EnAbling Change competition winners

The Design Exchange, Canada’s only museum dedicated exclusively to the pursuit of design excellence and preservation of design heritage, in partnership with the Government of Ontario, announced the winners of the 2012-13 CONNECT: EnAbling Change Post-Secondary Design Competition. This province-wide competition seeks to explore design that is accessible to everyone, regardless of their age or ability, across all design disciplines.

In the product design category, winners are:

1st place: Inclusive Moto, Tiziano Cousineau; Carleton University
3rd place (tie): Skate Soccer; Jeff Burgers, Carleton University
3rd place (tie): Harambee, Ruby Hadley, Carmen Liu, Andrew Theobald & Alyssa Wongkee; Carleton University

Fourth-year Carleton student Tiziano Cousineau took first prize in the Product Design category for his Inclusive Moto project. The project aims to make off-road motorcycling accessible for those with lower limb disabilities. Cousineau designed a solution that gives a disabled rider complete control of the motorcycle, as well as the ability to ride independently without an assistant holding the motorcycle upright when starting and stopping.

“I was inspired by people who have been injured and paralyzed riding motorcycles,” says Cousineau, himself a motorcycle enthusiast. “I started to think about how I could give them the opportunity to continue riding. From there, I realized that I could help give this opportunity to those who had never been able to ride a motorcycle because of their disability. So the project evolved toward being universal and inclusive for everyone.”

Cousineau attributes part of the project’s success to the training he received in the Industrial Design program at Carleton.

“Carleton’s Industrial Design program really puts an emphasis on exploring a problem,” says Cousineau. “I was actually able to consult with the disabled community by speaking with adaptive sports participants, so in the end I was able to learn from the people I was designing for.”

Tying for third place was a project by fourth-year students Ruby Hadley, Carmen Liu, Alyssa Wongkee and Andrew Theobald. They developed a variety of assistive devices for users in rural Uganda requiring better mobility so that they can participate in small businesses. Also in third place was Jeff Burgers for his project Skate Soccer.