Grand Designs

Iam part of a wonderful local authority occupational therapy team in Bournemouth supporting children and young people who are disabled and their families. Our day-to-day intervention for children involves all manner of equipment, aids and adaptations - a core resource for many OT roles. Much of my time is spent perusing product websites, meeting with product advisors and considering if a product will meet the particular needs of a child and have a positive impact on their independence and wellbeing. When you see a child with strong involuntary movements now able to chill and relax after school, or hear a sibling excitedly exclaim that their brother will now “be able to eat Christmas dinner with us,” all because of a well-designed piece of equipment, you realise how impactful good design can be. Think for a moment about some of the items you own.

Is there anything you use every day that you really like, that brings joy through the way it was designed, both functionally and aesthetically? Have you ever had something that feels like it was designed just for you because it works so well? For many of the people we work with, good product design is essential and not merely a luxury. It can be the difference between thriving and surviving, a deciding factor in whether they are able to do something or not. Conversely, we’ve all experienced the negative feeling that clunky, poor design can have. This often results in products that ultimately don’t get used, or worst of all only add to the difficulty and frustration. Those purchasing specialist or disability equipment will also be used to the typically high costs, which often prove prohibitive for many families. OTs and the people we work with are, in a way, at the mercy of what products are out there and how well they have been designed. So, what if we and the people we work with could be more involved in the design process? An opportunity to do just this arose by way of conversations with a friend and some door opening tweets! I was approached by Pete Beckett, founder of Ethiot, a tech start-up based in Guildford, to join him in an international Designathon run by Australian organisation Remarkable Tech. This month-long challenge took place each week via Zoom and we were given the following design brief: How might we help people with limited mobility and speech to develop independence and autonomy in their homes through low cost smart home technology? The Designathon guided us through a design thinking phase to consider each week; empathise, ideate, prototype and test.

A key part of the design journey was gaining insight from users living with disability – we were encouraged to interview and gain first-hand insights into individuals’ lived experiences. This was to be the basis and starting point for the process, leaving at the door our preconceived ideas or solutions. To be honest, my understanding of the ‘smart home’ was limited, so initially I was unsure what value I could bring, but as the weeks unfolded I realised that my skills and experience working as an OT brought a highly relevant perspective. There was once a time when environmental control products were considered specialist pieces of equipment, often accessed only via OTs, but now with the wide-spread adoption of smart home products from Amazon, Google and Apple, the scope for affordable environmental control is far greater. One of our early insights was that voice-assistants such as Siri and Alexa are not only inaccessible for individuals who do not use speech, but that users who can use their voice don’t want to always feel the need to. Existing products that can only be voice-controlled are therefore designing-out individuals for whom environmental control could have a significant impact on independence and wellbeing. Pete’s knowledge and skills in electronic engineering combined with my perspective as an OT and invaluable user insights led us to develop our solution, Sofi. Sofi, named after Pete’s younger sister who has cerebral palsy, is a wireless switch that integrates with users’ existing smart home ecosystems to control other smart devices. This enables users to interact by using the built-in motion controls, or by connecting up to four accessible switches, for example, a button switch or sip-and-puff device. Sofi is designed to be mounted anywhere, for example, next to a bed or on a wheelchair. When we presented our idea at the end of the Designathon we were thrilled to be announced as runners up! You can see our original pitch video at click.ethiot.co/sofi. The design has been further developed since. Other ideas we considered included a voice-activated ceiling-track hoist to allow hands-free control, which I’d love to see taken forward. Being part of the Designathon has made me excited about the possibilities for individuals living with impairments, and for OTs in teaming up with the design sector. I would encourage OTs and individuals who are disabled to share their experiences and say yes to opportunities to be involved in design. For more information: