Department of Design Assistant Professors Scott and Kyoung Swearingen were awarded a Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme Grant to support their work with technology solutions for children with disabilities. 

Families who care for children with disabilities experience more challenges interacting with their children than families who don’t. This increased level of burden results in higher rates of emotional stress and hardship while their children often lose out on the benefits of playing and making meaningful connections with them. Serving children with moderate-to-severe disabilities (including cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, Down’s syndrome, and autism) our team seeks to create a collaborative digital gaming platform using human-centered technology that normalizes the experience of play between the fully-abled and disabled to better serve these children and their families. This project combines Design, Nursing and Engineering to address some of the most pressing challenges in our community.