Enabled by Design (EbD) is a community of people passionate about Design for All. We believe that good design can support older people and people living with disabilities to live as independently as possible, by helping to make day-to-day tasks that little bit easier.

We would like to develop a mobile phone app to allow our community to contribute to our existing website (http://www.enabledbydesign.org) more easily and while out and about. The mobile app would give people the ability to take a photo on their phone of a 'Love', 'Hate' or something they've 'Spotted', write some accompanying text and post it to the site by sending it as a text message. A bit like twitpic but for the Enabled by Design website.

The problem

Enabled by Design was inspired by co-founder Denise Stephens' experiences following her diagnosis of relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2003, aged 24. As she became more dependent on assistive equipment, her world was slowly but surely transformed into an uninspirational palette of “NHS” grey and beige. Although this equipment made a huge difference to her life, she became frustrated as her home started to look more and more like a hospital, as well as by the current one-size-fits-all ethos. Wanting to make an immediate difference to other people’s lives, Denise set up a website for older people and people living with disabilities to share their views and experiences on not only assistive equipment, but also mainstream products and gadgets that can help to make daily life more manageable.

Since launching the idea, Enabled by Design's interest has widened to incorporate all aspects of design including services, technology and the built environment.

The idea

Central to the idea is the Enabled by Design community that we've been working hard to build and develop, which includes end users including older people and people living with disabilities, carers, charities, healthcare professionals including occupational therapists (OTs), manufacturers, retailers and designers. Enabled by Design has built a web platform for our community to share their views and experiences of products and services, with a focus on independent living. The website is a space for the community to share the products and services that they either love, hate or have spotted, as well as discuss ideas and ask questions relating to assistive equipment, design and independent living. We also use social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to reach and engage with a much wider audience. 

Enabled by Design is bringing together a diverse community of people, providing a platform for their voices to be heard, providing information/advice and brokering relationships.

Our aim is to engage with a diverse range of end users, carers, charities, healthcare professionals, service providers including local authorities, manufacturers, retailers and designers, signpost examples of good design that supports independent living and prove the business case for Design for All, including the importance of engaging with potential end users during the design process.

We feel that developing a mobile app for the Enabled by Design website will lower the barrier for our community to get involved, helping them to join in the conversation and share examples of how design can either help or hinder accessibility and independent living. 

What we need

We're looking for help to develop a mobile phone app for our community to use to post content including images and text to the Enabled by Design website.

Tags

design, disability, assistive equipment, Design for All, accessibility, independent living, community, older people, social business, social innovation, assistive technology

Enabled by Design "on the go" mobile phone app - making online and offline more accessible