35. Co-designing with Visually Impaired Children

Co-design methodology takes user-centred approach a step ahead by including end-users directly in the design process. It ensures that their needs are well addressed by involving them as true experts of the experience. But when it comes to visually impaired (VI) children, it presents some unique challenges which mostly remain unaddressed with limited research in the domain. The paper addresses this gap by presenting a set of learnings which can assist the development of techniques for co-designing with VI children. We explore the co-design methodology for conducting ideation as part of a broader project centred around indoor navigation for VI children. We begin with a discussion of existing literature around co-design techniques for children and related work done for VI adults. Primary research was further done to understand the routine activities that VI children involve in and the challenges they face. Inspired by the insights gathered from this research, new co-design techniques were ideated. In all, five activities were chosen and conducted during the co-design session with six VI children. Findings and observations from this session are presented in the paper. Activities were found to be useful and thought provoking amongst children. It helped them in thinking and expressing new creative ideas which finally contributed in determining key directions for the solution. Finally, we present our learnings and discuss the best practices for conducting co-design sessions with VI children. These learnings can be further expanded and referred by fellow practitioners to build more innovative and accessible solutions for VI children.