Uniekies game: Changing a child's mindset towards children with disabilities

Uniekies game: Changing a child's mindset towards children with disabilities

Innemee, J.X.

Gielen, M.A. (mentor)
Ozkaramanli, D. (mentor)
Swaak, J. (mentor)
Griffioen, I. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Industrial Design

Master of Science Design for Interaction

2014-01-27

The main goal of this graduation project is to positively change the mindset of children towards children with (physical) disabilities through an empiric game. It uses an emotion-driven design approach in which two interesting conflicting concerns of able-bodied children are used as inspiration to find a meaningful and innovative design solution: ‘I should let everyone play along, although they are not competent in the game’ vs. ‘I want to be challenged during play’. Furthermore it addresses the concern conflict between user groups, in which able-bodied children have the need to take the lead and helping function in an interaction, causing them to see the physically limited child as a ‘need-help-kid’. In my research I found that children with physical disabilities have unique abilities due to their disability! For example, children with a visual impairment hear very well and children with tubes or prostheses can shoot very hard. Using these characteristics I designed a game in which children with physical disabilities are positively presented as superheroes: the uniekies game. They have started a secret club in which all superheroes can train their superpowers. The Uniekies game is a role playing game in which all children (age 6-11) can become superheroes by putting on special suits. These suits will be made with materials that can be found at home, such as aluminum foil. The suits give children a disability and a unique power. It consists of 5 steps: 1. Watching introduction movie and read information on www.uniekiesclub.nl. 2. Collecting game materials (printing and searching for required home materials) 3. Choosing superheroes 4. Making superhero suits 5. Training superpowers with mini-games Children can pick from 6 superheroes, all representative for the 6 groups of children with disabilities I used as guidance in my research: (1) visual impairment, (2) hearing impairment, (3) hand, arm function impairment, (4) walking function impairment, (5) use of splint, tubes or prostheses and (6) dependent on a wheelchair, walker, etc for moving. The Uniekies game is a first step towards a more positive interaction of children with and without disabilities. It reverses the mindset of children towards children with disabilities by shifting their disability-focus to an ability-focus. The experienced feeling of solidarity through empathy makes physically limited children be viewed as equal play partners. Because the game is a lot of fun, children will share their experiences with others and spread the game.

emotion
disabilities
mindset

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:c09cd30c-b4ef-4d29-80ca-bf901721acc6

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2014 Innemee, J.X.