Created as an initiative within the Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion (BACI) Design Team, SDP aims to give clients mentorship and the tools to meaningfully participate in the creation of their own personal services. Our goal was to help build confidence within our clients so they could have equitable access to the co-design process, ultimately helping us create services that support autonomy and interdependence.
Participants met every month over the span of 6 months to learn about design, it’s process, and how they can participate in it. Folks got the opportunity to learn hands-on skills in:
brainstorming & ideation
Public speaking and consulting with outside organizations
Researching and prototyping
Speaking about disability and their learning needs
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The SDP service blueprint
Outside of the scheduled sessions, each participant got access to a member of our design team or support staff where we would help them debrief on what they understood and discuss how the can further develop their opinions and skills.
People with disabilities, particularly people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, have historically been excluded from opportunities to learn and practice self-advocacy skills, which are necessary to ensure their voices are heard in decisions that affect their lives - USA Nation Council on Disability
If you are a designer, you might think the ability to make a decision is an innate skill. There is a pervasive belief within design that just by asking, just by getting people to participate in journey maps and the like - this is effective co-design. And before work on this project, I might have thought the same.
The design team at BACI has included it’s clients in the process of creating services for several years. While there has been success, when there were failures we were often left wondering why a service failed - even while using “human-centered” approaches that involved folks in each stage of the design process.
When I joined the team, I noticed there was a deep power imbalance when we interviewed clients - where it was often staff or family members who would answer on client’s behalf. While these answers were well meaning, it did not allow for our clients to develop skills many often take for granted, such as:
Decision making
Forming personal opinions
Speaking in larger groups
Self-reflection & actualization
Creating realistic long-term goals
Design language comprehension
A popular slogan in the Disability movement our team at BACI tries to integrate in all our practices
As our team noticed this gap in accessibility, we got together and began to develop a way for our clients to practice and gain these skills. Thus our design bootcamp, AKA Social Design Penguins, was born!
The SDP Transformational Persona
During the course, participants' confidence grew noticeably and they became more willing to share their experiences and opinions, even if negative. Practicing design skills left many feeling invigorated and excited about their work, with around 80% of the participants becoming more involved in community initiatives and 40% starting their own.