the world that fills a void

Tom McMullen
for me, what am I having to say I was in the app, I went and bought a new phone

about a month ago, and the fellow working in the Apple Store waited on me and he happened to be a surprising he was probably gentlemen, maybe 65 or 67 years old. And I said, Gee, Isn’t this amazing? You’re, you know, the oldest person in the store next to me. And you get to be around all these young people and see the energy and feel this enthusiasm that they have and learn new things I say that sure says a lot about you that you’d be in here working. And so we got talking on personal levels, which I do with so many of the people I meet on my in my day. And and then he asked me what I did and what I was doing. And I told him about the Clip Different and I’d worked on it for 35 years, and he started crying a little bit. And and I said what, what’s the deal, he said, I’ve been working on a project on a product for 30 for 13 years. And he said, I just been kind of at the wit’s end of this and trying to figure out what to do and how to do it, whether I should quit or not. And he said, that was my day yesterday. And then you’re in here today. He said you worked on your, 35 years, he said, I just I’m so full of enthusiasm after talking to you. And he said, Thank you so much. And he sent me a nice email after that. And so it’s a it’s doing what’s right, you have to do what’s in your, in your conscience in your mind, you have to do, you have to do just do. And I say, I made so many mistakes with this product and with my life in many areas and whatever. But just getting up and doing something moving forward. And, and, and reaching out to others to have them help you discuss it with others when we so many of us, people, men and maybe 60% of the men maybe or some number like that, versus 40% of the women, we get these ideas and we run them in our through one ear and around our head and out the other ear and out our mouth. And we don’t consult with other people we don’t disclose we don’t trust, we think we have to do it. And then we gets stuck in whatever and get this anxiety because of it or whatever. I just think share with us. Ask others for help. Nobody’s going to steal your idea if they did, well, God bless them, let them go. Maybe it’s the right thing that happened. And, and that’s kind of how I did I went and trusted a lot of people, I reached out to an awful lot of talent around the Minneapolis St. Paul area. And people that were so much smarter than me and so much more creative and so much more detailed knowledge about tolerances and how metal worked and fatigue and sharpening blades and currents and all these things. I could never have done this without all the people–there’s a–I could put them on three school buses, that people that helped me bring this to fruition. And so that’d be one I don’t it just be more life lessons that I had talked to people about. You know, you you just do what you’re supposed to do and, and trust, just trust that things work out. Even if you’re stymied. You think I just need to get to the next level, just get it over a little hump. And all of a sudden it kind of opens up. Just like when I mentioned to my present wife’s son, David, David, you can’t solve a problem with the same mind that created it. I’ve been creating a monster, tell me what your thoughts are. And he did. And within seconds, the greatest product for people with some hand issues, issues in and being able to clip their own fingernails was created. Now, there’s more to that than just me doing it. So it’s it’s a collective effect of all the people that have carried me throughout this time. And my late wife she never one time discouraged me in all the years were married all the years that pushed us and the years when I we didn’t have any money and bills and come in every month for 2000, 3000, 5000, 200, whatever, whatever the bills were kept coming in. And she just looked at me and said I got another bill for that fingernail clipper. And she never once said to me maybe you should just give this up. Maybe you should stop this. I a lot of friends real close friends that laughed at me like McMullen, what’s new, you’re working on your fingernail clippers, my kids. They’ve tried out fingernail clippers just unbelievable throughout the years. And they stuck with it. Now two of them are in the business with me so

Kyle Khachadurian
Well we’re certainly not laughing. We love the idea and we love the product. And on that subject. Why is it important to include people with disabilities in your design in like the process of making that fingerprint– uh, fingernail clipper to you?

Tom McMullen
Why is it important that that this was that I was doing this for the people with with disabilities or people with some issues?

Kyle Khachadurian
No, no. Why was it important to include people with disabilities in your like design process?

Tom McMullen
Well, I don’t.

