Speak My Pain

A mobile app that enables people with autism and learning disabilities to communicate pain in a way that works for them.

Comment

Inspiration

Listening to the experiences of people with Learning Disabilities and Autism has made us think about ways to bridge the gap in health inequalities. People in these groups are dying 20 years for men and 26 years for women younger than they should and it is known how healthcare is approached works against these people. Barriers like sensory issues, alexithymia and different communication styles make communicating with parents, guardians and health professionals difficult. So the question this posed to us is how to enable people to explore their scales of pain and discomfort (eg. emotional) that gives them independence and agency while also acting as a vehicle for health professionals to engage and understand this vulnerable population.

What it does

It is an app that has 2 main features.

  1. A list of scales to rate pain intensity, pain type and emotions in different visual formats that allows the user to pick the scale that suits them. Each comes with a description that enables both themselves and their carers to understand what that picture means (out-of-the-box functionality).
  2. There is a relaxation feature, that enables the user to use sound for a set duration as a coping mechanism. This could be used as a countdown or as a way of saying that I need some space to calm down.

How we built it

Using react native and the expo framework, the programmer of the team learned how to use JavaScript and Typescript languages. This prototype used VS code, react native, expo, Android Studio and Node.

Challenges we ran into

Right from the beginning there were problems. I was trying to get the program to run on a mobile device only to find out that the edu wifi connection caused problems, trying to tunnel for the solution led to an error that made it unfeasible to test the program using mobile hardware. the alternative was to use an Android emulator using Android Studio.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Learning a completely new set of languages and frameworks as well as resulting in a programme that functions. Developing skills in application development as well as understanding the complexities in developing apps.

What we learned

App development is hard and complex. The programmer had problems getting her screen reader to work with the relevant IDE's.

What's next for Speak My Pain

  1. The descriptions for the pain scales can be changed by the user to be customised to their particular needs.
  2. Users can add their pain scales, pictures and sounds to enable other forms of communication.
  3. A feature that enables the individual to use their pain scale to record how it differs over the day, also can be used to record dietary and other data that can be helpful if dealing with conditions that require monitoring.
Share this project:

Updates