Reading review: “Design meets Disability”

The chapter starts with the history of mass-produced products by Charles and Ray Eames, manufactured by Herman Miller in the 1940s and 1950s. Charles Eames believed that “design depends largely on constraints”

Design for disability has traditionally been about attracting as little attention as possible. The approach has been less about projecting a positive image and more about covering it.

Fashion is concerned with creating and projecting an image. Its goal is to make the wearer look good and feel better. For examples, eyewear has become an important product in the fashion industry. Since centuries, glasses have been considered to cause social humiliation. Only in 1991, the design press declared that “eyewear has become stylish.” A recent research shows that “Today, 20% of some brands of glasses are purchased with clear non-prescription lenses.” In that case, “the term user becomes inappropriate. Wearer sets up a different relationship between the designer and the person being designed for.”

Hearing aid is another important disability device. “Apart from the singer “Morrissey”, few people have been known to wear a hearing aid for show when they do need one.” Today, people (users/wearer) are used to the cell phone earpieces, earplugs, sending a positive imagery for technology. Hopefully the hearing aids industry will gather designers and engineers to create new products that would improve the self-image of their “patients”.

Later in the chapter, the author discusses the glamorization of prosthetic by actress/model/athlete Aimee Mullins. Her wardrobe is made up not only of different clothes that make her feel a different way but also different legs made of carbon fiber, silicon and curved wood.