Ciranda—An Inclusive Floor Seating Positioning System and Social Enterprise

Abstract

One of the first challenges for many children with physical disabilities is to sit independently. A floor seating positioning system enables this milestone, helping a child to maintain eye level with other children, play and learn on the floor, rectify his or her posture, and, therefore, helps to include the child within his or her social spectrum. Ciranda is the first comprehensive floor seat solution in Brazil to attend to those needs. The project collected anthropometric data from 370 children who were unable to sit without support. A sample of 37 families of these children was visited, observed, and interviewed. A project requirement compiled key insights from the field data to support a multidisciplinary team of collaborators to co-design solutions. The project resulted in two floor seating positioning systems to attend to different needs. One is a social enterprise where the children’s parents and the community build the seat while the child in need and his or her friends engage in entertainment. The other is a salable seat that helps to raise funds for the social enterprise. The model also unravels other challenges common to assistive technologies, such as access to a device and training for the use and maintenance of the device.

O papel da visão do produto na integração do Design Thinking em equipe ágil: revelações de um aplicativo para pessoas com deficiência

“…A ideia da criação de um software para auxiliar pessoas com deficiência a saírem de casa foi fomentada ao longo de anos de atuação de uma instituição, que precisa ser evidenciada neste trabalho para divulgar seu relevante papel social e tecnológico. O Instituto Noisinho da Silva possui sede em Belo Horizonte MG, foi fundado em 2003 e desenvolve produtos que auxiliam crianças e adolescentes com deficiência física e múltipla a evoluírem de forma significativa em aspectos físicos e psicossociais (Da et al, 2009;Maximo and Foureaux, 2011;Maximo et al, 2020).…”

New Orthosis: The Thoracic Lumbar Sacral–Hip Spica Orthotic Sitting Frame

“…6 Multiple medical conditions impact independent sitting including premature birth, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, genetic mutations, hypertonia, hypotonia, and others. 7 Although there are available products designed to help children with motor disabilities sit, there is a gap in that these products fall short in meeting the needs of children with severe motor disabilities who have emerging neck and trunk control. 8 This article describes currently available floor seating options, explains why they fall short, and introduces a new and unique orthotic design that closes the identified gap called the THORACIC LUMBAR SACRAL ORTHOSIS WITH HIP SPICA ORTHOSIS SITTING FRAME ("TLSO-HSO sitting frame").…”

“…Sitting requires strength, postural control, body awareness in space, and muscle coordination 6 . Multiple medical conditions impact independent sitting including premature birth, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, genetic mutations, hypertonia, hypotonia, and others 7 . Although there are available products designed to help children with motor disabilities sit, there is a gap in that these products fall short in meeting the needs of children with severe motor disabilities who have emerging neck and trunk control 8 …”