It all started with a letter from a girl called Vilja.

Below you can read her letter. It is her story and many others that have inspired us to create Mariko. 

She wrote as follows:

I dream of life on the same terms as everyone else. Being able to go with my friends and train, study at the university and get a job at the web agency that I practiced at during high school.

I have a neuropsychiatric disability (NPF) which for me, means I have sensory and executive challenges. These challenges make it very difficult for me to handle noisy environments, and loud sudden sounds, they physically hurt.

I have to fight very hard to be able to organize and plan my day since my working memory is as good as a goldfish. When unplanned changes happen, such as the subway being late or lessons at school being suddenly changed or cancelled, I get very stressed and sometimes I have a meltdown and need several days to recover.

I am faced with various challenges and obstacles on a daily basis due to my disability, the ignorance of those around me and inaccessible environments. It takes a lot of energy to make the day work and already after lunch I am often very tired and full of anxiety.

I often feel ashamed and stressed about depending on others for support and having to explain every day why I sometimes need help with things that to you are obvious and super simple.

I'm tired of feeling anxious every time about whether I should join my friends for coffee, whether I dare to apply for the further education I dream of or that I have forgotten something important again.

The personal challenges, the ignorance of those around me, the anxiety and the dependence on others results in that I often refrain from getting involved in different activities. For long periods I have neither met friends, studied nor worked. It is easy for me to isolate myself and then feel very bad mentally. It becomes a negative spiral that is difficult to get out of.

What if...

- I had a tool that I could always have with me that would make me more independent?

- I always had access to personal support when I needed it without having to ask my friends or parents every time?

- more people had knowledge about my particular challenges and what help I need?

- I had a day without anxiety!

Hello!

Those of us working on developing Mariko have different experiences of neuropsychiatric disabilities (NPF). Some of us have our own diagnosis, others have children, family and friends who are affected in different ways by the challenges of living with Autism and ADHD.

People and technology in a unique combination.

Some of us were involved in the introduction of the World Wide Web and have since then worked with social and technological innovation in various ways. Most of us have more than 15 years of practical experience working with NPF through education, supervision, therapy, research and in various non-profit organizations such as Attention, Autism & Aspergerföreningen and Shedo.

We are social workers, therapists, educators, musicians, designers, web developers, interaction designers, usability experts, business developers and life artists who share a strong desire to make a difference in the world.

Some of us speak and understand, Node, MongoDB, Firebase, Dart, Flutter, React, Swift and CSS...... Others Swedish, English and Italian.... Some want to learn Japanese and some want to create their own language.

Our values

• We love to try new things, fail, learn and develop from that.
• We believe that people are driven by meaning.
• Making a difference and seeing people develop is a KICK for us.
• That all people have the same universal needs, it's how we meet them that sets us apart.
• Our actions are attempts to meet our needs. We can be more or less adept at it.
• Diversity.
• Voluntariness is a prerequisite for cooperation.
• Privacy is non-negotiable.
• Change & curiosity.
• The benefits of products and services arise from their use.
• To sell only what we use and believe in ourselves.

If you want to know more, or want to contribute in any way, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

/ Mariko team

It looks bright 😉