Activities

Empathic Aging Suit

This suit empowers participants to experience sensory impairments, neck and joint stiffness, restricted movement, impaired coordination and more. Completing Activities of Daily Living become more complex and challenging with the layering of restrictions and impairments offered by this suit.

Lyanne Santana reflected the following after experiencing the suit:

"I was skeptical when I understood there was an experiential portion of the workshop. The idea of being able to 'try on' a disability... didn't sit right with me. In practice it shifted my perspective. While I am disabled, I only hold my own experience... I feel moved towards greater empathy and towards the urgency of inclusivity and accessibility in design."

Empathic Modeling

Experiencing life differently with modeling tools that simulate experience including mobility, vision impairment and restricted body movement. This process opens the door to a deeper understanding of our limited understanding of others. This approach supports a higher level of innovation for all.

This image illustrates an example of low fidelity glasses that are simulating retinitis pigmentosa (tunnel vision).

Assistive Technologies

Experiencing supportive assistive technologies is essential for new product development. This image represents a student trying a portable power chair for the first time and learning to navigate it while using a hand control.

Empathy Workshops

Working with small groups of people the collective experience can be less daunting if completed 'together' with others. In addition, it provides the opportunity for shared reflection which really leads to acknowledging new understanding.

This image represents the students wearing trying to work a straight line on the floor while experiencing limited vision.