📢 Promoting Community Awareness

Objective:

Students will create a community awareness poster or presentation that educates others about a specific assistive technology device, software, or practice that can benefit individuals with different abilities. Your poster or presentation should include the following:

1. A clear explanation of the device or system and how it works.
2. Information about who the device or system can benefit and in what ways.
3. A tutorial or demonstration of how to use the device or system, including any necessary safety precautions.
4. Suggestions for where and how the device or system can be obtained or replicated.
5. Additional resources or information about the device or system, including any research or testimonials supporting its effectiveness.

Your poster or presentation should be visually engaging and clearly communicate the importance and potential impact of the device or system on individuals with different abilities. You should also consider how your poster or presentation can be used to raise awareness and promote inclusion within your community.

As an example, you could create a tutorial or presentation on an enabled play operation that demonstrates how to modify common toys to make them accessible for children with physical disabilities. Your tutorial or presentation could include step-by-step instructions, materials needed, and tips for making the toys safe and fun for children of all abilities. You could also provide additional resources, such as links to websites or organizations that provide more information on how to create accessible toys or where to purchase pre-made devices.

✨Resources for Inspiration✨

Here is a list of resources and options to inspire your community awareness project. However, there are many more resources out there waiting to be found! 

• https://enabledplay.com/Enabled Play is specifically designed to support individuals with disabilities who may have difficulty using traditional game controls or navigating complex game environments.
• https://touch-mapper.org/en/ TouchMapper.org allows users to create custom tactile maps. Tactile maps are designed to provide individuals who are visually impaired with a tactile representation of physical space.
• https://www.bemyeyes.com/ Be My Eyes is a smartphone app that connects blind or visually impaired users with sighted volunteers via video chat.
• https://opendyslexic.org/ OpenDyslexic is a typeface designed to make reading easier for people with dyslexia.
• https://www.focusatwill.com/ Focus@will is a music streaming service that uses scientifically optimized music to improve focus and productivity. It offers playlists specifically designed to help individuals with ADHD focus and concentrate.

Do you have an idea but you couldn’t find it or it doesn’t exist yet? Consider creating it yourself!

Entrepreneurship is the process of creating, developing, and managing a new business venture. It involves identifying a need or opportunity in the market, developing a product or service to meet that need or opportunity, and building a sustainable business around it.

You can be among one of the many incredible young people that are making strides in STEM entrepreneurship, like Gitanjali Rao, Shubham Banerjee, Ann Makosinski, Kiara Nirghin, Jack Andraka, and Samaira Mehta. 

To bring your own ideas to prototype and life, you can follow these steps:

1. Ideation: This is the first step in the process where you brainstorm and come up with ideas. It’s important to identify a need or opportunity in the market, and think about how your idea can solve a problem or meet a need.

2. Research: Once you have an idea, it’s important to conduct research to determine if there is a demand for your product or service, and if it’s financially feasible.

3. Prototyping: Once you have done your research and have a better understanding of your idea, you can create a prototype. This can be a simple mock-up or a more complex version of your product or service. The goal is to test and refine your idea before launching it.

4. Funding: To bring your idea to life, you may need funding. There are various ways to finance your venture, including crowdfunding, angel investors, venture capitalists, and traditional bank loans.

5. Launch: Once you have your funding and have refined your idea, it’s time to launch your business. This can involve marketing and promoting your product or service, building your team, and scaling your business.