Research
Before starting on the idea generation and doing the actual designing, we did background research on the condition of our co-designer, co-designing in general and made a paper about the ever changing societies' view on disabilities, assistive technology and Human-Centred Design.
Introduction to the Impairment
Our co-designer is diagnosed with a mild intellectual impairment. This impairment can vary strongly in severity and occurrence. A person who is diagnosed with a mild intellectual impairment lags behind in conceptual development and social and daily living skills compared to people of the same age. However, they can learn practical life skills, which allows them to function in everyday life with minimal levels of support (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine et al., 2015, pp. 1–3).
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This is also the case for our co-designer. She is able to function independently in practical situations like, for instance, cooking, cleaning her apartment, doing the laundry and the groceries. She only needs help with the finances and expressing her mood.
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The main issue for our co-designer is expressing her mood, stress, anxiety and thoughts, which are typical symptoms of her impairment. Coping with the mood, stress and anxiety is difficult, as well as finding a solution to feel better. At the beginning of the project, the co-designer already had a clear vision for which problem she wanted a solution, this was communicating her stress.She does not always know how to deal with her feeling, lets feelings build up for too long or does not know how to share them with her caregivers. Something that is more unique for our co-designer, is that she has no issues identifying her own mood: this is not the case for all people with a mild intellectual impairment.
Different levels of intellectual impairments and their symptoms. Wendy has a mild intellectual impairment
Co-design
Co-design is an act of collective creativity applied over a whole design process (Sanders & Stappers, 2008). It is based on the knowledge that people know best what they want from a design because they are situated in the environment the product will be used. During co-design, designers work together with people who are not trained in the field of design. These people are part of the target group the product will be intended for. The term co-design is used to describe many methods that can be applied to the design process in different stages.
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Context Mapping Paper
For this project a article was written. This article addresses the context mapping of a co-design related project involving a mild intellectual impaired person. Over the past few decades, societal views on disability have drastically changed. Assistive technology can contribute to the inclusion of people that are usually overlooked by society. In this project the co-designer has a mild intellectual impairment, meaning basic tasks and chores can be performed autonomously. However, some assistance with finances and communication is called for. In order to develop a product optimized for the envisioned user, Human-Centred Design will be used to identify the core problems, needs and preferences of the target group, and keeping those in mind during the design process. To properly include the co-designer in the design process, a proposal will be done to include co-design activities in the design process. The findings of this article will contribute to a smooth sailing co-design process with the co-designer.