Zhang Jing 1006191014

Major Assignment 2– Short Essay

Accept situation

Hospital is one of the necessary social structures in every country and city. Whether it is the hospital or the clinic will receive countless patients every day to provide medical security and services. With the development of the national economy, medical treatment has been included in various countries’ welfare policies, so it is quite convenient for us to check and treat patients after they are ill. But what makes me think is that if the disabled are not accompanied by their families, some activities, such as treatment and hospitalization, will be very inconvenient and even dangerous in some cases. As a result, I think how a wheelchair can be redesigned to assist blind people in the hospital; this unfamiliar environment can get better medical service.

Analyze

According to global data from the World Health Organization, 285 million people worldwide are visually impaired, 39 million are blind, while 82% of those over the age of 50 are blind. However, in this age group, people’s physical fitness will become weaker and more prone to diseases, including life-threatening diseases. Most blind people, however, are not willing to go to the hospital or clinic subjectively. They would have social barriers or social fears for their reasons. They are not good at communicating with people in the hospital; they can not get effective help through the hospital’s signs and even get into trouble. Although the vast majority of hospitals will be equipped with volunteers to help the blind, how many hospitals can ensure the number of volunteers on duty. Therefore, volunteer service can’t guarantee that blind people can receive effective help in hospitals. The most important thing is to help the blind navigate unfamiliar environments (Cupples, Hart, Johnston, & Jackson, 2012). They can not do what normal people do in a hospital, such as filling out forms and knowing the department’s direction. With the occupation of science and technology in our lives, many hospitals have abandoned the use of voice to inform patients; most hospitals will use electronic screens to inform patients to see a doctor, take medicine, and so on. These are very difficult and inconvenient for the blind. In hospitals, the medical staff are usually very busy, or they do not know how to provide effective help for the blind. If a blind person asks for directions, people may subconsciously have hand movements, combining language and body movements to answer. The blind need to use language in its entirety and answer this as “the door is on your right in front of you.” Of course, there will only be more problems in hospitals. If these problems are not resolved, the blind can’t go to the hospital alone.

Define

By reading a lot of relevant articles and analysis, the real problem is that the hospital can not provide effective guidance and assistance to the blind. Neither guide dogs and crutches around blind people nor volunteers in hospitals can guarantee that blind people can get a good medical service. Hospitals, too, are starting to make them fear and escape, which is not a good direction for development. What we need to do is how to add a functional product, system, or service to help them go to the hospital successfully.

Ideate

Improving healthcare access for people with visual

impairment and blindness

Improving healthcare access for people with visual

impairment and blindness

From a bisociation perspective, combining and applying technology to wheelchairs can solve some of the problems I have raised. The weight and size of the ordinary wheelchair is very clumsy. So we can make some changes to the interior. My idea is to add automatic driving, voice system, a navigation system, an alarm system, and patient and hospital input systems. The second idea is to put wheelchairs in all areas of the hospital, just like the characteristics of migratory birds. Most people’s design inspiration comes from bionics. This time, I have some ideas about the living characteristics of migratory birds. Migratory birds will travel according to climate change, just as people can choose according to their different needs. Therefore, placing exclusive wheelchairs in each hospital area can help them move around and reduce the problems caused by walking. Another idea is that there are many facilities in the hospital that are obstacles for the blind. These obstacles could put them in jeopardy. So I want to apply the principle of bats flying at night so that the wheelchair can avoid obstacles. Bats’ eyesight is very poor. They can fly at night and not bump into objects by emitting very strong ultrasonic waves, which will be reflected when they encounter obstacles. This principle can, therefore, be applied to a wheelchair, and the design of a wheelchair can effectively help the blind avoid obstacles.

Select

In my three ideas, I finally decided to combine a wheelchair with technology. Technology can be used to solve the automatic driving system, voice system, navigation system, and patient information, and case input system. Technology is also, of course, the most extensive and easy-to-use of all ideas. The systems that I have proposed can be completed with the existing technology. The indoor navigation system is of great importance. According to the article “Indoor Navigation by Blind People: Behaviors and Challenges in Unknown Spaces and Buildings,” the results show that indoor navigation is very important for the blind and is also challenging. It is necessary to set accurate landmarks and the distance of obstacles in the navigation.

