Tedxconcordia_Ilana Ben-Ari

Toys as Tools for Communication

Let’s start with a game.

Everyone please close your eyes.

Now think of the colour yellowand, in one word, describe it to your neighbour.

Now, describe the colour yellow again

only this time, imagine you’re describing it to a person who can’t see

a visually impaired person

a bit more difficult this time, eh?

how about describing this shape?

would you ever imagine that a person that can’t see, (a person with a visual impairment) would describe this object as a ﬂower?

or this shape as a house?

what do you think the visually impaired see when they feel?

what do you think theysee when something is being described to them?

well, today I’m going to talk to you about how I used these shapes, these toys, to bridge the very big communication gapbetween the visually impaired and the sighted.

as well as other implications, abstract forms and play have for giving a voice to unseen ideas.

In the 4th and ﬁnal year of my Industrial Design degree, I was given the task of designing a navigational aid for the visually impaired

A little background into visual impairment...

visually impaired childentering elementary school

visually impaired child entering elementary schoolIf you are a visually impaired child in Canada you have a few options once you are old enough to go to school. You caneither go to a school that’s speciﬁc to the visually impaired, that is catered to the visually impaired.

visually impaired child entering elementary schoolIt can be very expensive and is normally a boarding school,requiring that you are taken away from your family. As well, being in a world that is suited to you may make it verydifficult when you reach the age when you have to leave the school and join a world that isn’t designed for you.

visually impaired child entering elementary school Your other option is to go to a school where you are, mostlikely, the only visually impaired child in your class. This wasthe situation I encountered when I was introduced to a young girl named Emily whom I met while working on this project. She was one of the children that went to a public school.

visually impaired child 35% class timeentering elementary schoolA typical day for Emily:She is going to miss about 35% of her class time a daybecause there are certain classes that she can’t take withher classmates such as English and Math.

visually impaired child 35% class timeentering elementary school Educational AssistantShe is also accompanied by an in class EducationalAssistant. That’s an adult that will be spending most, ifnot all, of her class time with her. She is there to helpher, however, these combined issues in addition to herdisability makes it very difficult for Emily to socializewith the other children she shares a class with.

visually impaired childentering elementary school The social gap between Emily and the other children in her class are huge.

visually impaired child

visually impaired child They are worlds apart sighted children

visually impaired child Orientation & Mobilityentering elementary school In addition to missing class time, Emily has to practice her Orientation & Mobility Training which teaches her the skills to locate

visually impaired child Orientation & Mobilityentering elementary school Where Am I?

visually impaired child Orientation & Mobilityentering elementary school Where Am I? Where Am I Going?

visually impaired child Orientation & Mobilityentering elementary school Where Am I? Where Am I Going? How Do I Get There?

visually impaired child Orientation & Mobilityentering elementary school Where Am I? Where Am I Going? How Do I Get There? These are crucial concepts for her to grasp.

visually impaired child Orientation & Mobilityentering elementary school Where Am I? Where Am I Going? How Do I Get There? Learning how to communicate these directions is incremental in helping her to navigate through unfamiliar spaces.

my idea

my idea My idea, my goal, my vision for how I could help was to design a toy that incorporated those navigational cues.

my idea Where Am I?

my idea Where Am I? Where Am I Going?

my idea Where Am I? Where Am I Going? How Do I Get There?

my idea Where Am I? Where Am I Going? How Do I Get There?Into a game that could be played with other sightedchildren. Using these foundations, the goal was to createa much deeper connection between Emily and thesighted children in her class.

my idea Where Am I? Where Am I Going? How Do I Get There?To see the world the way that Emily saw it.

This was no easy task, I had some terrifying moments ofparalyzing fear thinking anything I designed wouldhighlight Emily’s disability instead of help.

My turning point was when I started speaking to not onlythe visually impaired, but those that lived with them.

They were also very much affected by the difficulties ofbeing visually impaired. Those that worked with them,went to school with them and lived and loved them.

Communication and understanding really were at theheart of creating a real connection between the visuallyimpaired and those around them.

By creating a game that required the giving and taking ofdirection, and explanation of what can’t be seen allowedfor the building of both empathy and understanding.

Now I don’t have Emily here with me, but I do have twolovely volunteers to demo my toy. Please welcome DavidSecko who you just heard speak and Alejandro Sepu fromNomadic Massive.

* demo *

The game is two player. Each piece has different shapes, textures and semantic clues.Each player has an identical set of these abstract shapes which can interconnect into a number of different conﬁgurations.

One player will put their set into a certain pattern The other player must now recreate that set.

The challenge is that they are both blindfolded.

They can use only their words to give and take directions and describe these abstract forms.

* demo ends *

insightNow I had 8 year olds, 60 year olds, the visually impairedand sighted all play with this toy.

insightWhat I discovered is that success in the game had nothingto do with age, education or visually ability. It all had to dowith how that person communicated.

insightAnd more importantly, how they would customized theirexplanation to the other player so that they couldunderstand.

insightI had one of my friends play this game with her ex-boyfriendand while they played she kept saying, “Josh, why aren’t youlistening to me??”, “You aren’t listening?”

insightHe replied, “You never stop talking!!” One of the observersturned to me and said, “This could be a great marriagecounselling tool.

insightThere were also some beautiful moments, likewhen Emily called this shape (hex) a ﬂower.That was a really powerful moment.

insightWhat this toy did essentially, was bring peoplefrom two very different worlds and put them intoeach other’s shoes.

insightAnd as my mum always says, “Never judge someoneuntil you’ve walked a mile in their shoes...

insight... cause then you’re a mile away and you have their shoes.”

so how would you describe this shape?

What about this shape?

What if you couldn’t see?

How would you describe this shape sothat someone else could understand it?

How would you describe something that isn’t even there?

Like an idea.

Does this look like an idea? Not really.But to many it’s what a new idea feels like.Scattered and abstract.

New ideas can be beautiful but also very ugly.I know a lot of mine look like arrows and broken pieces withtriangles and bumps, especially at the beginning.Communicating them can be very painful.

So how does this all relate to children and communication?

my passionWell my passion is ideas.As a designer I work and play with them all the time.

my passionMy other passion is children’s education and theimportance of preparing them with the right tools,to help them achieve their BIG IDEAS.

my passionWhat kind of challenges will the next generation face?Who knows?(Mitch?)

my passionWell actually we don’t really know, which is why it’s soimportant to give children the tools to play with newchallenge. To feel comfortable with those scary, vague,exciting, new places. To build together with those arrowsand squares and circles. In other words: ideas.

I’m going to now leave you with a story.

In my ﬁnal year of school, while I was doing this project, I was also taking a class called Life Cycle Analysis.This class teaches you to consider the entire life of a product. From raw materials, manufacturing up to the products end.

The Professor continually emphasized how important it is to decide on what you wanted out of the product at the beginning of the project not at the end.So if you want something to be sustainable it couldn’t bean after thought, it had to be designed, for that purpose, at the BEGINNING of a project. Not at the end.

One of the students in the class then raised his hand and said, “Well then why are you teaching us this in 4th year? Why aren’t you giving this class to the ﬁrst year students?”

That story is why I’m starting at the beginning, with kids.

Thank you.

Tedxconcordia_Ilana Ben-Ari

by Ilana_Munari on Mar 26, 2011

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Tedxconcordia_Ilana Ben-Ari — Presentation Transcript