Assistive Technology: Personalized for Impact

Researchers in the northwest region of the United States recently developed an assistive technology whose design began with a simple but important question: What will the person using this technology need?

Last month, a team of engineers and occupational therapists from Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington, delivered a learning station it designed for a first-grader with cerebral palsy.

David Schipf, assistant professor of engineering and physics at Whitworth, says the success of the project is due to the collaborative efforts between the team members (engineers, physical and occupational therapists) and the child and his family. After several consultations with the family, the Whitworth team delivered their system.

“The station is very friendly, which allows Ryken to focus on his first-year studies and puts him on a par with those who talk to him,” Schipf said. “He will also be able to move around the house as needed.”

First grader Ryken suffers from a form of cerebral palsy as well as other disabilities, including epilepsy, hearing and vision impairments.

Ryken’s mother had initially contacted Schipf because Ryken was not able to fully participate in his education. And she had discovered that there was a lack of suitable equipment on the market that Ryken could use to meet her needs.

What is user-centered design in assistive technology?

As defenders of user-centered design (UCD) we underlined, functional assistive technology must “meet the needs” of the person it is designed for, not just the needs of the people designing it.

For example, Shipf said, the station’s high-contrast black background, which made it easy for Ryken to see everything placed in front of him. “It had to have adjustable features for its caregivers and for its teacher,” says Schipf. “And his mom wanted the seat in the learning center to be able to be raised and lowered depending on what he was doing at the time. So if he’s learning with his teacher, let it be lower to the floor, and if he’s in the kitchen with his mom, let it be at counter height.”

“The up and down came from an electric up and down type piston that we purchased,” he adds. “And it’s typically designed for kitchen tables for families who want a kitchen table that can raise and lower. So it had the load capacity that we needed. And then we just had a fairly large onboard power bank that could also provide a 120 AC voltage power source for the raise and lower platform. … And then several mechanical components were custom designed and 3D printed.”

Katie Ericsson, assistant professor of occupational therapy at Whitworth, highlighted one of the students who worked on the project. This student suggested also emphasizing the aesthetics of the project, reminding the team that “Hey, it’s going to be their house, and their mom doesn’t want it to be ugly in their house.” This is a small example of the good ideas she had, and “without her we could have produced a functional but ugly prototype.”

Complex circuit board with colorful wiring and components in a compact configuration.David Schipf

Making assistive technologies more collaborative

Schipf, Ericsson and students are also working on another project to benefit people with disabilities. The project aimed to develop an emergency communications device for a young woman in the Spokane area. She is in her twenties and is mobile but has speech difficulties. The project was born out of her father’s concern for her well-being in case something happened to her while she was away or traveling around town.

The device is designed to easily fit into a fanny pack. The concept behind the device is simple. In case of emergency, the device is intended to send an SMS message to pre-programmed recipients with the press of a button.

“This father is a little older and he has health problems,” Schipf explains. “And he’s really afraid that he’s going to be hiking with his daughter and he’s going to pass out or something will happen to her, and then she’s going to be alone with no one to understand her speech and no one to help her. … And so we designed an electrical system that fits in a fanny pack.”

The device, Schipf explains, has large textured buttons that allow the user to send location-based SMS alerts in the event of an emergency. “So it’s a location tracking and SMS service,” he continues. “And then the other button on the device plays an audio message that tells any stranger she meets to call her father.”

Both devices showcase the power of collaboration and assistive technology. Although these devices were created for specific people, the technology used to make them can be modified or duplicated to serve the disability community as a whole.

“I know both the engineering students and the occupational therapy and physiotherapy students. It’s much more meaningful for them to see the face and talk to real customers,” says Ericsson. “It’s much more meaningful than just a case study that we give them.”