Give the Body a Voice: Co-design with Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities to Create Multisensory Wearables

This study explores non-verbal co-design techniques with multisensory wearables to give the body a voice. Sessions were led with professional caregivers, parents, and clients with PIMD (profound intellectual and multiple disabilities) to find fundamental building blocks for a common language based on tangible technologies. To provide an agent for communication we employed the tools of extimacy - translating biodata to visual, auditory, or tactile interactive displays. The caregivers expressed the need for action – reaction “Actie Reactie” to keep attention, which was an update from the Multisensory Environment (MSE) rooms previously used to calm. In the co-design sessions, we found the on-the-body wearables held the most focus. The final discovery from the study became the outline for creating a modular, highly personalized kit for a Multisensory Wearable (MSW) to inspire surprise and wonder