People with disabilities as product innovators: a pilot study

Abstract

Our results suggest that people with disabilities are actively involved in product development and that their solutions have a positive impact on their lives. Furthermore, many reported solutions also provide value for non-disabled persons, suggesting that persons with disabilities may be an important source of innovation. Implications for Rehabilitation Persons with disabilities are frequently engaged in developing solutions that meet their unmet product needs. Most solutions are not diffused beyond their immediate social circle. Solutions have a significant impact on the self-reported quality of life of participants.

Individual innovation and creativity: An interdisciplinary mapping of creative cognition

“…The reported number of innovating users of the ordinary type, however, is extremely low (less than 6%); this is because these individuals rarely share or promote their ideas (Stock et al, 2015). Although traditional market research can indeed elicit users' ideas and solutions only half of these users report their creative outcomes in these types of studies (Hienerth et al, 2014) and they prefer to share their ideas with their peers, friends, or families (Conradie et al, 2017). So, there is limited understanding in the innovation management stream of literature about the creative behaviour of ordinary and lead users and its antecedents.…”

“…A highly constrained physical space enforces inhabitants to create solutions to facilitate their daily chores. For example, because the living environment has primarily been designed for individuals without disabilities, disabled individuals often become user innovators by refining or adapting existing products and services to meet their specific needs (Conradie et al, 2017).…”

“…There are other human physical characteristics that enhance the development of creative solutions that would assist the effective interaction with the social and material world; this is the case of individuals who suffer from medical conditions and physical or cognitive impairments and who often improvise home or health-care solutions to facilitate their everyday lives (Cantin et al, 2020;Conradie et al, 2017).…”