1 Introduction

The purpose of the SELFMADE project is to produce equipment and aids for persons with disabilities which facilitate a higher participation in daily life, work life, leisure time and communication. Therefore, a MakerSpace, mainly based on 3-D-printing, was founded in a Service Center for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC): a workplace for twelve persons with complex needs. The pilot project, SELFMADE, investigates, develops and tests a social innovation approach. Experts and scientists from the maker culture, for assistive technologies (AT), AAC and, persons with and without disabilities are collaborating permanently in this innovation center.

The main focus is to improve the production of individualized equipment and aids for persons with disabilities. A long history of experience in the field of developing centers and laboratories of social innovation drives the process. The produced products are not assistive technologies in a narrow sense. The project focus on the self-determined production of low tech equipment and aids. The different perspectives of all the actors will result in more participation and an improvement in the quality of life of persons with disabilities by using innovative technology. The legal framework builds on the Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (CRPD) by the United Nations, as stated in Article 4:

“To undertake or promote research and [the]

f) development of universally designed goods, services, equipment and facilities, as defined in article 2 of the present Convention, which should require the minimum possible adaptation and the least cost to meet the specific needs of a person with disabilities, to promote their availability and use, and to promote universal design in the development of standards and guidelines;” [1]

Germany is legally bound by the UN CRPD. Therefore, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research established a nationwide program for cooperative, pre-competitive research. Its aim is to improve the full participation and inclusion of persons with disabilities in daily life by using photonic technologies. The direct cooperation of persons with disabilities and the maker culture is intended. The use of an open innovation approach is an indispensable part of the program.

Knowledge transfer is of highest importance in transdisciplinary projects like SELFMADE. During the initial phase, the discussion and sharing of knowledge and scientific terms, as well as working on a team culture takes a lot of time [2].

The close connection of social and technological innovation will support the empowerment of persons with disabilities by producing equipment and aids with a high usability level. Due to the fact that most of the peer researchers have complex disabilities, one challenge is to develop an appropriate research concept that allows them to work together: “conducting qualitative research with people with learning/communication difficulties is challenging but achievable” [3].

While peer production deepens its reach into society and progressively includes vulnerable groups, many of these approaches lack self-determination. People with complex disabilities are especially seen as receivers of innovation and goods, and only rarely as active designers within peer-production processes. The SELFMADE-project tries to enable all persons to design and produce products with a 3-D-printer and to share their knowledge.

2 Aims of the Project

The aims of the research and development project are as follows:

2.1 Empowerment for Peer Production

  • The development of pathways to empower persons with complex disabilities to use 3-D-printers in order to become active producers and distributors of goods and tools responding to their own needs;

  • to create an “intermediate market” of assistive tools to fill the gap between home-made assistive tools and commercial assistive tools, that can be created by linking individual persons with disabilities with large communities that offer long standing experience and models of “intermediate quality”;

  • to bring together persons with and without disabilities in an inclusive maker space that is purposely installed within a working space for persons with complex needs; and

  • the empowerment of persons with disabilities regarding the definition and production of individualized assistive tools.

2.2 Production of Assistive Tools and Products for Participation in Everyday Life

  • The production of assistive tools in the areas of work, everyday life/leisure time and communication.

  • Exploiting Social Innovation mechanisms to improve the impact of 3-D printing by people with disabilities. The maker spaces represent a social innovation that could be scaled out to other spaces and institutions; one aim of the project is to identify pathways of scaling the developed innovations and improving the project’s impact.

2.3 Development of a Checklist for Accessible MakerSpaces

The project SELFMADE focuses on the following research question:

How should MakerSpaces be designed to meet the minimum requirements of accessibility?

In addition to this main research question, there are numerous other questions that need to be addressed in the project:

  1. 1.

    How is it possible to control 3D printers?

  2. 2.

    How modular are the products?

  3. 3.

    How can the “production process” be designed to be more understandable?

  4. 4.

    How can the possible risks be well recognizable?

  5. 5.

    How should the connection to public transport be?

  6. 6.

