Dragon Better Market General Information

What's Dragon Better Market

Dragon Better Market is a market that is operated and opened with students who are receiving specialized education from ISB, specifically through the Life-Centered Education (LCE) program. Students in this program possess various degrees of disabilities, including autism, and their age ranges from 8 to 12.

How Dragon Better Market

The Dragon Better Market employed innovative, inclusive strategies to enhance the selling experience for disabled students at ISB. One of the standout features was the implementation of a self-service KIOSK, similar to those commonly found in fast-food chains. I personally programmed and designed this kiosk with the goal of facilitating smoother interactions between disabled and non-disabled students.

The kiosk's interface UIUX was thoughtfully designed to be user-friendly, with products categorized by color. When a customer selects an item on the screen, the corresponding color representing that product is displayed on the other side. This color-coding system simplifies the process for disabled students who are tasked with delivering products, as they only need to match the colors to the orders.

Another innovative feature of the Dragon Better Market was its fully digital payment system. By integrating WeChat Pay, we eliminated the need for cash transactions, streamlining the purchasing process for all students and ensuring a more seamless experience.

Why Dragon Better Market

The insight I gained from my internship at Bear Better, a leading South Korean social enterprise that provides employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities, stayed with me as I flew back to Beijing. Motivated by the meaningful work I had done there, I decided to use my first paycheck to create something impactful for my school’s Life-Centered Education (LCE) program—by launching a market.

To develop the concept, I sought guidance from the CEO of Bear Better, who shared a key observation: "People with developmental disabilities often struggle with complex words and numbers, so their machines display pictures of cash for easier identification." This inspired the implementation of the KIOSK idea, making the market more accessible to all students.

Much like Bear Better, I wanted the LCE students to experience real-world job tasks using technology, even with their disabilities. Influenced by the CEO's motivation for founding Bear Better, and as an executive at the Nightingale Charity Club (NCC), I aimed to make a lasting impact on my local community of students with disabilities. By combining Bear Better’s mission Better with my school’s mascot Dragon, I established the "Dragon Better Market," where students with disabilities actively participate in tasks such as packaging, applying stickers, and selling products.

Objectives/Goals

• Objective 1: Preparing and operating markets with people with disabilities
• Objective 2:Provide opportunities for people with disabilities to develop independence to apply them in real life
• Objective 3:Sharing an image with general students that they can live and work together with people with disabilities
• Objective 4: Effectively utilize technology to educate people with disabilities, which they are able to apply in real life/workplace.
• Objective 5: Raise awareness about how ISB has a specialized program for people with disabilities.
• Objective 6: Eliminate prejudice against people with disabilities and create a school culture of interest and consideration.
• Objective 7: Recognize that people with disabilities are also members of the school by providing an environment (the market) that gives opportunities for them to communicate with school students.