AWARD YEAR
2017
CATEGORY
Community
GOALS
Trust, Tolerance & Empathy
KEYWORDS
empathy, experience, communication
COUNTRY
United Kingdom
DESIGNED BY
Heeju Kim
WEBSITE
https://www.rca.ac.uk/research-innovation/helen-hamlyn-centre/helen_hamlyn_student_programme/helen_hamlyn_design_awards/2016/empathy-bridge-autism/
EMPATHY BRIDGE FOR AUTISM
A minute of your experience can bring remarkable change to the lives of people who have autism.
Autism affects one out of every 300 people in the world. Those 300 people, however, simply conclude that they saw ‘someone unusual’ after witnessing people with autism and pass by. An Empathy Bridge for Autism is a toolkit that allows people to experience the visual, auditory and speech differences that come with autism, advocating greater understanding and empathy for people with Autism. The toolkit includes a headset with an app, two earpieces and six lollipops. The kit is made from low-cost materials as a way of making it easier to share with a larger audience. Kim also made sure that the pieces in the kit were produced in low-arousal colours as bright colours can sometimes overstimulate people on the spectrum. While autism is a complex condition, this is a remarkable first step in understanding the problems faced with verbal and non-verbal communication on a very human scale.