“Design4Stroke” Design of Products for Stroke Survivors for Improved Work and Home Life
Archeworks, in partnership with The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago’s Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC), Northwestern University’s Institute for Design Engineering Application (IDEA) with support from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) will work on its second year of exploring design applications for improving the work and home life of stroke survivors. This project is the first design application in a medical research project to be funded by the NIDRR.
The Archeworks team will continue the work of the first year, working along with The Rehabilitation Institute and Northwestern engineering students to gain insight on good design opportunities:
Team goals and objectives for the second year of the project include:
- Designing prototypes for products and applications, which are to be developed and introduced into the marketplace in response to the NIDRR grant. The team will be expected to develop one product design that is market ready.
- Working hands on in the testing of design ideas, including testing and reporting on user and medical feedback on each design application.
- Presenting design ideas and applications at quarterly conferences for stroke survivor interventions and learning.
PROJECT UPDATE:
This year the Design4Stroke Team is comprised of one speech therapist, an associate director for web services, an interior designer and 2 stroke survivors. Continuing the project from last year, the team’s mission is to enable stroke survivors to re-engage in life with dignity and begin their new lives through well designed products. They started by listening to their group members’ input on what is more difficult or different after having strokes and after many iterations, discussions, and focus groups have narrowed down their ideas to 5 outcomes. Over the course of the year the Archeworks team collaborated with over 100 students at Northwestern University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to create prototypes for one-handed cafeteria trays, nail clippers and laptop bags. They also have been working on products specific to aphasia (a language disorder common among stroke survivors) including Skype classes and a wrist communicating device. Finally they are working to increase awareness about aphasia by writing a children’s book on the topic.
Design of Products for Stroke Survivors for Improved Work and Home Life (Year 1)
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