Building for people who need the most help

Having a child with a severe learning disability is hard. Very hard, at every level. It brought us into a very challenging world. My heart breaks when I hear utterly tragic stories such as these:?BBC News.

It's an awful thing to?have to say, but I can understand. Everything we have to do is difficult, with barriers, over and over. I don't know how I would have done it if I'd had to do it alone. I understand the?depths of despair.

On the other hand, having a child with a severe learning disability has brought?us into contact with the most?wonderful people. Those involved in the welfare and education of our most vulnerable are the kindest, most patient, caring people you will ever meet. They are the best of us.

Consequently, my son and the "Special" community have taught me more than, quite?probably, I've taught him. I've learned that what I thought was important in life, isn't. Being a "successful" person is not about professional advancement, work, progressing and achieving things and the trappings of that success. I was wrong about that. My son has taught me to think about today and, maybe, tomorrow. Look after those people around me. Be kind. And in my case, use my professional experience to try to do some good. To provide support and assistance to those people who need our help the most. It’s why I set up Show Me.

And it's what is driving me and the team in our new "tech for good" adventure, called Change Box. We are starting by looking at how technology can help in the national shame of food poverty.

Today we received?some affirming feedback saying that a digital approach would work well with those recipients?of food aid who are already digitally savvy. However it added that a second group in crisis, who are often supported by care workers and struggle?to "overcome digital barriers", may be unable to use such services. As a consequence, they would continue to miss out on the support they are entitled to. An ever growing divide.

I am more than determined that this is the group we need to support. No excuses. These are the people we need to strive to create solutions for, so that they too can take steps up the "rungs of the ladder". When we design for these communities (at Show Me we call it the "No Instructions Design Framework"), we not only help those people who need it the most, but we create services that everyone can use, intuitively.

In the case of food aid, this might be a phone that is pre-loaded with everything ready to go. Provided with a configurable visual-auditory-text user interface to drive it and a simple, step-by-step audio-visual guided process.?And with AI assistance built in to continually personalise and enhance the person’s access to support. Above all, it needs to just work at the shop around the corner, whoever runs it.

We’re making great progress, but can’t do it alone. We’re focused on collaborating with non-profit organisations, support providers and financial sponsors within those communities and bringing in brand and technology companies to help create open, funded solutions.

Then remove barriers. Make it dead simple to use.

If you’d like to find out more, or better still join in, please get in touch at www.change-box.net.