Personally, I have never been in a class where I have been able to interact and physically design solution for issues that people face every day. One of my favorite thing Professor Sachdev said day one was, “We are not looking to solve problems, but we are looking to find opportunities”. I thought that this was an amazing way to look at innovation that I have never noticed before.
To begin our initial discovery of our semester projects we took a trip to the Disability Resource & Educational Service. We initially began our research as Adam took us around a tour of the wheel chair training facility. On this tour Adam really helped us understand the accomplishments of all these fantastic athletes. Adam took us to the back of his shop and showed us the 3D printed gloves and other or his very own inventions to help train his decorated athletes.
After the tour, we went to a meeting room where our entire class was able to hear the fantastic stories of Ron, Ryan, and Jenna. Since I have never been in a class or consulting project like this I thought it was really amazing to hear first-hand accounts of living with a disability. Ron, Ryan and Jenna’s stories were all vastly different but all inspired and connected with me to want to make a change.
After we heard first-hand stories, my partner Jay and I talked to Jenna slightly more in-depth to get some more information about her. One of her concerns had to do with her $100 thousand leg. After our conversation, Jay and I started drafting some ideas on some of the opportunities that Jenna provided us. I’m very excited to see what the semester has in store for us!
My name is Ryan Kane, and I am a senior graduating in the spring of 2019 from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Gies College of Business. I have a double major is both Supply Chain Management and Information Systems and Information Technology.
Charlotte