Reflection – Story Telling

Challenge

Elderly is such a phase in life where most individuals suffers from both financial and health crisis,  unfortunately the sector where the innovation is required most is addressed least.  Elderly people  find it difficult to maintain balance while walking and often suffer falls, sprains and fatigue due to  this. Majority of them cannot walk longer distances without taking rest in between, they tend to  depend on surrounding people for basic necessities like walking and getting up from chair etc.  This dependability makes them feel helpless and affect their physical and mental health negatively.  Elderly is such a phase in life where most individuals suffers from both financial and health crisis,  unfortunately the sector where the innovation is required most is addressed least.

Selection

The target audience for the challenge mentioned above are the elderly people and to get their  attention and address their problem the powerful tool is ‘Story telling’. As the old age people have  high emotional quotient they get connected easily with the stories. This tool keeps them engaged  and can be promising to provide the desired outcome. The cause of the challenge ignites people  and unites them to approach and address the challenge with us. Every people have different stories  that sets them apart from the crowd and the same goes with the idea and the solution. The story  behind the idea or solution is what makes it different and more appealing.

Application

My grandfather goes for an evening pretty much every day. As usual he left for his walk that day  also around 5:30 PM. He usually gets back at 6:00 or 6:30 sometimes, but it was 8:30 that day and  everyone was worried as he don’t carry phone with him. We enquired by calling his friends and  everyone told he left at 6:00. After searching for hours we saw a man dragging himself towards  us. We were not sure if he was our grandfather as he is fit and walks normal. As the old man started  approaching near it was clear that he was our grandfather, we ran towards him and held his arms  upon our shoulders and went back home.

After a while when we asked him about his condition he said as he left to come back home after  meeting his friends he felt dizzy and somehow he was walking towards home, the dizziness was  increasing so he wanted to sit for some time and get relaxed but unfortunately there is no seating  facility available between our home and the garden. After walking for a while without relaxation  he was unable to balance himself and fell on the ground and nobody noticed him, he somehow  managed to get up and was approaching home that’s when we met him. That day I realized how  important a support is, even a small wooden stick have saved him from falling and if data is  believed thousands of elderly fall every day suffering un healable injuries. That’s when I and my  team decided to build a walker that houses a seat, so that the person can sit and rest whenever he  feels imbalance and dizzy. The walker can help the user to walk by providing him proper support  and the seating facility allows him to relax even if there is no seating facilities nearby like over  crowded bus stands and hospitals.

Insight

The insight I gained from this tool that it enables us to connect with the customer with more  empathy. We can present on the very end of the possibilities that there is a way to get this solved  that there is a, path that we can head to make movement in that regard. And so I think that story  when you put the challenge as the, as the figure. Becomes down to just really making sure that  they understand how big it is. What the tensions are that exists and what we can do.

Approach

Having already gone through different tools and are at this point in the time, the learning story  telling is an appropriate tool. Our team needs to review the insight and feedback gained apply it to  the development of future launch designs. The upcoming designs should reflect the insight gained,  advancement achieved, and achieve a solution that can be ready for the market.

