What's Next for
Independent Living?
In the Fall of 2016, the Illinois Department of Human Services(DHS) partnered with Professor Vijay Kumar’s Design Planning Workshop at the IIT Institute of Design (ID) to better understand the challenges, perspectives, and meaningful moments of customers and providers within the Home Services Program (HSP).
The HSP is a program within the Division of Rehabilitation Services (DRS) that provides services to individuals with severe disabilities so they can remain in their homes and be as independent as possible.
SPONSOR
Illinois Department of Human Services
TEAM
Shannon Delaney, Xuanbai Li, Asmina Shaikh, Hongxuan Ge, Xiaomeng Jiang, Maho Kohga, Jessica Lee, Madison Loew, Lisa Radecki, Shaunali Shenoy, Meng Yan, Wanying Zhu, Sara Tashakorinia
CONCEPTS MAP
Through a human centered research process our team identified various opportunity areas within the larger human services system presented in this concepts map. The concepts map was a result of mapping several concepts onto a system map as a way to communicate what parts of the system were addressed through each concept building a larger system of solutions.
The different colors used for entities on the map correspond to different parts of the larger stakeholder network of the Department of Human Services. The concept placards also use the color system of the map to depict the different stakeholders that are addressed through them.
CONCEPT DETAILS
Below are 8 detailed concepts for solutions that were developed by our team to better the Home services program.
STRATEGIC ROADMAP
As part of a culminating presentation, we also presented a strategic roadmap that outlines the short, mid and long term phases for the development of all of the various concepts. While many of the concepts would require building resources and new capabilities, some of the short term initiatives looked at leveraging existing infrastructure and more creative ways to involve the larger community to share and build solutions.
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
The project used a structured innovation process with the goal of understanding the end to end experience of customers with disabilities and individual providers of the Home Services Program, which is one of the many services of the the Department of Rehabilitation Services(DRS) under the Department of Human Services(DHS).
PRIMARY RESEARCH
As part of the research, we conducted 13 ethnographic interviews with customers with disabilities and their caregivers, 9 stakeholder interviews with the DRS staff, and a number of people from Center of Independent Living, the union (SEIU) and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC).
SUPPLEMENTARY RESEARCH
Along with ethnographic research, the team also carried out several supporting activities that included a tour of ACCESS Living- a center for independent living, attended a ideas week panel discussion : ‘We Were Promised Inclusion: A Conversation on Disability in America’, and observed a town hall meeting with the SEIU.
DATA STRUCTURING & ANALYSIS
Following an organised process of data intergration & analysis, qualitative research findings were translated into insights that were then clustered into the 10 key themes which informed our main design principles and opportunities.
CO-CREATION SESSION
The team also organized a co-creation session at the Institute of Design, with the main goal of building empathy and alignment between key stakeholders and using that as a platform to share insights and generate ideas.
MY EXPERIENCE
This project presented the perfect opportunity for me to experiment and utilize my comunication design skills throughout the planning process.
I was focussed on bringing hands-on contributions throughout the design process; from design research to concept development.
Some of my core contributions in a highly collaborative team include the design of research tools, leading several live visualization sessions with stakeholders to simplify complexity as well as conceptualizing storyboards and posters to create a compelling visual narrative of our research & insights.
Descriptive value web as a sense making activity
Journey mapping tool to map independent living journeys
Concept sketch for sharing insights in a co-creation session
Visualizing ideas using a solution map
Debriefing research interviews