IDeA 101

See below for some miscellaneous facts about the IDeA Competition

  • IDeA is a UWindsor student competition aimed to inspire our students to create innovative and effective ideas that can resolve accessibility barriers.
  • Students are to submit their original IDeA to potentially eliminate/reduce an accessibility barrier(s). No physical prototype is required. 
  • In groups or alone, undergraduate or graduate, full-time or part-time, the competition is open to all UWindsor students that are willing to submit and present their idea to a panel of judges.
  • As part of the panel presentation, participants should be ready to respond to questions such as:
    • “What makes your idea different or unique from a similar idea/product already at market?”
    • “How is your idea a cost-effective solution?”
    • “Did you seek feedback from people who would benefit from your idea? What was the feedback? How did that feedback help you change or enhance your idea?”

To get you started, here is some information on past IDeA’s entered in the UWindsor IDeA Competition

Aphasia Friendly Business Campaign:

Addressing information, communications, and attitudinal barriers. The Aphasia Friendly Business Campaign aims to educate local businesses about aphasia and advocate for the rights of people with aphasia to receive access to goods and services.

Wheelchair Accessibility at the Gym:

Addressing architectural/physical, and attitudinal barriers. This IDeA was to help make people with disabilities feel more included at gyms and physical activity centres. The first part of the project included a survey which was sent to 34 physical activity centres in the Windsor and surrounding areas to determine if they are wheelchair accessible. The campaign includes gym attendees with disabilities posting pictures of inclusive practices on twitter with the hashtag #EveryoneIsWelcomeAtOurGyms.

I Saw the Sign: A New Translation Application for Google Glass:

Addressing information and communications barriers. This IDeA involved an app, to be known as “I Saw the Sign”, which would use the means of Google Glass to scan a person’s American Sign Language (ASL) communication and translate it into English. A caption of the ASL would be projected onto the viewfinder display of the augmented image. This will allow persons who cannot speak ASL to understand and communicate.

Haptic Awareness Device (H.A.D):

Addressing Information, communications, and technology barriers. This IDeA for a haptic awareness device would allow people with a visual disability the ability to detect their surroundings. The user would detect people in their immediate vicinity, which direction they are approaching from, and how close they are to the user through vibrations on the device, which would correspond to an approaching cellphone or Bluetooth device. As more vehicles are being equipped with Bluetooth devices, the device would also inform users of approaching vehicles.


Council of Universities Competition

Follow this link to learn more about the Council of Universities competition and IDeA’s that were entered and awarded.