DMU graduate Karan Kumar has designed two community-focused platforms aimed at improving well-being, inclusion and everyday accessibility for the socially anxious and those with autism.
The projects came out of his time on the The Crucible Project 2025-26 run by the DMU Business and Innovation Centre.
The first project is HiKind which is a wellbeing and self-insight platform designed for socially anxious individuals and people with autistic traits, particularly those who are undiagnosed or exploring self-understanding.
The platform offers structured self-screening tools intended to support the pre-screening and triage stages of autism assessment, helping to identify higher-risk cases earlier and potentially reduce pressure on long waiting lists.
Karan said: "While working and developing HiKind, I found a very common issue amongst many people is the struggle to access everyday public spaces due to sensory overload.
"This was leading to social exclusion from places they would otherwise want to engage with—libraries, cafés, classrooms, and cultural venues".
This insight led Karan to his second initiative, KindHours.
KindHours is an accessibility and inclusion platform focused on helping people find and plan visits to sensory-friendly places across Leicester and, eventually, the UK.
The platform allows users to log sensory experiences, such as noise, lighting, crowd levels, and scent, and supports journey planning and recommendations based on individual sensory needs.
KindHours works in collaboration with semi-public and private venues, encouraging them to introduce “Kind Hours”—dedicated time slots designed to reduce sensory overload.
While similar to “quiet hours,” it aims to go further by using real user data, consistency, and clearer expectations to create genuinely inclusive experiences.
Karan is planning further developing KindHours through awareness-building, partnerships with local venues, and shaping the platform into a scalable, evidence-led model that can create meaningful, long-term change.