23 May 2011

Supermarket car park hubs to help domestic abuse victims

A Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design student has devised a service to enable victims of domestic abuse to access help and support more easily.

Siobhan Milne will shortly graduate with a degree in Interior and Environmental Design, having completed the four-year programme at DJCAD, part of the University of Dundee. The 24-year-old from Clackmannanshire has designed a centralised hub for victims to visit, which she proposes should be located in a supermarket car park.

Intended as a 24-hour drop-in service, the hub would be at once highly visible and also discreet as it would be designed in such a way that it also housed other services found in supermarket car parks, such as a trolley bay and public toilet. This means the entrance would be subtly located to offer privacy to prospective users.

Siobhan believes this means it would not be obvious why someone was approaching the hub, and that more people would be likely to go in as a result of it being in such a public place of everyday use by many. Her project is one of the near-300 exhibits at this year’s Dundee Degree Show.

'I hope this will take away the stigma of attending a domestic abuse service,' she explained. 'If these hubs were to be commonplace across each city everyone would know what they are for and where they are located, but their design would ensure that no one would instantly realise that someone was accessing the service.

'Supermarket car parks are always busy and so people can blend in and get away from their partner and share what they are going through in relaxed surroundings. They might not necessarily be seeking a resolution but are just looking for a sympathetic ear.

'This is a subject I have always felt passionate about and, for my dissertation, I started looking at the designs of women’s refuges and drop-in centres and looking at how they could be more welcoming and less intimidating. My idea is that the centre would be a more informal place, almost like a working homely kitchen, where victims of domestic abuse can come and talk about their experiences.

'It would be an extension of online forums where women go to talk with other women who know what they are going through. The difference, of course, is that the contact would be face to face and there would be opportunities to seek a resolution if the victim decides to do so for themselves.'

The centralised hub is just one of the ideas that feature in Siobhan’s Degree Show exhibit. Her concept would involve the hub service being accessed by sending a digital message through linked ATM machines and Pay at the Pump petrol units. Again the intention is that more victims will be encouraged to seek help as a result of the increased ease of assess to services.

A barcode icon is the symbol of the whole project as each victim who comes forward would receive a unique number to highlight that there are individuals behind domestic abuse statistics.

The barcode numbers which appear on the promotional material and advertising the presence of contact points are 84465.7377328, which is how 'Think. Respect', the title of Siobhan’s project, appears in terms of the buttons pushed to text that message via a mobile phone.

She has also identified places where advertising would be most effective, such as at Parkhead and Ibrox given the spike in instances of domestic abuse following Old Firm games, in targeting perpetrators and getting them to consider their actions.

She continued, 'It would also be open to any victims of domestic abuse, male or female and, indeed, to the perpetrators of domestic abuse who want help to deal with their problem and change their behaviour.'

'I wanted to look at how we can encourage the perpetrators to seek help, as I think that is absolutely vital to beating domestic abuse. To do this, they have to be comfortable asking for help and to be able to speak about their actions in a non-judgmental way. The first priority has to be to help victims, but unless we break through to perpetrators and stop them abusing their partners’ then there will always be victims.

'The service would be open to anyone, in any relationship as, while women are by far and away the majority of victims, it is not simply a case of man-on-woman violence. Homosexual men and women, and heterosexual men can also be the victims in abusive relationships.

'It helps to know other people are going through the same thing and for them to share their experiences without feeling they need to take the next step in anything other than their own time. We have to remember that behind the statistics there are real people who are suffering and dealing with their abuse in whatever way they think is right given their individual circumstances.

'That’s where the idea of the barcode giving each person a distinct identity comes from. It may appear at first that all the barcodes are indistinguishable, but in fact they are all completely unique.'

Notes to editors:

Dundee Degree Show
21st - 29th May 2011 (Preview May 20th)

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design
University of Dundee
13 Perth Road
Dundee DD1 4HT
T 01382 385330
E exhibitions@dundee.ac.uk
www.dundee.ac.uk/djcad/degreeshow

Exhibition open:
Saturday, May 21st (10am-4pm)
Sunday, May 22nd (10am-4pm)
Monday, May 23rd (10am-8pm)
Tuesday, May 24th (10am-8pm)
Wednesday, May 25th (10am-8pm)
Thursday, May 26th (10am-8pm)
Friday, May 27th (10am-8pm)
Saturday, May 28th (10am-4pm)
Sunday, May 29th (10am-4pm)

Graduate work on display:
Animation
Art, Philosophy, Contemporary Practices
Digital Interaction Design
Fine Art
Graphic Design
Illustration
Interior Environmental Design
Jewellery & Metal Design
Product Design
Textile Design
Time Based Art & Digital Film

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277