Project development (individual)

1. Describe your partner

   Orange is an energetic, easy-going, and open-minded person. During the interview with her, our communication was smooth. Orange is very observant of life. When asked if there was anything inconvenient for her in our academic building, she quickly gave her an answer. Some elevators for 1-15F have no handrails or lower buttons, and she can’t push the higher ones. Also, some floors do not have accessible toilets for the disabled, and even if they did, the slope of the step of the accessible toilet was too steep for her wheelchair to climb. She is good at finding many small things in life and can inspire my partners and me a lot.

2. What are their desires/challenges/difficulties?

   Her main difficulty is that when it rains, it is inconvenient for her to hold the umbrella with one hand and control the wheelchair with the other. She wants us to help her make an umbrella holder that could attach to her wheelchair to support her umbrella. She wants to put away the umbrella stand when it’s not raining. In addition to this major problem, Orange came up with the idea of installing a tray table in her wheelchair. Another idea she brought is that we could help her design an umbrella container where she can put her umbrella in. According to the priority of Orange’s requirements, my partner and I decided to deal with the umbrella stand first, then the container and tray table.

3. What is your project? 1 paragraph description + Pictures or Photos or Videos

   Our project is a removable, collapsible, stable umbrella holder. It is mainly made of steel and plastic, as shown in the figure below, so it’s stable enough to support the umbrella. There are many rotating areas on the holder, so the holder can easily adjust the angle according to the needs of Orange. This product can help Orange to free her hands in rainy days, and she doesn’t have to worry about going out in rainy days.

 

4. Development process. Include photos and video(s)

We made the first model out of paper, determining where the holder should be placed in the wheelchair, how to rotate it, how to fold it. And then, we tested the second prototype made out of the harder material, a water pipe, to see how hard the material should be to support the umbrella and further discussed how to fix the bottom of the umbrella. Then we got the harder stuff, assemble the parts, and discussed how the holder could be attached to the wheelchair. We tried many different rotating angles and positions, and finally found a reasonable model (as shown in the figure below). When not in use, the holder can be easily put away. So far, it makes sense for the theory part. Combined with the pictures of the wheelchair, we have decided how to install it. On Tuesday, we will adjust the model to a suitable length based on the actual wheelchair.

  

Reflection on the field trip:

I took part in Thursday’s field trip. I will divide my reflection into two sections: “Something about the school” and “Something about the children”

Something about the school:

We arrived at Shanghai Pudong new area special school at 1 pm. My first impression of the school is that it is really modern and beautiful. We first explored the north area (I am not sure, almost forgot). Overall, the school is really nice. The first thing we saw is the model of the century avenue metro station, which is made to help the disabled children get familiar with the metro station and public transportation. It is really modern because the electronic gate is a real one, it is functional when plugs in. There are many devices like that educating students: currency system for career and life finance education; House and room models for daily life education; Kitchen class for cooking education (and further career development); etc. These devices are one of the main differences between normal school and special school—for the students in the special school, they need to learn how to live independently and get used to their surroundings. Besides these special devices, there are many private training rooms in the school. For example, we met two students who were receiving training. One kid was receiving music therapy. He gets autism and he can only keep calm when listening to music and staying inside a dark, closed environment. So, the private training room is similar to a music recording room. It is dark inside, and the music was playing when we saw from outside. Another interesting thing is the window. That is a one-side window, which is good for teachers to observe and students who are now stable in mood will not feel uncomfortable. The second kid has a severe physical disability. His father was also there to help the teacher to give private training to him. These customized rooms are good for private training and good for individual education. The classroom is the same as what I had before, but the size is smaller.

 

Something about the children:

The most valuable thing I learned is that those children are also good and possible to be trained. We saw the paints of some students; they are better than me at drawing and I felt that they are talented. We observed two classes. The first one is a private training class. The student has trouble balancing and walking. The class lasted for half an hour. The kid followed the instructions of teacher and did quite well. He was kind and patient. Also, the teacher was kind and really patient. I think the most important thing for communication is to keep kind and patient. Keep smile and be patient with these children. They are great to communicate. Another class is a music class. We were welcomed by students, which makes me feel warm-hearted. They are really kind and pure. They are really curious about us; I noticed several students looked back to us and smiled. One of the students in that class was really smart—my classmates and I didn’t think that he was a child with a disability. After asking the faculty, we knew that he was the medium severity so that he is better than others in the school.

