Inital Proposals

Having had a whirl of ideas I could focus my fourth-year project on over the summer it has come to the time to make a decision on what I am going to concentrate on.

I have been toying with several ideas including exploring the public's perception of people with invisible disabilities. I was looked into the idea of creating something to help with concentration, something to help procrastination, something I know all to well myself.

As for invisible disabilities I started looking into what it is to have one, and perceptions people have about people who live with them.  Invisible disability is a term used for people who have a disability that is not immediately apparent.  I found that people with disabilities such as chronic pain, join issues or use prosthetic limbs are often criticised when using disabled facilities such as parking spaces or toilets. Even though they are entitled to use it, because they abled bodied to the passer-by they are judged.

I read articles about people's experiences of ridicule they have had by members of the public and how it affected them.  I also came across an awareness campaign has been set up to raise awareness of discrimination - #morethanmeetstheeye.

The other area I explored was how you can change people’s behaviour when in a working or learning environment. Aiming to stop large amounts of procrastination and let people carry out the tasks they wish and need to do.

It’s often that case when people are set in a self-directed work or study they will often stray, using social media too much, or wasting time.I wanted to find out how this can this be stopped, and how can you get people out of this habit of sitting on Facebook.

There are various tools online that can block certain websites, but can be avoided easily enough. I discovered a tool called Pavlok, which is a wearable that uses electric pulses to break people bad habits. This reminded me of one of the IDEO social mobiles, the electric shock mobile which delivered a shock when the user spoke too loudly down the phone.

After researching these two topics I have decided not to pursue them. Regarding invisible disabilities I couldn’t find enough on it, I want finding enough initial research to work with. With the concentration brief I didn’t think this was deep enough. I also feel it is something that has been tackled before.