Make it Special
from 01/04/2019
People with special needs need equipment with a very high degree of adaptation and customization. Industrial manufacturing is sometimes not feasible and in many cases you end up resorting to craftsmanship and imagination.
A fablab is a digital manufacturing workshop for personal use, that is a space for the design and production of physical objects on a personal or local scale that groups together computer-controlled machines such as 3D printers, laser cutters, numerical control machines, etc.
Special education schools bring together various professionals who are the ones who work with children on a daily basis and who best know their needs. A high percentage of the center's staff is made up of women. . As a general rule, school staff are open to new technologies, as witnessed by innumerable collaborative projects between centers or with other organizations such as universities and research institutes.
The objective of the project is to connect the fablab maker world with the professionals and students of special education schools, paying specific attention to female students and staff.
For this, we propose a series of workshops, manufacturing sessions, courses and round tables that serve as a contact between both parties and that allow learning what a FabLab is and what can be done in it. We will also organize a Hackathon type contest to publicize the specific problems of disabled people and look for original ideas and solutions from the maker world. We are committed to promoting a scientific culture based on project-oriented action, co-creation and equal treatment between professionals (eg researchers), expert amateurs (eg maker collectives), interested groups involved in the problem to be addressed (family members) and people outside the maker movement (eg teachers and professionals from special education centers). Likewise, by applying service-learning techniques, participants identify a situation in their immediate environment to which they are committed to improving, developing a solidarity project that puts knowledge, skills, attitudes and values into play.
Aim
The main objective of the project is to spread the Maker culture and the possibilities of the Fablabs to the staff of special education schools, implementing practical and concrete solutions that serve as an example to publicize the opportunities that this way of designing and producing offers. At the same time, we want schools to serve as loudspeakers to promote this culture, this way of designing and manufacturing among children and their families. More specifically, the main objectives are:
Bring digital manufacturing and citizen science methodology to people with special needs through a series of workshops and specific training for professionals from special education schools. Reveal the possibilities of new manufacturing methods with 3D printers and other tools controlled by computer to the Special Education sector.
Open the spaces and resources available in the fablabs and makerspaces to the Special Education environment.
Created Sept. 8, 2020, 1:30 a.m.
Updated Sept. 8, 2020, 1:30 a.m.
