WOULD you know NOT to grab a visually impaired person by the arm to steer them along? Or would you be in a position to help someone in and out of a wheelchair?
As accessibility to public facilities continues to be improved for the benefit of the disabled, there is a greater need for the public to understand how to respond to this community’s needs.
Enabler is an app in the making that wants to share this knowledge to care givers and the public.
But it needs help to be completed, says Mano Karan, CEO of social start-up Enabled Singapore.
Easy To Use
The Enabler app uses the gaming platform to reach a larger audience.
“But it’s more than just a game, it is like a simulator that pilots would use as part of their training,” Karan explains. The app will teach users how to assist and care for the disabled in everyday situations.
Karan, himself wheelchair bound, believes that it is the best way to reach out to his audience of caregivers, healthcare employee, volunteers and students.
But Enabler is in need of funding — it needs $10,000 to create the app, and SingTel will match whatever is raised.
You can also contribute to Enabled via their Give.Asia page HERE.
Increasing Awareness
Together with humanitarian engineer Huy Nguyen, Karan and Enabled Singapore are working on a new gaming platform based e-resource app for caregivers. It aims to increase awareness and train and engage caregivers and social workers to provide professional services for people with disability, and senior citizens.
He adds that a gaming platform, especially in today’s smartphone reliant world, would be relevant, engaging, and interesting to target users. Furthermore, it will also make it easier to introduce the app to new audiences, and later to track and incentivise performance.
“Our main challenge now is to get local organisations to become early adopters,” Karan concedes. Collaborative efforts in bringing the app to life and putting it to use are already underway in Australia.
The app is also intended to be customisable so as to be more relevant to different situations and patients that care givers may face. This, Karan points out, will be the key differentiator to make it a successful endeavour.
“We need to identify and understand the real ‘pain points’ that our target audience faces and find ways to address them with the app.”
Enabled is already in conversation with the healthcare professionals, educational institutions, and voluntary welfare organisations to better cater to their specific needs.
You can check out a short demo of the app below.
