People with disabilities as product innovators: a pilot study

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the rate of product innovation among persons with disabilities, how they are diffused and the general value of these developed solutions for persons without disabilities.

Materials and methods: A sample of participants (n = 178) completed a self-administered questionnaire, which included information about their disability, disability burden, general unmet product needs, the impact of the developed solution on their quality of life and how solutions were diffused. We analyzed solutions both for their novelty and for their general value.

Results: Close to 45% of respondents reported having developed a solution, with 9.55% solutions judged as novel. Additionally, 6.8% of respondents developed a solution of general value to non-disabled users.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that people with disabilities are actively involved in product development and that their solutions have a positive impact on their lives. Furthermore, many reported solutions also provide value for non-disabled persons, suggesting that persons with disabilities may be an important source of innovation.

Implications for Rehabilitation

• Persons with disabilities are frequently engaged in developing solutions that meet their unmet product needs.

• Most solutions are not diffused beyond their immediate social circle.

• Solutions have a significant impact on the self-reported quality of life of participants.

Keywords:

• Solution development
• user driven innovation
• solution diffusion

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank all the respondents for participating. Special thanks to Nicolas Bougeard and Laure Tromilin for helping with the translation. We would like to thank Cesar Vandevelde, Bram van Acker, Davy Parmentier and Bert Boute for their feedback on earlier drafts of the survey. Finally, thanks to Koen Amerlynck for his assistance in distributing the survey.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.