What's the Ease-of-Use Commendation ?

The core of our business is to help our customers use their stairs again. We spent a lot of time speaking with our customers, getting their feedback on our product. We compiled the good and the bad and put together an action plan on how to better improve our product.

The Ease-of-Use Program.

The Arthritis Foundation created the Ease-of-Use Program to encourage manufacturers to design user-friendly products and packaging that could be recommended to the millions of people living with arthritis.

The process begins with the manufacturer submitting a product to the Arthritis Foundation for an extensive scientific evaluation. The sole purpose of this evaluation is to determine, quite simply, how easy to use a given product is for people with arthritis. The testing process is as follows:

• Each product is evaluated by a team of scientists, who test them against a number of "pass" or "fail" requirements, specific to the type of product under evaluation. For example, how easy is it to open a medicine bottle or to operate an exercise bike?

• The scientists then assess and establish user tasks based on every manner in which someone with arthritis might use the product.

• Finally a team of testers, who have moderate to severe arthritis, are evaluated for grip, torque and muscle strength, endurance, pinch force and range of motion. The testers get to use the product, and then each is interviewed by the team of scientists to gather their feedback in a real-world setting.

The scientists' evaluation for Acorn Stairlifts included the following:

What does this mean for you as an Acorn Stairlifts customer ?

We have always known that Acorn Stairlifts are comfortable and easy to use; and as the most trusted name in the industry so have hundreds of thousands of customers around the world. Now these points have been scientifically proven by one of the most respected organisations in the world: The Arthritis Foundation!

We are proud to be the very FIRST stairlift company to earn the Arthritis Foundation's Ease-of-Use Commendation. It is yet another effort that continues to prove that Acorn Stairlifts is a pioneer in the industry, always striving to stay ahead of the game, and to help our customers by providing the absolute best solution for their needs.

Which Acorn Stairlifts are covered ?

Both the Acorn 130 Straight Stairlift plus the Acorn 180 Curved Stairlift have both been scientifically tested receiving the Ease-of-Use Commendation.

Are there any other stairlifts on the market with this ?

Our stairlifts at the moment are the only ones to be given this award. At Acorn we constantly strive to improve our products and as a direct manufacturer of stairlifts we are always looking at ways of how we can improve user experience and customer satisfaction.

Want to know more about the Arthritis Foundation?

For further details on the Ease of Use Commendation and the Arthritis Foundation, click here http://www.arthritis.org/