Finding Opportunities

It’s hard to believe we are already 2 weeks into the semester. Prior to this class, I have no Digital Making or Design experience. However, I have recently developed a new interest in design thinking and how I can apply it to my everyday life and future career in Business. I believed that this course would be a great way to start looking at the world through a design thinking lens.

During the first week of class, Illini Service Dogs, one of our clients, visited the Maker Lab. We were able to meet one of the dogs in training and learn about opportunities to help the dogs and their trainers. The class then visited the DRES (Disability Resources & Educational Services) Center to meet with our mentors during the second week of class. One of our mentors, Adam Bleakney, showed us where UIUC’s wheelchair track team works out in addition to the history of the racing chair.

Racing chairs in the Illini wheelchair racing team’s workout room.

One mentor who inspired me deeply was Rob, who has played several different wheelchair sports throughout this lifetime and has played an instrumental role in the evolution of sport wheelchairs. Rob’s resourcefulness in building a new, lightweight, and affordable chair inspires me to look at situations differently. Moreover, Rob explained a non-profit organization he has been working with to supply used chairs to countries in Africa. There are a large number of children in rural communities who have never left the floor of their home, and providing them with chairs gives them the opportunity to go to school and go to work with their parents.

I have always had a strong passion for serving those who live in developing countries, so this opportunity really hit home with me. I would love to help make an impact in these African communities and their children’s lives. Helping non-profit organizations inexpensively build/alter wheelchairs would not only affect the children in Africa, but could also affect other people around the world. I look forward to the opportunity this class has given me to combine my desire to utilize design thinking and to make an impact on someone else’s life.

367 Replies to “Finding Opportunities”

  1. I’m with you. I was completely blown away by some of Ron’s experiences and innovations. He never left anything curb his desire to be continuously improving the wheelchair. His engineering ethic is the epitome of an iterative design cycle. He has an approach in which he constantly strives to find simple solutions to large problems – it really is fascinating.

  2. Making an impact in other places such as Africa has been a goal of mine also. It was interesting to hear about the struggles that many people face in Africa because the wheelchairs that are made are not well suited for the terrain. I would check out this link: http://www.designkit.org/case-studies/1 if you get a chance. It was an interesting read.

  3. I really like the passion you are sharing with us. I myself was inspired as well as I heard mentors’ stories about non-profit organizations they were involved in and how they were making impacts through the organizations. There are many opportunities that we can embrace to make a difference in the world. On the other hand, running a non-profit organization is not easy. Even with great intention, it is still hard to move the resources to the place where people need them. It also requires thinking about varying conditions in different areas. For instance, as we learned from our mentors, the road conditions were different which resulted in entirely distinct designs. When we design in the future, we need to take those factors into consideration and come up with products that fit the context.

  4. I love the passion you have with helping the African community. I believe that you can help these 65 million people who do not have access to wheelchairs and maybe reducing the price down to 12 dollars per chair. However, it would be even better if you created the compartments very simple, so even if there is no designers, the locals can create it themselves. I feel like this distinguishes a good design to a one time usage design. I hope you keep up with your work!

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