    Which communication channels should be offered?

In a first step, general principles of accessibility for the design of MakerSpaces are presented, to sensitize the Maker scene to this issue. These general principles are complemented by applicable standards, guidelines to be followed, and supporting funding.

In a next step, the developed checklist will be tested in the FabLab of the University of Applied Sciences Ruhr West. This step includes the identification of barriers and dismantling them. Practitioners in MakerSpaces are encouraged to check their MakerSpaces for barriers and inclusiveness. As a result, the developed checklist is tested and the MakerSpaces become more accessible.

3 Theoretical Framework

The theoretical background, the “capability approach” [4], focuses the choices necessary to initiate a process of social innovation through network building.

Innovation research is providing numerous indications of a fundamental shift in the innovation paradigm towards social innovation. This new paradigm is characterized by the innovation process being opened up to society, its orientation towards the major societal challenges, and a stronger recognition of social innovations complementary to technological innovations. Social innovation is understood as a new combination or figuration of practices in areas of social action, prompted by certain actors or constellations of actors, with the goal of better coping with the needs and problems than existing practices currently do [5]. An innovation is therefore social to the extent that it varies social action, and is socially accepted and diffused in society. This definition exceeds a normative understanding of social innovations as ‘good’ or socially desirable. It also enlarges traditional technologically oriented innovation concepts. This may also serve as an answer to a situation where the limits of strictly policy-driven programs on the one hand and social entrepreneurship and civil society initiatives on the other hand become obvious. Therefore, it is important to better understand the mechanisms and the potential of inter-sectoral approaches for solving the grand societal challenges, e.g. in boosting the level of inclusiveness in society and reducing exclusion in all societal subsystems. Recent research has therefore developed an approach to understand innovations as embedded in ecosystems of social innovation [cf. 6] and putting social innovation in close co-operation with different stakeholders [1]. The SELFMADE project therefore developed an approach to – on the one hand – design the process of 3-D-printing by persons with disabilities as a social innovation in itself and – on the other hand – embed the project and its outcomes in a process of social innovation by opening it up to co-development with societal stakeholders.

The underlying definition of assistive technology refers to “Individuals with Disabilities Education Act” of the United States:

Any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of a child with a disability. (B) Exception. – The term does not include a medical device that is surgically implanted, or the replacement of such device.

  • AT can be low-tech: communication boards made of cardboard or fuzzy felt.

  • AT can be high-tech: special-purpose computers.

  • AT can be hardware: prosthetics, mounting systems, and positioning devices.

  • AT can be computer hardware: special switches, keyboards, and pointing devices.

  • AT can be computer software: screen readers and communication programs.

  • AT can be inclusive or specialized learning materials and curriculum aids.

  • AT can be specialized curricular software.

  • AT can be much more – electronic devices, wheelchairs, walkers, braces, educational software, power lifts, pencil holders, eye-gaze and head trackers, and much more.

Assistive technology helps people who have difficulty speaking, typing, writing, remembering, pointing, seeing, hearing, learning, walking, and many other things. Different disabilities require different assistive technologies [7].

In the German discourse, the terms assistive and supporting technology as wells as the term medical aid are used. Assistive technology and medical aid comprise products “which are used by or for persons with disabilities to help them take part in everyday life, to protect body functions/-structures and activities, to support and to strengthen, to measure or to replace, or to prevent damages, reduction in activity and participation” [8]. In the international discourse a clearer concept is being used: it is a matter of information and communication technology (ICT).

The Maker movement aims at the idea of a manufactory utopia and wants to enable a broad mass of people to develop and produce (almost) everything by and for themselves. For this purpose, a selection of special key technologies is to be used. Our idea of a MakerSpace is that of an open workshop, in which, by using digital technology, a great variety of products can be manufactured on one’s own. The tools and procedures, thus far only used in industry, have passed on to the public, especially to people with disabilities. In using software for three-dimensional construction, to only mention one, the focus is on widespread open-source solutions. Education, advice and further services are integrative elements. Learning-by-doing is an essential feature in which users learn with each other and from one another. Not only is a MakerSpace a laboratory and workshop, but is first and foremost a meeting point for technically inclined people of all ages. Here ideas can be presented, discussed and put into practice immediately. The MakerSpace is a starting-point for all those who are in dire need to know more about the new means of production. Thus, they are confronted with ideas they would perhaps have never conceived otherwise.

