The Lab
The challenge
In outpatient living, individuals with disabilities often feel lonely. We are looking for a solution that helps them to overcome the difficulty of making independent contacts and the lack of integration into activities.
The problem we are facing
In outpatient living arrangements, people with disabilities live in individual flats, rarely in shared flats. Despite various communal offerings, this form of living often leads to loneliness within their own walls. On the one hand, this is due to the difficulty people have in making contacts independently, and on the other hand, it is also due to the lack of integration into leisure activities. In most cases, people with disabilities can only take part in such activities when accompanied by an assistant, as the other participants or the organisers are not prepared to take responsibility for the people with disabilities. This is often caused due to a lack of knowledge in dealing with people with disabilities and the few points of contact with people with disabilities in everyday life.
What kind of solution is needed?
A digital, multifunctional place where people from the same region can meet would be ideal. A place where both socialising can take place and education can be experienced. In which everyone can learn more about people with disabilities from people with disabilities through simple videos and short input, in which I can plan or find events, I can share things from my life with other people from the region. At the same time, I also have the opportunity to meet up with individual people to go for a walk, go shopping, to the grocery store or talk on the phone. Also professional team is provided that can support me quickly and easily on specific technical topics.
Possible Future
By strengthening the community in the regions and bringing people together, cohesion in society can be reinforced. Furthermore, the existing skilled workers are relieved and the shortage of personnel gets counteracted. In the long term, a new form of neighbourhood help and community living can emerge. Both people with disabilities and people in old age experience the feeling of being needed by other people through this form of mutual support in the neighbourhood. In the long term, issues such as child care can also be addressed and integrated in such a platform.