On 26 July 2017, DPA conducted a disability awareness talk and some experiential activities for participants of Design for Humanity – Makerthon 2017. Our Inclusion Ambassadors Margaret, Rosie and Timothy shared the barriers they faced in their daily lives and motivated the participants to come up with assistive devices that will increase their functional independence.
Design for Humanity is a collaboration between Engineering Good Student Chapter (EGSC), the Innovation and Design Centric Programme Student Club (iDCP SC), as well as the Institute of Engineers Singapore NUS Student Chapter (IES-NUS). DPA works with them to raise awareness and help participants to better understand the needs of persons with disabilities.
The theme of the Makerthon 2017 was ‘breaking barriers in the workplace – making workplaces more Inclusive for persons with disabilities through design’ and it aimed to expose more students to humanitarian engineering, empowering them to apply their technical skills for social good. The Makerthon 2017 was a three day event (26 – 28 July 2017). Participants were given the opportunity to identify a specific area to work on. They generated new ideas, learned relevant technical skills and came up with various exciting prototypes.The finals were held at National University of Singapore on 28 July 2017. Six teams participated in this Makerthon. Their ideas were presented before a panel of judges to receive feedback. The judges were Dr Dawn-Joy Leong (Board member, Disabled People’s Association), Associate Professor Loh Ai Poh (Director of the Innovation & Design-Centric Programme), Associate Professor Tay Seng Chuan and Associate Professor Mehul Motani.
The winning team combined affordable technology with an innovative social model and developed a button that persons with disabilities would be able to use to call for assistance. The prototype was a simple button that lit up when they needed help. Those who are willing to help can approach the person with disability to offer assistance. The winning team consisted of five students from National University of Singapore (NUS), three students from the Faculty of Engineering and two students from the Faculty of Science.
Assistive devices enable persons with disabilities to function effectively, overcoming the limitations that they may face in their life. DPA encourages students to generate innovative ideas for affordable, accessible and effective technology that can help make workplaces more inclusive for persons with disabilities.
DPA congratulates all the participants and organisers of this Makerthon and welcomes brilliant brains to take up these type of future challenges to create prototypes that can be turned to real solutions promoting inclusion of persons with disabilities.