4 State of the Art

In the UN-CRPD, technical progress forms the foundation of a network for technological innovation. In this respect, the “development of concrete, suitable for everyday life, barrier-free and marketable products as well as services” (Johnston et al., 10f. als [9]) is at the centre of attention. In welfare legislation, individual supply for persons with disabilities with medically necessary health aid is strictly regulated. According to §33 Sozialgesetzbuch V (German Social Code V) and §31 Sozialgesetzbuch IX (German Social Code IX) insured persons are entitled to necessary health aid in each case. Health aid is then defined as objects, catalogued in a list of medical aids and thus under the control of a proven examination procedure. Basic commodities of everyday life are not included. Often medical necessity in the sense of national health insurance is not given or the demands on the medical aid are so individual that the production is too expensive for the producer.

3-D-printing offers the possibility to produce individualized health aids that are not financed by health insurances and – at the same time – link people with disabilities to internet-based “sharing communities” that share 3-D models of printable aids through sharing platforms and thereby support the establishment of international communities. Both aspects foster the empowerment of persons with disabilities.

In many situations of everyday life, persons with disabilities are dependent on supporting technologies and services. Even though these technologies can increasingly be acquired on the mass market (e.g. tablets) thanks to the application of “Universal Design”, they still represent a niche market. On the other hand, we are confronted with a complex, highly-differentiated, but also very expensive, providing structure with specific health aids. Thus, persons with disabilities represent a special economic target group: many standardized products are not sufficiently compatible for their needs. That is why persons with disabilities are quite often not noticed as a target group. The products that persons with disabilities can manufacture themselves by SELFMADE, can neither be assigned to the mass market nor the health aid market. The project aims at a market ranging between self-made health aid of simple quality and a high-quality market of professional and expensive health aid. For this purpose, the project uses 3-D-printing as a technical procedure and processes and platforms of social innovation. The status of self-made (in the sense of “one’s own”) health aid is thus expanded to those making use of new procedures, digital templates and the “crowd” as support. In the future, SELFMADE shall contribute to opening up a market in which persons with disabilities plan and produce products on their own, and beyond that, share the patterns with other people, and in doing so, cooperate with (e.g. medium-sized) providers on various issues (e.g. concerning consultation, service and delivery with consumables, etc.).

Eckhardt et al. [10] point out that the empowerment character of social innovation initiatives is particularly tangible in those social innovations directed towards people with activity limitations (e.g. persons with disabilities). Initiatives involving ICT as a strong pillar in their work named empowerment as the most important cross-cutting theme in their work. This link between social innovations using or addressing digital technology (coined as “digital social innovations”, DSI), and the field of assistive technology for people with disabilities reflects the rising importance digital technology has in everyday life, as well as in all other sectors of participation distinguished by the ICF [cf. 10]: digital means can empower people with disabilities for participation, but at the same time they can create new barriers that function as cleavages for inclusion.

3-D-printing is linking the “world of the digital” with the “world of the physical”, as stated with the claim “bits to atoms” of the first makerspace at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This link can play a crucial role in the life of people with disabilities: by printing objects in an individualised way, the production of bespoke objects becomes easier and cheaper. If we understand disability as the difference between individual features and a social and physical environment, the rise in bespoke objects can support the process of reducing barriers. As a second aspect, the project SELFMADE exploits the idea of making 3-D-printing available to and usable by all people and so useful for the production of assistive tools. In this strand of thinking, 3-D-printing is bringing the production of assistive technology to the hands of those people in need of it.

Persons with disabilities experience various barriers that prevent them from self-determined participation in social processes. Additional to structural barriers (e.g., accessibility), these include cognitive (e.g. easy language), emotional (e.g. repellent design of places), financial and technical barriers. In order to address these barriers in the research process, the theoretical framework, “capability approach” [4], seems to lead to an ability-driven approach. This approach focuses the choices necessary to initiate a process of social innovation through network building.

