Cecília Carvalho, specialises in design and product development and has a Master of Industrial Design from the Engineering Faculty at Oporto University, Portugal. Her presentation discusses mutual involvement for inclusive practices in design.
From the abstract:
Despite the accepted advantages of user involvement in design projects, procedural difficulties are discouraging design teams. When we consider users with disabilities, greater challenges are identified.
This study is grounded on a participatory experience into the lives of people with disabilities. We observed that many of those stated problems in user involvement may actually be overcome or compensated with significant gains for design. This ongoing experience includes sport practices and other leisure activities.
User involvement should not be assumed as a unilateral process in design development. For better achievements, a bilateral process is needed. Involving and being involved with users opens more possibilities of success.