A Peek Into the Future of the Social Sector
For week 5, I found an article written by one Allison Gauss about five "mind-blowing" inventions that have recently sprung up in the social sector. Often, though, inventions that work to change social conventions and parts of our lives that we have deemed irreparable--such as poverty, disability, and disease--are overlooked for the shiniest new gadget. When we think of trying to solve problems in the social sector, we must think as intersectionally as we can in order to benefit the maximum amount of people.
For example, the first invention Gauss brings up is called the Leveraged Freedom Chair, an affordable wheelchair made without speciality parts, so as to allow for ease of repair, that is able to endure and work on all kinds of terrain. This invention is incredibly important to creating a more accessible world, as many people who need wheelchairs and do not have them live in rural areas that don't have the proper infrastructure for typical wheelchairs or the finances to afford them. The LFC is an efficient, affordable wheelchair that thinks of the circumstances of its user and allows them further access to the world they deserve. Although wheelchairs have been around for hundreds of years, there is always room for improvement on inventions that help, but perhaps not as much as they could.
Another example of inventions thinking of the customs and circumstances of its user, Khushi Baby is a necklace implanted with an inexpensive chip carrying a child's vaccination history. This invention was developed by students at Yale in order to help those in India, as the country has the lowest vaccine coverage rates in the world and often uses paper vaccination records--often being lost, forgotten or misplaced. The students working on the invention knew that many Indians look for good luck and health by placing necklaces on their babies, so they combined technology with cultural tradition in order to incorporate a necessary medical device into their lives.
These are just few of the inventions Gauss goes over, and if you would like to see the others, go here. So, what do we learn from the ongoing invention of new tools in the social sector? Each of these inventions are working to make the world more equitable, often giving impoverished people's access and opportunity to create a better future for themselves and others. We must think of poverty, disability, and disease as qualities of society that can and do have solutions and cures in order to push our society to find those solutions.
For example, the first invention Gauss brings up is called the Leveraged Freedom Chair, an affordable wheelchair made without speciality parts, so as to allow for ease of repair, that is able to endure and work on all kinds of terrain. This invention is incredibly important to creating a more accessible world, as many people who need wheelchairs and do not have them live in rural areas that don't have the proper infrastructure for typical wheelchairs or the finances to afford them. The LFC is an efficient, affordable wheelchair that thinks of the circumstances of its user and allows them further access to the world they deserve. Although wheelchairs have been around for hundreds of years, there is always room for improvement on inventions that help, but perhaps not as much as they could.
Another example of inventions thinking of the customs and circumstances of its user, Khushi Baby is a necklace implanted with an inexpensive chip carrying a child's vaccination history. This invention was developed by students at Yale in order to help those in India, as the country has the lowest vaccine coverage rates in the world and often uses paper vaccination records--often being lost, forgotten or misplaced. The students working on the invention knew that many Indians look for good luck and health by placing necklaces on their babies, so they combined technology with cultural tradition in order to incorporate a necessary medical device into their lives.
These are just few of the inventions Gauss goes over, and if you would like to see the others, go here. So, what do we learn from the ongoing invention of new tools in the social sector? Each of these inventions are working to make the world more equitable, often giving impoverished people's access and opportunity to create a better future for themselves and others. We must think of poverty, disability, and disease as qualities of society that can and do have solutions and cures in order to push our society to find those solutions.
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