The accessibility and affordability of tangible electronic toolkits are significant barriers to their uptake by people with disabilities. We present the design and evaluation of TapeBlocks, a low-cost, low-fidelity toolkit intended to be accessible for people with intellectual disabilities while promoting creativity and engagement.

We evaluated TapeBlocks by interviewing makers, special educational needs teachers and support coaches. Analysis of these interviews informed the design of a series of maker workshops using TapeBlocks with young adults living with intellectual disabilities, led by support coaches with support from the research team. Participants were able to engage with TapeBlocks and making, eventually building their own TapeBlocks to make personal creations.

Our evaluation reveals how TapeBlocks supports accessible making and playful discovery of electronics for people living with disabilities, and addresses a gap in existing toolkits by being tinkerable, affordable and having a low threshold for engagement.

The Outcome

• TapeBlocks were first adopted in National Science Week events in 2019, 2020 and 2022 - inspiring 480 participants with motor, intellectual and sensory disabilities. Since then we have conducted further workshops with TapeBlocks have catalysed discussions on inclusive STEM design and were featured in the Australian Government’s Diversity in STEM report in 2023
• The Computer Science Education Outreach Summit of Google, 2022
• Eureka Prize from the Department of Industry, Science and Resources for STEM Inclusion, 2022
• 2nd place, Make: Amazing Maker Awards in the Education category, 2022
• SXSW, 2023
• Victorian Premier's Design Awards Finalist, 2024

Selected Papers

• Kirsten Ellis, Emily Dao, Osian Smith, Stephen Lindsay, Patrick Olivier (2021). TapeBlocks: A Making Toolkit for People Living with Intellectual Disabilities. CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.