Inclusive Design

TODO: clean up sources

People with dementia are a diverse group of people. Not only do they differ in age, sex, and ethnicity: Their varying cognitive abilities and skills make them even more diverse. This shows how important it is to design a product such as ours with inclusivity in mind. We performed a small study to identify common characteristics of people with dementia that may influence their abilities of interacting with the product. 

A first step into identifying these characteristics was made through looking at the risk factors of developing dementia. According to source, age, genetics, and family history are the three greatest risk factors of developing late-onset Alzheimer's disease. Age appears to be the largest factor: 3% of people age 65-74 have Alzheimer's dementia, while 32% of people age 85 and up have this disease. 

With age, there is also a decrease in sensory skills. Vision and hearing are two of the most common declines. WHO expects to see an increase in people acquiring vision inpairments as they age. For people over 60 years old, WHO reports that over 25% of people are affected by disabling hearing loss.

Sight loss
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/research/our-research/research-projects/understanding-impact-visual-impairment-life-dementia#:~:text=This%20means%20that%20many%20people,friendly%20faces%20or%20street%20signs.
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-dementia/symptoms-and-diagnosis/sight-hearing-loss
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK374270/

Hearing loss
https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/hearing-loss-and-the-dementia-connection#:~:text=If%20you%20have%20hearing%20loss,top%20risk%20factors%20for%20dementia.&text=Hearing%20loss%20can%20make%20the,and%20fill%20in%20the%20gaps.
https://www.scie.org.uk/dementia/living-with-dementia/sensory-loss/hearing-loss.asp

Usability - how easy is it to use for everyone?
Accessibility - can impaired users use the product as well as non-impaired users?

Involve different users
We invited a hearing loss person and sighting loss people

Motor skills:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016749432030162X#:~:text=The%20motor%20symptoms%20of%20dementia,a%20decline%20in%20cognitive%20function

Comorbidities:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dementia-comorbidities-in-patients/dementia-comorbidities-in-patients-data-briefing#:~:text=Comorbidities%20that%20can%20increase%20the,epilepsy%2C%20depression%20and%20SMI%20).