Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Australia, disability, venture development.

Disadvantage in Australia coheres in geography. My country's poorest post
codes are populated by people on subsistence incomes, living with high
levels of disability, living in single parent families, with low levels of
private car access, disconnected from the internet, (to name but a few
markers of disadvantage). It is an experience of isolation and exclusion.
It is as if the transformative flows of capital, goods, labor and
information identified in the McKinsey Corporation report ('What happens
next') deliver only downside risk to them.
I blogged on happiness in this space recently. I suppose I mean
resilience: people who feel that their higher order needs around agency,
autonomy and self determination are being met are more resilient. They are
happier. They are also more independent.
I believe that disadvantage in Australia and happiness/resilience are
disjointed phenomenon. Disadvantaged Australians don't get to enjoy the
benefits of resilience like the majority population.
I wish to create a social venture that will enable people with
disabilities to be more active in their communities, more present in their
communities. Agency is power in this context. Hopefully it is more
autonomy too. It might also lead to greater happiness.
I have the germ of an idea, shared with a great colleague, to develop a
mobile phone app, which utilizes gaming dynamics in real time to get
people with disabilities beyond their front doors and active in their
communities.
The immediate challenge for me is how to innovate strategically at the
base of my particular pyramid? The watchwords seem to be the four Ás':
affordability, acceptability, availability and awareness.
Well affordability is a confronting thing. People with disabilities live
on government benefits, typically budgeting from one week to the next.
Actually $ is not the only resource in scarce supply when you are
disabled. Cognition and concentration are also likely to be at a premium.
I suspect that the task here is to have the courage of my convictions and
trust that the product I wish to develop has a place in the market. If
people like it, they will direct their scarce resources to it.
Which leads me to acceptability. It is axiomatic that my product must be
dedicated to the needs of people with disability. I am heartened by the
fact that people with disabilities are great consumers of other digital
technologies. Also by the fact that the gaming technology I am considering
works on a powerfully reinforcing psychological schema: contingent reward.
This schema also plays out in areas such as gambling, which can prove to
be highly addictive. I suppose I would welcome some healthy addiction to
my product!!
Availability is a tougher challenge. I think the app technology works on
only the most recent mobile phone platforms (for example, Android 2.1, or
Froyo). I think I need to identify a distribution channel for my product,
which may even entail approaching mobile phone companies to see if I can
tap into their CSR programs.
Lastly awareness. I would like to build awareness of my product through a
demonstration program.
Anything you can tell me about how to build a social venture such as this
would be gratefully received!

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