AWARD YEAR
2019
CATEGORY
Community
GOALS
Trust, Tolerance & Empathy
KEYWORDS
autism, Social Innovation, Empathetic Design
COUNTRY
Japan
DESIGNED BY
Heeju Kim
WEBSITE
https://www.braunprize.org/en/2018_empathy_bridge.html
Empathy Bridge
Helping you understand people who live with autism
Though autism affects 1 in 70 people in the world, most people never experience the difficulties in life that come from such a condition. An Empathy Bridge for Autism is a toolkit that allows people to experience the visual, auditory, and speech differences that come with autism. Empathy Bridge advocates greater understanding and empathy for people with autism. Three different components together emulate the struggles and evoke a similar sensation to that felt by a sufferer. Bridge for Vision reproduces an autistic vision of the surrounding view by using augmented reality. Bridge for Hearing evokes the oversensitive hearing often accompanied by autism. Lastly, Bridge for Speaking is a set of six uniquely shaped candies that impede tongue movements in several different ways. This kit is made of low-cost materials, making it easy to produce and to share with a wider audience.