 

Personal thinking:

I think they should be treated as the same person. I used to have a stereotype of them before. But after this field trip, I think that they need more time than us to learn how to live and work, they might not learn the same thing that we learn, but they can still have a skill which can support their living. They are the people who also have a contribution to our society. They just need more care, more time, more help, more patience and kindness from us.

 

Project idea:

Partner description

Our partner is Lamb. She is easy-going and she loves drawing. She is kind (she worries about other people with disabilities and hopes to help them) and very smart.

Desires and difficulties

Her mother mentioned many desires for her. The main issue is that she wants to go outside independently but the wheelchair limited her. The first thing is that she cannot take buses because the gap between buses and station is big. She cannot get on and off buses freely. Sometimes the wheelchair will be sucked into the gap. Another issue, since she can only use one hand to hold an umbrella, she cannot move the wheelchair in raining time.

Project description + photos + videos

For buses issue, I think it is necessary to solve it, but we did not come up with a concrete idea to solve it. So, we decide to free her hands. An umbrella holder is perfectly matched her needs. But we need to consider many issues.

Basic requirements:

1. The device should be attached to the wheelchair strongly so that it won’t fall down during movement.
2. It should tall enough so that the user will not be hit by the umbrella when he/she open it
3. The umbrella attached to the device should be automatic-open.
4. The device should be rotatable so that the users can adjust the angle to keep the rain from all the directions off.
5. The whole device should be easy to use—use a little bit of strength to control.

 

So, we try to research some existing solutions: we find some mechanical structure products and automatic umbrella.

 

Here are the first-ever prototype we have. It basically shows how it works.

 

Our “client” is a deaf Chinese man who also, due to a brain injury, has troubles using his left arm. He knows how to write and speak Chinese (both characters and pinyin), even though he sometimes cannot recognize hard characters. He enjoys using his computer to play video games and watch tv shows. He also is someone who uses the dictionary a lot to look up words he does not understand and knows how to navigate internet very well.

He went to a special school in which he learned how to sign and developed his education.

Because my team and I had trouble communicating with him, we thought we could make that process easier. We are thus using a drawing tablet for him to be able to write down to people what he wants to say. In addition to that, we are sticking a voice recorder to the tablet so that when in need, he can touch a button and that recorder notifies people that he is deaf and that they need to write down what they want to say for him to understand. Because he has trouble using his left side, we are thinking of attaching the tablet-recorder to a belt around his waist. We still are looking for a way to make the tablet move just like the tables in the airplanes (because his writing will be facing him and not the public it might be hard for others to understand what he’s writing).

Shanghai Pudong Special School

 

During our visit to the Shanghai Pudong Special School, we got to witness first hand how classes are conducted and how the school is organized. The school is, in fact, split between two buildings, one in front of the other. Each room has a different purpose; a different skill is taught in different settings. Kids are to develop a happy and healthy lifestyle. The professor who was directing the visit explained how the system is organized. Indeed, the kids go through 3 distinct phases in which they learn how to navigate life. The first phase is the one where they have to learn how to take care of themselves; from using the metro to reading and listening to music and so on. The second phase is one in which they learn domestic life as in how to shower, how to tidy up one’s room or how to navigate a house. The last phase is the communicative phase. Children also get to learn how to cook and get to, if the professional level is attained, go to the cooking special schools. As for activities, they all get to go to a gym and play sports to learn how to keep balance and use their bodies. One of the things they learn is how to hit a ball for example, how to jump or how to run. The professors and professional therapists are very patient, cheerful, encouraging and calm. We got to witness a 1-on-1 therapy in which the therapists were recording the session and taking notes. The kid got to do many exercises where he was learning how to use his feet, how to relax and use his strength. The therapist was also teaching him how to coordinate movements, keep balance, use both hands and feet at the same time. She of course showed him the movements before he had to perform them. At the end, he was asked at the end to put the material in its place, perhaps to develop a sense of responsibility. Even though alternating between movements on the right and left foot was hard, the kid managed to do it after many tries. Additionally, they also have access to a playroom in which they get to interact with objects and each other. They even have a garden in which they learn to grow plants and flowers. At the end we also got to see a music class in which they got to clap hands, match words to right sentences, recognize characters of the Opera and their roles.