Only in this way can the blind solve the problem of indoor movement (Jeamwatthanachai, W., Wald, M., & Wills, G., 2019). Also, other systems have already appeared in our lives, and the voice system is just like Siri. This system can help the blind to solve the communication problem in the hospital. The voice system can make its settings more detailed to ensure that the blind can receive effective help. And the blind also said that the voice system is indispensable for them, they can not read information, they can not get information from people’s body movements, so the voice system has become more important (Freitas & Kouroupetroglou, 2008). Then the alarm system is designed to protect the blind; if there is a dangerous situation, it can be rescued through the alarm system. The hospital can also find the position of the patient as soon as possible. Finally, I want to join the information entry system to help blind fill in or read cases. Because they do not have a way to fill out paper forms, the system can be entered by voice or set up Braille. Help them fill in the form on their own to protect their illness and privacy. It would be more or less inconvenient to ask the hospital nurse to fill it in. At the same time, they can not only fill in but also know their current appointment and queuing by listening to avoid missing the text message sent by the hospital. So, finally, I choose these features to apply to my design, and these systems can also solve the problems identified through the investigation. In this way, the blind can get better help in the hospital and go to the hospital on their own.

Implement

The wheelchair I have redesigned this time is combined with technology, so its art direction will be more technological. Still, it is also going to be better than the usual wheelchair in detail and comfort. I will design wheelchairs that are more convenient and light, heavy wheelchairs that are not convenient for access and control. It is about the same size as a regular chair, but it is lighter. Lines and graphics are used as the main elements of the design. At the same time, I will use the black and red color combination for color selection. Red is a more striking color. So the red wheelchair can let people actively avoid it so that there will not be too many people trapped in it. Red is also convenient for medical staff to look for, identify the wheelchair in which the blind are riding, and provide better service. The design as a whole will be presented in a 3D way to see the details of the wheelchair’s design from different aspects and angles. Technology is also a very important part of the design as a whole. A chip will be placed at the bottom of the wheelchair to achieve the desired function through technology. It will be connected to the control panel on the wheelchair armrest to achieve the operability of the various functions.

Evaluate

Hospitals in different countries and development is very good, whether they are led by medical experience or medical equipment in many other industries. Hospitals should, however, pay more attention to the needs of the disabled in the future. After all, a large part of the population has been occupied by people with disabilities. To date, medical services for the disabled are not enough to provide primary medical assistance. I suggest that we can open a special green channel for these special groups in future developments. Whether there is a dedicated channel or a door-to-door treatment, we should take more account of the needs of special groups. If the technology is unable to reach the level that we need, we can train medical staff. Let them know more about these special groups, understand their needs, so that they can be better helped. Hospitals not only provide medical services to ordinary people but also pay attention to the disabled can benefit from them, pay attention to their needs and provide them with exclusive services while changing the facilities and policies of hospitals.

Reference

Cupples, M. E., Hart, P. M., Johnston, A., & Jackson, A. J. (2012). Improving healthcare access for people with visual impairment and blindness. BMJ, 344(Jan30 1). doi:10.1136/bmj.e542

Freitas, D., & Kouroupetroglou, G. (2008). Speech technologies for blind and low vision persons. Technology and Disability, 20(2), 135-156. doi:10.3233/tad-2008-20208

Jeamwatthanachai, W., Wald, M., & Wills, G. (2019). Indoor navigation by blind people: Behaviors and challenges in unfamiliar spaces and buildings. British Journal of Visual Impairment, 37(2), 140-153. doi:10.1177/0264619619833723

Reilly, A. (2017, October 18). Visually Impaired Face Barriers To Healthcare, Says New Report. Retrieved August 08, 2020, from https://ot-magazine.co.uk/visually-impaired-face-barriers-to-healthcare-says-new-report/