Empowerment of people with disabilities through collaborative making: Exploring user involvement in designing and adapting assistive products

Abstract

This study investigates the extent of the empowering effects of making and collective production activities on people with disabilities and assistive products. The universal and participatory design intend to empower people with disabilities, but how people with disabilities can be empowered, and its requirements are highly dependent on the individual and the context. The research utilizes the elements of Empowerment Theory to assess the resulting empowerment of participants’ making-related experiences. Semi-structured interviews and participant observations were conducted to understand the role of collective making activities in enabling the participation of people with disabilities in designing, adapting, and making their own assistive products. Exemplary cases are presented to showcase three pillars of empowerment; personal, social and physical. Analyzing the disability-related making activities through the lens of a social empowerment theory contributes to empowering people with disabilities by defining barriers to their participation, understanding the effect of making, and developing design considerations.