[NARRATOR]: Student Stiina is sketching ideas on a flipchart.
[STIINA]: And then we have the solution number one.
[NARRATOR]: She draws a little stickman with a big smile that rides a wheelchair.
[STIINA]: And then we have a wheelchair with Natasha.
[NARRATOR]: Then she draws buttons on the wheelchair and a joystick.
[STIINA]: Okay, and then we have a joystick here and a button her and a button here.
[NARRATOR]: Dashed lines lead to a rectangle that is supposed to represent a computer.
[STIINA]: And here, we have a PC.
[NARRATOR]: The idea that Stiina is designing here is supposed to make Natascha's life easier.
[NARRATOR]: She is the one who is represented as stickman in the wheelchair.
[NARRATOR]: They are currently discussing where buttons can be attached to her wheelchair.
[STIINA]: because the knee button was designed to place here for this one.
[NARRATOR]: Natascha and Stiina are taking part at the course ASSIST HEIDI at the Fachhochschule Technikum Wien.
[NARRATOR]: Here, eight students together with co-designers with disabilities are designing new technical solutions.
[NARRATOR]: In this case, a possibility such as Natascha can use the computer with the joystick of her electric wheelchair.
[NATASCHA]: This way, I save time and I am not being forced to use extra gadgets for more complex games.
[NARRATOR]: In an earlier course, the software Speech Jockey was created that Natasha can communicate with.
[NATASCHA]: The software Speech Jockey was created here, it works too.
[NATASCHA]: With it I can write on the computer and it automatically creates a corresponding audio file.
[NARRATOR]: Natasha is part of the entire design process and always gives feedback on which ideas work for her and which don't.
[NATASCHA]: Yes, at the beginning, in between and at the end.
[NARRATOR]: The students of the FH Technikum mainly come from the fields of Information and Communication Design and Electronics.
[NARRATOR]: In addition, the course is promoted to Erasmus students who are currently spending a semester at the Technikum in Vienna.
[NARRATOR]: Stiina, for example, comes from Finland, from the University of Lapland.
[NARRATOR]: This is how the participants learn to use technical English and to design solutions together with the co-designers, explains ASSIST HEIDI course leader Martin Deinhofer.
[MARTIN]: In the beginning we try to understand the problem.
[MARTIN]: Then we work out the ideas together.
[MARTIN]: Then we develop the first prototypes.
[MARTIN]: And in the end there is a final test and presentation.
[NARRATOR]: The students design not only the ideas, but they also develop functional prototypes and build them themselves, which test the people with disabilities on their functionality at the end of the semester.
[MARTIN]: As a technician, it is fascinating from the technical point of view, but less about what the target group actually needs.
[MARTIN]: If there is someone with you who always defines together what the requirements are, then you can see how you have to design it so that it fits the requirements in the end.
[MARTIN]: And also that you periodically have to evaluate and test it, because then you realize that with the first try you will not find the solution that you need in the end, but that you need several attempts.
[NARRATOR]: The group around Stiina and Natascha has planned a lot for the coming months.
[NARRATOR]: For example, they have to produce a robust button at the knee in the 3D printer.
[NARRATOR]: Or find out how they supply the button with energy for the Bluetooth connection.
[STIINA]: Yeah, yeah, so every button would require their own energy resource as well.
[STIINA]: So that's why this is a bit hard to do.
[NARRATOR]: Now they hope that they will do wonders until the end of the semester, so that they can finish the whole thing.
[STIINA]: Now we just make the miracles.
[NARRATOR]: For the innovative learning format ASSIST HEIDI, Martin Deinhofer and his colleagues received a prize at the Digital Humanism in the Practice Awards this year.