Session One

During the first environment module, we had to put ourselves into the shoes of people who may face difficulties in their daily lives.

10-year-old girl with special needs

• may feel unwanted and useless
• may face rejection and judgement from society
• may suffer from low self-esteem and constant self-deprecation

Middle-aged man permanently without the use of his legs

• may have a home environment which caters to his assistive mobility device (e.g. wider corridors, spacious rooms, etc.)
• may feel that communal environment is not wheelchair-friendly and hence difficult to move around freely
• may choose a house at a convenient location (close to his workplace, a grocery store, etc.) so that it is easier for him to travel to purchase daily necessities and go about everyday life
• may choose a housing unit on the ground floor

An elderly lady living alone

• may feel lonely and isolated from her community
• may hole herself up at home and constantly live in a quiet and dull environment
• may be tough for her to be self-reliant in her everyday life
• may view the outside world as potentially dangerous and hostile since she is in a vulnerable position

A foreign domestic worker

• may experience a culture chock due to the fact that he is away from home and living in a completely different environment
• may be unable to access many social resources
• may feel isolated and excluded from the local community
• may be home-sick
• may be in a situation whereby his family members meet unfortunate accidents back in his hometown and he is unable to protect or help them
• may feel hopeless at times of adversity
• may face language barriers and difficulty in communication
• may be a victim of racism and discrimination

15-year-old boy with severe visual impairment

• can only experience life in a blurry environment
• may face difficulties recognising people and places
• may feel insecure as anything beyond his vision may be a safety hazard for him
• may feel hopeless and excluded
• may be a victim of bullying or ostracism
• may feel offended at the pitiful reactions people have towards his condition
• may be worried about his future since there are limited educational institutes for him to enroll in and his job prospects are narrowed

An elderly man with health issues

• may struggle to cope with illness
• may face troubles in remembering to take his medications
• may have difficulties going about his daily life due to restricted mobility
• may be regarded as a burden by others

Going through the environmental module certainly prompted us to empathise with people who have special needs, thus identifying their requirements and aiding in our design thinking process.

As part of our post-module activity, we watched a Ted-talk video about a speech delivered by Elise Roy. The video highlighted the reason why we should start out with designing for people with disabilities to benefit the community as a whole.

“I believe that losing my hearing was one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received,” says Elise Roy. As a disability rights lawyer and design thinker, she knows that being Deaf gives her a unique way of experiencing and reframing the world — a perspective that could solve some of our largest problems. As she says: “When we design for disability first, you often stumble upon solutions that are better than those when we design for the norm.”

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Session Two

In the second environment module, we delved deeper into the concept of an inclusive society and identified the factors contributing to segregation among the community.

Firstly, we watched a CNA Insider video about an Indian lady moving in temporarily with a Chinese family. From this video, we understood that one of the reasons for racism in our Singapore society is the deeply entrenched stereotypes that people have.

Stereotypes which the Indian lady have about Chinese

• Chinese people are arrogant and look down upon other races
• Exclusive and avoid making friends with people of other races

Stereotypes which the Chinese family have about Indians

• Indians do not usually bathe
• All Indians come from India
• Indians do not eat pork or meat
• Indians are dangerous, bad and scary

What other barriers prevent a society from becoming inclusive?

• Having a fixed mindset passed down from one generation to the next
• Deeply-entrenched stereotypes
• Lack of interaction between the races
• Lack of understanding of the different cultures
• Personal negative experiences which cause false generalisations

What are the barriers/challenges faced by the community in your ComEd?

• Generation gap (lack of understanding towards them, abuse of loneliness and isolation)
• Difficulties in adjusting to new technology of the digital age
• Health conditions
• Mobility issues

How may these barriers/challenges be overcome?

• Education and raising awareness
• Recognise the value of elderly people and appreciate the contributions that they can provide for society
• Adopt an open mindset towards elderly people
• Allowing others and oneself the opportunity to interact with elderly people
• Participating in more community service

This environment module provided us with preliminary ideas on how to design our prototype in order to serve the purpose of creating a more inclusive society.