We had a How do you know what somebody’s going through? Unless you talk to ’em?

Kyle Khachadurian
Yeah, fair

enough.

Tom McMullen
We, we we have a person who is using our product and, Laura, and she wanted to write a story about us. And, and my son who was in the business said, Well, why don’t we meet and we’ll tell you she said okay, by the way, I’m a little person. Well, I never thought about my products for little people, I just never had any dealings with little people. So I wanted to meet also, I went to the lunch. And Laura could could clip her fingernails about 60% or 55% with our present model. And, and but there was some reasons that they didn’t work or fingers were arthritic, and her fingers had very curved fingernails, and there was all sorts of issues. And so it just I was just moved to be able to serve serve Laura and be able to help her with her issues. And so with that a day, I had changed some things and and created a model for specific for Laura, and got her a new product. And now she can clip at the time when she use it. She could clip 98% of her fingernails, only one she couldn’t get fully was her one of her little finger on her right hand. And that was because of little finger was just so arthritic, and the nail was just almost like a half circle. And she said, but I know if I practice that was her first time using it, I know, if I practice, I’ll be able to get it. And so if you don’t talk to Lauras of the world, how do you know what people need? And so every chance I had, I was at the Mayo Clinic for a physical and there were two sightless people standing there. And I walked up to him, and I said, I’d like to ask you a question. They said, Sure. I said, How do you? How do you guys cut your fingernails, and the guy pipe right up, he said, I, I can’t or he said my wife can’t she cuts herself all the time. He said, I help her. But it’s really tough. And he said, I can do mine. But I cut myself about a half the time or a third of the time. And I told him, I said, I’m working on a product for you that you’ll be able to cut your fingernails without worrying about cutting yourself. And they just looked at me like thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Emily Ladau
Well, Tom, I think and I’m sure I can speak on Kyle’s behalf here. We both think that you’re such a role model to the adaptive technology industry.

Kyle Khachadurian
Absolutely.

Emily Ladau
And we’re so grateful that you took the time to share your story with us and to tell us a little bit about the inspiration behind the work that you do. And so before we wrap up, is there anything that you would like to leave our listeners with?

Tom McMullen
I’m all for having help people have a good day and bring a smile to their face and bring a little joy and happiness. And one of the things I’ve learned and I see the energy look went to our website and looked at Mark in I think it’s a blog or one of our reviews or something. Mark bought one of these Clip Different Pros for his mother. And, and he gave it to her mother’s day or whatever the occasion was in our family members around. And you see the kids and the adults and whatever smiling and laughing and just having a good time with this product. And I just noticed that that’s the case. I’ve seen so many times where somebody has this on the dining room table. And it just brings smiles to everyone’s faces no matter if they have an issue trying to clip their fingernails or not. And so that’s one thing and then personally, we’ve had so many we’ve had we’ve had we on our website we have Gino, he’s a he’s a was was a paratrooper, and he had two catastrophic illness–injuries. And he can clip his own fingernails. Now if you look at I mean, you see tattooed muscle bound Gino, you think my goodness, that guy, he has no problem cutting his fingernails, he can’t so much as lift up a baby out of the crib, without being concerned about dropping or so. So he can cut his fingernails. And that’s just something we he wound up getting back by using one of our products. And so it’s it’s, it’s pretty interesting to get one of these and try it, it just it just turns you on your axis and leaves you freed up for another positive thing, another way to look around the corner and say what more is waiting for me that’s good? And so if that would people get that attitude, I just be very happy.

Emily Ladau
Well, we certainly have that attitude after chatting with you. So thank you so much for taking the time to give us some insight into your journey and for sharing your story. And we hope that people will be moved either to try the Clip Different or to push forward in developing adaptive tech that solves other problems that are out there right now. So thank you so much, Tom.

You bet Emily and you too, Kyle. Thanks. Have a good day.

Kyle Khachadurian
Thank you.

Emily Ladau
You too.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai