Liberty Resources: The Road to Independence

organizational development

Liberty Resources, The Road To Independence

The Road to Independence Š 2010

Jacob Wells Sherika Wynter Matthew Van Der Tuyn

Liberty Resources The Road to Independence

Published by

211 South Broad Street, 5th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19102 Copyright Š 2010

Copyright © 2010 by Uarts MID Illustrations copyright © 2010 by Matthew Van Der Tuyn Photography credits: Pages 05, © 2010 Harvey Finkle All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced–mechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopying–without written permission of the publisher.

Cover design by Matthew Van Der Tuyn Book design by Matthew Van Der Tuyn Masters of Industrial Design at The University of the Arts 212 South Broad Street, 5th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19102 First printing June 2010

Table of Contents BACKGROUND 03 | The Scenario 07 | The Client APPROACH 13 | Client Goals 15 | Our Role PROCESS 21 | Research 25 | Facilitation & Observation 31 | Shadowing & Interviewing CONCEPTS 40 | Areas of Focus 43 | Deliverables 61 | Impact 63 | Moving Forward

Chapter 1

BACKGROUND The Scenario The Client

who?

BACKGROUND

THE SCENARIO

Persons with disabilities Close your eyes. It is a lovely fall afternoon, the sun is warming your skin and you freely walk from work to home on the same path you have taken for many years. You enjoy the scenery, greet those you pass daily. Nothing different about today.

Then something out of the ordinary occurs:

Your life will never be the same, You must re-learn every day tasks, You must accept your new situation, You must adapt.

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04 BACKGROUND

The norms of disability Whether born with a disability or circumstantially gained one, doing every day tasks can be cumbersome. There are limited options available to you. Such things as transportation and information are not often designed to cater to those with disabilities. Because of this, a common thought is that these folks are best off in a nursing facility.

In actuality it is not that they are incapable of living in community but rather it is more convenient for most to have them out of the way. Some would argue that the cost of remodeling our communities to become more accessible and providing in-home assistance to those who need it would cost too much.

The fact is that it would be less costly to have these individuals living in the community than in a nursing facility where in many cases an individual does not need 24 hour care.

So why is at-home-assistance not considered as an option? There is an organization that works to do just that.

An organization that advocates for the rights of persons with disabilities and works to change the challenging world that they face. This organization is Liberty Resources.

BACKGROUND

THE CLIENT

Liberty Resources Founded in 1980, Liberty Resources is the Center for Independent Living (CIL) for the Philadelphia area. What is a CIL? A CIL is a consumer‑driven, cross‑disability, federally funded non–profit organization that operates within a local community to advocate for and provide services to persons with disabilities.

To do this, Liberty offers an array of services to provide the necessities an individual needs to live independently in the community, such as skills and vocational training, identifying and providing housing options, and most importantly, advocating for their rights on a local and national level.

Being one of 400 independent living centers nationwide, Liberty and is the largest and most active Centers.

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08 BACKGROUND

What it means to be a consumer

Fighting the good fight

Liberty is very adamant in defining their role in the disabled community.

They refer to those who they serve as consumers. Influenced by Ralph Nader and the consumerism movement of the 1960’s Liberty, strongly makes clear that the consumer at all times has choices and responsibilities in regards to their service options.

Aside from offering services for persons with disabilities to live independently within the community Liberty also works along side advocacy and activist groups. These collaborating parties work with policy makers to push for change in accessible standards on both the local and national level.

Nothing for us with out us One other important aspect of Liberty is the fact that they are consumer driven and consumer controlled. This means a majority of the governing board and staff are people with disabilities, in fact over 51% of their employees have some disability.

Liberty, along with other advocacy groups work to create change and often protest to have their voices heard.

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Chapter 2

APPROACH Client Goals Our Role

why?

APPROACH

CLIENT GOALS

The path to performance excellence Since its birth, Liberty has grown drastically.

Serving only 200 consumers their first year, Liberty now serves over 7000 consumers. This type of growth has lead to some growing pains for the organization. Because of this, the company has decided to investigate the processes of different departments, their role in the organization, department collaborations, how they serve Liberty consumers.

Liberty Resources is at the beginning phase of applying for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. This award is given to organizations who possess the ability to not only provide outstanding services but also function efficiently on all levels. The application process is extensive and itself is a tool for organizational development.

A chart used by Quality Management to analyze the Baldrige work that is being done with in Liberty Resources.

However it is not the award in itself that Liberty is truly after but rather it is the path to performance excellence and setting the standard for other centers nation wide.

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Liberty Resources & UArts MID ––––––––––––––––––––––

Strategy for Sustainable Innovation

UArts MID Actions

Liberty Resources Actions

Collaborative Actions

APPROACH

OUR ROLE

A collaborative relationship In collaboration with Liberty, we wanted to investigate the processes both internally and as they concern the consumer.

Through this investigation we had hoped to isolate areas for improvement where design solutions could be conceptualized, pototyped, and tested.

Another important goal of ours was to establish an ongoing collaborative relationship with the organization, in order to provide more innovative and effective solutions.

Though very excited about our participation the organization was hesitant to allow us the necessary freedom of investigation we had hoped for.

An initial design strategy map that demonstrates how UArts and Liberty Resources could work in a collaborative, innovative relationship.

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16 APPROACH

Clarifying our intentions Although Liberty’s expectations were for us to assist the Quality Management team in identifying and standardizing departmental processes, we wanted to expand our scope and explain exactly what we, as designers, can do for the organization in regards to improving not only organizational processes bur also human experience.

with the consumers in order to better understand those processes and needs for improvement. We made the argument that observing the processes in action would allow for a better understanding of how that department currently works and influence well informed strategies for improving both the processes and experiences.

We drafted a design proposal in order to give Liberty a better understanding of what our interests and capabilities were.

Our main objective was to communicate the importance of a consumer driven organization, such as Liberty, in looking more closely at their processes as they relates directly to the consumer and their experience. We had proposed that we shadow and interview some of the departments that work closely

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BACKGROUND | the client

A visual representation of our design proposal.

UArts MID ––––––––––––––––––––––

Design Strategy Proposal Interact With & Observe Individuals Analyze Processes & Experiences of Staff & Consumers Identify Shared Concerns

Develop Possible Solutions

Pilot Solutions & Gather Feedback

Implement Final Solutions

Chapter 3

PROCESS Research Facilitation & Observation Shadowing & Interviewing

how?

PROCESS

RESEARCH

Our Orientation We were given the opportunity to take part in a condensed employee orientation. While normally new employees go through their orientation over a three day period, we were given all of the information in one day. During the initial session, an orientation manual was given to everyone present. This manual contained over 417 slides breaking down and describing many of the departments within Liberty. All of this information was hard to grasp, as it was very spread out in the manual.

The orientation manual containing over 417 slides about the many departments with in Liberty Resources.

One of many maps developed to visualize the complex information from the orientation manual.

In order to gain a better understanding, we began to map out our interpretation of the content. One of the most helpful maps we created was a departmental interaction map that allowed us to achieve a higher understanding of the many interactions between departments, external entities, and consumers.

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Liberty Resources ––––––––––––––––––––––

Department Interaction

PROCESS

FA C I L I TAT I O N & O B S E R VAT I O N

Process Workshops The departmental process investigation began with a series of Process Workshops, done by the Quality Management department under the supervision of Michael Smith, the director of QM. The idea behind these workshops is

Design team member, Matt Van Der Tuyn, facilitating a process workshop.

to identify overlaps and redundancies within the organization. Liberty understands that, in order to achieve performance excellence, these workshops must be done. These process workshops would also afford for departmental improvements. If all tasks are laid out, then each department can begin to strategically plan to as to how they can better themselves.

Design team member, Sherika Wynter, facilitating a process workshop.

We used large sticky notes to layout each departments many process tasks.

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26 PROCESS

Gathering the information The basic goal of these process workshops are to provide a breakdown of the different tasks performed by each department. The tasks would be mapped as they currently occur.

A screen reader is software that identifies, interprets and reads what is being displayed on the screen. It informs the user of all graphics and selections available.

Each task is written on large sticky notes and placed on a wall. They are separated by consumer related tasks and Liberty support tasks. This is to aid in helping the department representative to see how all these processes are related.

Once the meeting has concluded, the gathered information is placed into an interactive Power Point document.

In order to cater to the needs of individuals who are visually impaired, white text is placed behind each Power Point slide giving a description of the graphic on the slide to be read by a screen reader.

A visualization of the process used by Mike Smith to document the information gathered during the process workshops.

STS Process Map p

Support

Preparing Consumers for Transition

Customer

Building Relationships with and for Consumers

Slide S lide shows shows a process process map map with with ith high high level level le el customer customer stomer and and support s u p p o rt processes Starting pr p roce esssses and d how how information infformat mation tion flows flows among amo am amo ong the the processes. proc Startting Assessing Consumer Needs in the he e customer customer section section – information information flows flows from from the the building bu ildi ng relationships relat tion onships with with consumers consumers box box to to the the assessing assessing consumers consumers and an d Developing Action Plans prep parin ng g consumers for transition on box. boxg Ac The preparin p rep paring g consumers for preparing preparing transition trans s tiion activity actitivitity can can happen happen at at any any and a d allll points i t in i the the STS ST Preparing process. boxes within customer proc cesss. The other ther b i for wit custo sto ome o err process process section section are are Transition developing action plans which impacts deve elo oping g Consumer plans imp pact ctts orr flows to preparing for Implementing consumer cons s mer transition transiti ition and and transitioning transiti itioning consumer. c nsumer.

Implementing Special Services Plans Transitioning spec cia aliz lized services ces plans pla l al feedss the e preparing for consumer specialized also Consumers transition Managing trans tra ssittiio on process. process.

Man Manag ging g financial financia al reimbursement, im mbursement, managing ma m a na g i ng employees, e mployees, collecting collllectiting and and reporting reportiting data, data, contributing contributing to to LRI LRI activities activities Managing Financial Reimbursement Consumer Services and Support that an nd ensuring g regulatory reg gulatory toryy compliance comp pliance are allfor Sup pport processes processes ces are a re in in boxes boxes below below the th th he e Customer Customer processes processes with with ith arrows arrows indicating i nd diicatiting tthat hat tthese h e se p rocesses support supManaging port the the STS SEmployees TS department department so so they they can can processes ssupport up u pport the the consumer. consum mer.

Collecting and Reporting Data Contributing to LRI Activities Ensuring Regulatory Compliance

“

Slide shows a process map with high level customer and support processes and

how information flows among the processes. Starting in the customer section – information flows from the building relationships with consumers box to the assessing consumers and preparing consumers for transition box. The preparing consumers for transition activity can happen at any and all points in the STS process. The other boxes within customer process section are developing action plans which impacts or flows to preparing for consumer transition and transitioning consumer. Implementing specialized services plans also feeds the preparing for consumer transition process.

Managing financial reimbursement, managing employees, collecting and reporting data, contributing to Liberty activities and ensuring regulatory compliance are all Support processes that are in boxes below the Customer processes with arrows indicating that these processes support the STS department so they can support the consumer.

”

Bruce Connus

Gretchen Bell

Ray Crawford

Key Observations During Workshops Unaware of actual workload Feeling separate from organization as a whole Understaffed or unable to work as efficiently as possible/needed Eager to converse about responsibilities and point of views Frustrated with the task of the process workshops Focused on the improving of their department Works directly with consumers Collaborates with many other departments Works with external entities Demonstrates great authority over others

John Maratea

PROCESS

Who and what we observed The first process meeting we attended was for Retreads, a department that repairs and loans durable medical equipment. Gretchen Bell, the Program Coordinator, attended this meeting on behalf of her department. During this session, we were just observers. We were able to grasp how the workshops were facilitated. We also understood the type of information that should be gathered at the end of the workshop.

Gretchen expressed her concerns during the workshop. She felt as if many of the departments in Liberty were unaware that Retreads existed.

The four representatives of the different departments we worked with during our process workshops and a visualization of our observations.

We seen this as a major issue because Retreads is responsible for repair and donation of durable medical equipment (D.M.E) to many Liberty consumers. If these matters are not being directed to Retreads, who is handling these issues?

After the Retreads workshop our team was trusted to facilitate the Workshops ourselves. We ran workshops for three more departments, Liberty Housing Development Corporation, Liberty Wheels, and Facilities. During these workshops we met several very interesting people. Many of these individuals shared similar feelings and concerns, which they expressed during the workshop.

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PROCESS

SHADOWING & INTERVIEWING

The Philadelphia Nursing Home, one of institutions we visited while shadowing Tameka Blackwell.

Seeing with our own eyes Following the approval of our design proposal, we were given permission to shadow various Liberty employees in order to gain a better understanding of the processes. We felt that shadowing would allow us to gain a better understanding of Liberty’s services through a consumer’s point of view. Our shadowing phase began with the Specialized and Transitioning Services (STS) department, more specifically Support Coordinators.

STS aims to increase awareness and assist consumers regarding transitioning from a nursing facility into the community. STS also offers and provides specialized services to consumers who are in nursing homes and choose to remain there.

We decided to shadow the Supports Coordinators in this department. A Supports Coordinator (SC) acts as the liaison between the consumer and Liberty, informing the consumer of all the services

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32 PROCESS

Liberty Resources offers. SCs are also responsible for keeping the consumer abreast with where they are in the process and inform them as to what is needed to advance to the next step towards independence.

Empathy in Action We shadowed Tameka Blackwell, a Supports Coordinator, on two occasions. The two facilities we visited were Philadelphia Nursing Home (PNH) and Somerton Rehab Center.

In both instances, she went to visit her consumers, checking up on them and updating them on their status towards independence.

A critical piece of Tameka’s job is to be empathic to each consumer’s situation.

Tameka embodies empathy. She is disabled and completely understands the difficulty associated with it. She takes the

time to gather the information needed for the process but also to really gets to know her consumer and reassures them that their goals for independence will be reached. From our shadowing experience, we could really see that her consumers knew she was trying her best to allow them to experience independence as soon as possible.

Our visits to the Nursing Facilities had a huge impact on our group. Being able to listen in on the conversations between Tameka and the consumer really strengthened our argument that the process needs to be examined from the consumer’s point of view. The consumer brings in a new perspective on how the services that Liberty offers are received.

Tameka Blackwell, Supports Coordinator, Specialized and Transitioning Services.

34 PROCESS

Liberty’s services are not your typical “off the shelf ” services. Everything they offer is life changing. So much so that, it is important that Liberty receive feedback from consumers as to how to improve and suggest new ideas to be considered for implementation..

Identifying shared concerns Jamie Palagruto

Ridshedia Emmens

Along with shadowing Tameka, we also interviewed her and her two colleagues: Jamie and Ridshedia, who are also Supports Coordinators within the STS department. Their feedback offered us a better insight into the day to day interaction with the consumer. We were also able to identify particular issues and concerns that were shared among the three women in regards to how the consumer experience is affected by internal processes.

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When asked “what is was the most difficult thing for the consumer”,they explained,

“

The waiting is the hardest for the consumer, sometimes it is hard to find out where they [the consumer] are in the process

”

The consumer should know where they are in the transitioning process at all times. The current system does not afford this. How can we, as designers, help in this situation?

Another concern of theirs was the fact that departments were not actively collaborating with each other. When asked, “What she would like to see change at Liberty?” Tameka answered,

“

better communication... one hand and doesn’t know what the other is doing

”

STS relies on many other departments to get the consumer the services they need. When the communication and collaboration between departments is not efficient, the process of consumer independence, which can often take a long time, can become even more lengthy.

This is very unfortunate for the consumer who obviously, and as we had the opportunity to see with our own eyes, is very eager to move forward with living independently.

We began to see a clear connection between these two concerns of the Service Coordinators. In fact we began to wonder whether there was a mystery to where the consumer is in the process because of a lack of communication and collaboration or if there was a insufficient communication and collaboration because of a lack

36 PROCESS

of understanding the process. We concluded that it was in fact both.

This realization really stuck out to us as designers.

Why is this occurring?. . How can we assist in cross-departmental collaboration and tracking consumer progress?

Seeing what others see Within Liberty are various types of disabilities. We developed a sense of appreciation for many daily tasks that we so often overlook. We also began to be more cognisant of our designs and their accessibility. With this in mind, we decided to meet with Fran and Cecilia from the Independent Living Services department. Both of these women are blind and we felt it would be a great opportunity to get some feedback on

some of the solutions we had in mind.

They provided insight as to how to write and present information to individuals who are visually impaired.

This was intriguing because we had not realized some of the difficulties they encounter day to day. We were able to take their feedback and use it to better inform our concept directions.

Perhaps the most important thing that they had brought to our attention was their frustration with the process maps being generated by Quality Management.

While the process mapping that was being done could be read by a screen reader by adding the white text in the background, the content itself was difficult to understand. The language used and the fact that it was more of a description of a visual than a communication of ideas made comprehension of the content difficult.

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They further explained that persons who are visually impaired are not the only ones who would have difficulty comprehending these process maps.

There are also persons with cognitive disabilities who would have even more trouble understanding just what the maps are supposed to be communicating.

We found this information to be very insightful and wondered, in an organization where more than 51% of employees have some disability, how many would struggle to comprehend the information the process maps hold?

“

Cecilia Ramnathsingh

make the language simple... the less words the better

�

Fran Fultan

Chapter 4

CONCEPTS Areas of Focus Deliverables Impact Moving Forward

what?

40 CONCEPTS

AREAS OF FOCUS

Throughout our experience at Liberty, the people we interacted with, and the actions we observed led us to three main areas of focus:

I. Collaboration There are many departments involved in the process of providing independence to consumers. With that being said, internal collaboration is key. As it currently stands, there is not a sufficient amount of transparency within departmental functions. Liberty needs a way to more directly collaborate with each other in order to better serve the consumer and further more they must broaden the scope of collaborative parties. The more that different departments corroboratively work to one end the more informed and successful that end will be.

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II. Knowledge One of the larger issues we discovered is the lack of a broader understanding as to how the organization functions, and just how much Liberty offers both employees and consumers. Although each employee must take part in a three-day orientation session, it is impossible for everything to be covered.

It is also, as we have learned first hand, very difficult to comprehend all of the information in the orientation manual.

Aside from new employees, current staff must also gain a better understanding of other departmental functions and specialties. Only then could departments and individuals appropriately use others as resources.

In respect to both the consumers and Liberty staff, it is also necessary for the process of consumer independence as a whole to be clearly understood. Only

then can it be accurately communicated and efficiently executed in a timely fashion.

III. Empowerment Perhaps one the most important aspects of the role Liberty plays in the disabled community is empowerment. In order to provide the consumer with the rights and capabilities the same as anyone else, Liberty encourages the consumer to take matters into their own hands and makes very clear that every move in the process to independent living is a choice to be made by them. We wanted to bring this notion to our designs and provide the consumer with even more tools to empower them and make clear their choices in the process of independent living.

42 CONCEPTS

Next, we needed to define more precise design directions, what exactly should we address and what form would these solutions take. At this point we began to brainstorm what designs would be most impactful in improving the processes in regards to both the employee and consumer experience. We decided to incorporate 4 main design directions to fit our areas of focus:

1. Addressing the accessibility of the process maps.

2. Tools for collaboration between departments.

3. Tools for tracking a consumer’s progress.

4. Tools for empowering the consumer.

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DELIVERABLES

Communicating complex ideas With the information we learned from Fran and Cecelia regarding the process mapping, we developed an alternate mapping technique to accompany the graphic representations. The original maps that had been developed show the connection between each process and their dependency on each other, but upon first glance, this is hard to see because the maps are extremely complex. The multiple slides representing the information do not allow for broad comprehension. Even after a more detailed look, it is still difficult to understand exactly what message is being conveyed.

We developed a narrative version of the maps in order to aid in a better understanding of exactly what the processes maps were communicating. We wrote it to read as a story, delivering all content on one level. This way, whether using a screen reader or not, everyone

44 CONCEPTS

was able to understand exactly what is being mapped. Following is an example of the narrative we developed: There are 5 main consumer focused task groups (or processes) under Liberty Housing Development Corporation (also known as LHDC).

This is done through:

Developing LHDC Controlled Units.

Acquiring Existing Subsidized

Properties

Managing relationships with

existing landlords.

LHDC Obtains Funding for Housing

These are:

Projects by Applying for Funding and

Developing Accessible Housing

Monitoring Funding.

Options for Consumers.

Obtaining Funding for Housing

Projects.

Managing LHDC Controlled Units.

Developing Relationships with New

Landlords.

Assisting with placing consumers in

accessible housing.

LHDC Manages LHDC Controlled Units by doing the following 6 tasks:

Insuring compliance with HUD

regulations.

Overseeing construction/guiding

architects.

Property management.

Assessing properties to meet HUD

All of these groups are dependent

environmental standards.

on each other.

Managing environmental issues for LHDC

The primary operation of LHDC is to Develop Accessible Housing Options for Consumers.

properties.

Annual recertification for LHDC tenants.

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LHDC Develops Relationships with New

LHDC manages LHDC property income by

Landlords by Filing Existing Accessible Properties

collecting rent and managing income from LHDC

and Advocating for New Properties.

properties.

Finally, LHDC Assists with placing consumers in accessible housing by doing the following 4 tasks:

Providing Status of available housing to

STS and HAD.

Process LHDC owned consumer

application.

Screening consumer criminal background

for HUD compliance.

Advocating for the consumer to the

landlords.

There are 4 main support task groups (or processes) under Liberty Housing Development Corporation (also known as LHDC). These are:

Managing LHDC Property Income.

Managing Employees.

Developing and Monitoring Budgets.

Reporting and Strategizing Projects.

LHDC managing employees by managing schedules, assessing employee performance and obtaining new employees.

LHDC develops and monitoring budgets by managing HUD and LHDC budgets and by obtaining budget increases.

Finally, LHDC reports and strategizes projects by reporting updates on existing projects and developing strategies for new projects.

While this narrative may not be the ideal means for conveying information to every one. The combination of this narrative along with the graphic representation is a great first step toward a universal method of communicating the complex processes of the departments within Liberty Resources. The idea is to bring the necessary methods together to allow for accessibility on all levels of ability.

CONCEPTS

Departmental Reference Guide This interactive tool can be used to inform all employees of the different services and offerings within Liberty. As Gretchen, from Liberty Retreads, mentioned during her process workshop, many liberty employees are unaware of her department’s services. This tool offers a solution to this problem.

The Cross–Departmental Resources interface as seen on a mobile phone.

A view of the Cross–Departmental Resources interface.

The main page gives a graphical overview of all the department and services. Each department is represented by an icon.

Once an icon is selected, the user will be directed to another page which gives a detailed outline of each department. This outline includes information concerning that department, their speciality and offerings. This interactive document has been made accessible and mobile as it allows for screen reader navigation and can be used on the go with any mobile phone with a PDF reader.

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48 CONCEPTS

Having all departments in one location and giving each department its own identity provides a sense of equality among the many departments, emphasizing the fact that each plays an important role in the organization.

Testing for accessibility We researched and experimented with many different ways to create accessible interactive documents. Fran and Cecelia were the first to test out this tool for accessibility. This was very insightful, seeing the tool being used in action. Even more interesting, Fran suggested that we wear blind folds and listen to the screen reader navigate the document, to hear what she hears. This further informed us of the importance of accessible design for interactive computer based tools.

We wore blind folds to better understand how a visually impaired person uses a screen reader.

Design team member, Jake Wells, wearing his blind fold as we listen to our interface design in action.

Fran navigating our initial prototype for the Cross–Departmental Resources interface.

CONCEPTS

The Road to Independence Package This Package has 3 components: 1. Map of Liberty consumer offerings.

2. Consumer Course of Action Cards.

3. Consumer Course of Action Tracking Map. A prototype of the complete tactile version of the Road to Independence Map, made from laser cut ply.

A mocked up prototype of the Consumer Course of Action Cards.

A view of the Consumer Course of Action interface for tracking consumer progress.

All three components are made to work together. The map of Liberty offering is designed to be used during the initial conversation with the consumer.

During this dialogue, the map allows the consumer see the different paths that can be taken to attain independence.

In addition, the map shows all of the options Liberty offers. Because Liberty serves consumers with all kinds and levels of disabilities we conceptualized and prototyped different methods of delivering the information. Along with the standard map and cards, we developed a screen reader accessible interactive digital tool for creating and tracking consumer

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52 CONCEPTS

progress and a tactile braille version of the Road to independence Map. The starting point is represented by tri-directional arrow. Each direction represents the paths for: simply using services that are available to all at all times, to transition from facility to community, and those who are already in the community but need further assistance. There is a color distinction between services that are available at any point in the independence process and those that are only available during specific stages in the process (orange and green, respectively) Independence is represented by a blue star. With all this information, the consumer can then decide which path they would like to take and the options that they will take advantage of.

Once the consumer decides on their preferred path towards independence, an individual map, customized to include all the choices made by the consumer will be made by the SC. This digital map will allow the SC to click (to add or remove) all the services chosen by the consumer. Each option chosen is hyperlinked to a document which provides more detail about the consumer and their needs. If the needs of the consumer change during the process, the change can be easily made. This document will be made available to the consumer as well as all departments involved in the consumer’s process. Having this information in one location allows different departments to efficiently collaborate and share important information regarding exactly where the consumer is in the process at any given time.

CONCEPTS

Prior to this, each department saved information about the consumer either on their own computers or somewhere on the a shared drive. In some cases, other departments were not able to access this information and if the information could be accessed, it would be like “looking for a needle in a hay sack�.

Empowering the Consumer The customized map that is provided to the consumer reiterates the choices made during the initial conversation with the Supports Coordinator. Along with the map, a deck of Consumer Course of Action Cards will be given to the consumer. These two-sided cards provide more information about the options chosen.

Our prototype of the Consumer Course of Action Cards.

On the front of each card is a summary of the offerings of the given service. On the back, is a list of information needed from the consumer in order for them to advance to the next stage on the road to independence process. This is an empowerment tool for the consumer.

They now have a better understanding of what is expected from them and are an active participant in their road to independence.

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56 CONCEPTS

Testing for accuracy We showed Tameka our Road to Independence package in order to check for accuracy and usability. We explained to her the different areas which it addressed and allowed her to interact with it. The package was well received.

Tameka loved the idea of the central tracking. She expressed that with the old system, she was less likely to “track” down people or search through the system for the information she needed.

With this new design, “everything is just a mouse click away.”

Tameka, providing feedback regarding our initial Road to Independence Map.

Showing our initial consumer tracking interface concept to Tameka.

Showing our initial Road to Independence Map concept to Tameka.

CONCEPTS

Feeling information

Cecilia, feeling one of our paper braille prototypes.

Cecilia, reading the information on our acrylic Braille prototype.

Cecilia, testing the readability of some of our braille prototypes.

We also showed a Braille prototype to Fran and Cecilia in order to see if it met the needs of the visually impaired. Both loved the idea. They especially liked the durability of the product. The material used was able to withstand wear and tear, unlike what they are currently using. The traditional paper that Braille is printed on tends to significantly wear over time.

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CONCEPTS

I M PA C T

Mike Smith, Director of Quality Management, during our final presentation to the process and measures team.

Delivering our concepts to the client We presented our designs on two separate occasions. Our first audience was the Process & Measures team. The team, though aware of our interactions with staff members outside of the team and our active research in shadowing service coordinators, had really no idea of the concepts we had been developing. The team was very pleased, Michael Smith,

“

You showed us how they (the process maps) relate to the consumer which is very helpful information for us as a group: to see how what we are doing relates back to what will ultimately be the impact of the processes on the individual.

Tom Earl commenting on our design concepts during our final presentation.

�

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62 CONCEPTS

Linda – COO,

“

It expresses to them, (the consumer) the individual, stepby-step, where they are (in the process).... I love the cards. The cards are great!

”

Linda Dezenski, COO, during our final presentation.

Tom – CEO,

“

It’s interesting... Consumers will have access to their information and not anyone else’s.That is pretty neat.... I like it. Excellent job!

”

Tom Earl, CEO, during our final presentation.

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M O V I N G F O R WA R D

Next steps We would like to continue developing tools to aid the consumers on their path to independence. Further research in accessibility and interactive technologies will be our main focus. We believe bringing the prototypes and concepts to the consumers will further inform our designs and allow for the necessary iterations to achieve the most effective solutions.

What we learned Perhaps one of the most important things we have gained as designers is the realization of our impact on a larger community. We had very little understanding as to how persons with disabilities are left out of so many of the designs today. We now must challenge our selves to design for accessibility from the beginning of our creations and not as a second thought.