5 Methodology

The theoretical framework for the used methodology is the “capability approach” [4]. Regarding the methodology, product development is based on a iterative research and development cycle. In this cycle, three product lines are successively tested by persons with disabilities. During this process, experiences gained while developing each “product”, are considered in the design of the derived product. Thus, in an early stage of the development, a “finished” product is already available which then increases in complexity across the product generations and a learning process in the participants (e.g. technical procedures, individual cultures, potentials and restrictions) takes place. As a result, the process of need identification (which can be addressed with photonic procedures) and the competence of the target group in the implementation phase, as well as the quality of the products, increase with each product generation.

Each of these “products” is identified on the basis of need analysis. In the need analysis, the project uses a User Centered Design approach, which is linked to a Design Thinking process. This allows for the identification, definition, creation and testing of the designed products in a co-creation process of people with disabilities for people with disabilities.

The Design Thinking process is composed of six steps (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.
figure 1

Design thinking process [cf. 11]

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During this process, the following data are generated and documented in the corresponding form:

  1. a.

    Understanding: The first step focuses on the understanding of the problem, this leads to an appropriate question, which defines the needs and challenges of the project. Data sources: photo documentation and written collection, composed from workshops and Open Spaces.

  2. b.

    Observation: In order to gain important insights and to define the status quo, an intensive search and field observation follows. Data sources: field notes and written collection, composed from workshops/Open Space.

  3. c.

    Point-of-view: the individual needs are clearly defined in one question: Data source: documentation of the brainstorming question.

  4. d.

    Brainstorming to develop and visualize different concepts. Data source: Different visualized concepts with the program Design Spark Mechanical.

  5. e.

    Prototyping: In order to test and to demonstrate the ideas, first simple prototypes are developed and tested by the target group. Data source: Prototypes.

  6. f.

    Refinement: On the basis of the insights gained from the prototype, the concept is further improved and refined until an optimal, user-centered product is developed. This iteration step can be applied on all previous steps.

In this cycle, three product lines are successively tested. During this process, experiences gained while developing each “product”, are considered in the design of the derived product. The complexity increases across the product generations and a learning process takes place. As a result, the process of need identification, the competence of the target group in the implementation phase, as well as the quality of the products, increase with each product generation. Each of these prototypes is identified on the basis of a need analysis.

6 Prerequisite Results

Due to the fact that the project will run until the end of August 2018, it is only possible to present the results at its current, intermediate status. Corresponding with the aims of our research project, a brief overview of the results of the four key action areas are given below.

6.1 Empowerment for Peer Production

The core of the results builds a scalable approach to 3-D-printing. We distinguish five stages of competences that users dispose of:

  1. 1.

    Very restricted movement abilities with no ICT skills.

    A shelf is displaying objects that could be printed with a 3-D-printer. The selection was made in workshops with people with similar impairments. Persons with disabilities express which object they like to receive and assistants initiate the printing process.

  2. 2.

    Basic movement abilities with no ICT skills

    A SIM card is attached to each object that can be inserted into a 3-D-printer. We designed the 3-D printer in a way that enables most users to initiate the printing process.

  3. 3.

    Basic ICT skills

    Users with basic ICT skills can click on pre-selected models for printing.

  4. 4.

    Advanced ICT skills

    For advanced users, we offer CAD software that enables the alteration of existing models or to design from sketch.

  5. 5.

    Advanced ICT skills, with basic communication skills

    Users become tutors in 3-D-printing in peer education processes.

6.2 Products

The design thinking process leads to products which facilitate a higher participation in daily life, work life, leisure time and communication.

