Emily Gawrys, left, and NeArc staff member Rachel Semel speak with Suffolk University students.
More than 500 students at Suffolk University’s Sawyer Business School were put to the test when four Northeast Arc participants challenged them to come up with innovative solutions to their daily living struggles.
The Design-a-Thon, held on April 30, served as the final project for first-year students enrolled in the school’s Innovative Teaming course. Working in teams of four, the students had one day to listen to the problems, brainstorm and present solutions that would involve some type of adaptive equipment.
Challenges included being able to open metal cans, cut round fruits and vegetables, transcribe numbers at work with limited vision, and fold and hang clothes better. Ideas were eventually narrowed down to 14 finalists, with three winners being crowned, each earning a cash prize.
Northeast Arc’s Earl Henderson,
pictured with Chaim Letwin of Suffolk,
was pleased with the creative solutions
to the problem he presented during the
Design-a-Thon.
“They were solving a real problem for a real person in real time,” said Chaim Letwin, associate professor of management and entrepreneurship at Suffolk. “There’s an empathy-thinking portion in that they get to meet the individual, the customer, and get to really understand and define the problem. It’s a great opportunity to interact and learn from each other.”
“It’s the experience for our participants,” said Tim Brown, Northeast Arc’s chief innovation and strategy officer. “They’re leading the conversations and supporting solution-making, and that really came out in the final presentations. They were so tailored to the needs of the people we support. And we’ve been able to use pieces from the projects to build off of.”
Brown said the winning team came up with something that was both readily available and affordable. They set out to assist a Northeast Arc participant who is legally blind and works independently as a housekeeper at a nursing home. She is required to label laundry according to the residents’ rooms and worries about transcribing room numbers incorrectly. They developed the concept for a “CartGo,” a housekeeping cart with a built-in label printer for easy job tracking.
“It could be purchased locally and assembled,” said Brown. “We could implement everything the next day if we chose to.”
The second-place team came up with a “Can-Do Glove,” an electromagnetic, wearable device to assist users with strength and dexterity. Team member Samprina Zekio said it was a game-changer to be able to talk to a Northeast Arc participant who has some motor control and dexterity difficulties, which are heightened when trying to cook and open sealed containers.
“Listening to the needs of a customer was the biggest help we received during the competition,” said Zekio. “We were able to brainstorm ideas and present to him what we thought would help him with his dexterity issues. The feedback was so important since we narrowed down our ideas and we got his approval with our final prototype.”
Letwin said the personal collaboration was such an important component of the event, and it opened students’ minds to the needs of individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities.
“It makes them aware that you can do good work for people, and it also helps them understand that there’s another group of people that can be critically served through entrepreneurship,” said Letwin.