An example for a product development for daily live is the development for a cup holder that shall lead to more independence and self-determination. The employers of a sheltered-workshops described the challenge to get independently hot drinks like coffee and tea from a vending machine. The employees of a sheltered-workshop described the challenge to get independently hot drinks like coffee and tea from a vending machine. The customers have a high risk to get burned due to the instability of the cups. The six steps of the design thinking process led finally to a solid cup holder (which looks like a cup itself) with handholds that are individually adaptable for the customers (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2.
figure 2

Own design based on Design thinking process [cf. 11]

Full size image

This example shows that the modularity allows individual customer-specific adaptions as well as situation specific adaptions.

So far we produced can openers, can holders, adaptions for the electric wheelchair control, a prosthetic arm for guitar playing, communication symbols, snapping grids for tablets, adaptions for game controller, SIM-card holder, mobile-phone holder for wheelchairs, etc.

6.3 Social Innovation

The applied approach to empower persons with disabilities as experts in creating their own AT can be observed from a social innovation theory perspective, focusing on how new social practices are applied and the impact on societal challenges. With the available data from the SELFMADE observations, we can state that applying Design Thinking in a Capability Approach setting is a viable way for empowering people with disabilities to use 3-D printing to create AT for their own needs. Within the SELFMADE co-construction processes, we collected data on the ways people with different disabilities are using this technology and which barriers they experience. As a result, we defined a scalable process as an interface between requirements defined by a technology (3-D printing) and the capabilities of its users (persons with movement disorders and complex communication needs We distinguish five stages of competences that users dispose of:

  1. 1.

    Communication via assistants or assistive technology with almost no movement abilities or ICT skills: A shelf is displaying objects that could be printed with a 3D-printer. The selection was made in workshops with people with similar impairments. Persons with disabilities express which object they would like to receive and assistants initiate the printing process.

  2. 2.

    Communication only via assistants or assistive technology with basic movement abilities and no ICT skills: A SIM card is attached to each object. This card can be inserted in a 3D-printer. We designed the 3D printer in a way that enables most users to initiate the printing process.

  3. 3.

    Basic ICT skills: The maker space offers computers with pre-set bookmarks on a curated list of 3D-models for assistive tools. Users with basic ICT skills can click on pre-selected models for printing.

  4. 4.

    Advanced ICT skills: For advanced users, we offer computers with CAD software that enable the alteration of existing models or to design from sketch.

  5. 5.

    Advanced ICT skills with basic communication skills: Users become tutors in 3D printing in peer education processes.

This approach could be understood as a social innovation itself – a new social practice – rather than a new technology. This perspective enables and demands further research on the solutions, as we cannot discuss the impact this approach is having on the very use of the produced AT. Another finding inspired by the social innovation perspective on 3-D printing is the approach to embed the MakerSpace in a Quadruple Helix setting, involving stakeholders from policy, industry, civil society and academia in all development stages of this innovation. Here our data is scarce due to the early time of the project development; further research will investigate how this involvement played out and which barriers and supporting factors it reveals.

6.4 Accessibility

In a first step, general principles of accessibility for the design of MakerSpaces are presented, to sensitize the Maker scene to this issue. These general principles are complemented by applicable standards, guidelines to be followed, and supporting funding.

In a next step, the developed checklist will be tested in the FabLab of the University of Applied Sciences Ruhr West. This step includes the identification of barriers and dismantling them. As a result, the developed checklist is tested and the FabLab becomes more accessible.

7 Conclusion

Maker Technologies, thus far only marginally used for and by persons with disabilities hold an enormous potential. Whereas the technologies in question as used in an open and highly networked Maker-Community have been sufficiently developed to produce tools in an individualized form and thus promote social participation, as well as self-determination in everyday life, experience in the field of co-operation is lacking. There aren’t any specific target groups in MakerSpaces or an appropriate interdisciplinary branch of research either [12]. SELFMADE provides pioneering work in all three aspects. The SELFMADE project demonstrates the requirements for accessibility to MakerSpaces for persons with disabilities and a scalable approach that leads to prototypes. It demonstrates by example, through their work with persons with complex needs, how to open up 3-D-printing and peer production to everybody.

This approach is particularly attractive for the globally networked MakerSpaces because it has the potential to reach new target groups by making it as accessible as possible.