Richard and Thomas Ellenson

Tango is a communication device that was designed by Richard and Thomas Ellenson

The Tango’s small, lightweight size and innovative look means there are no physical barriers between communicators. Instead, the design lets people devote their attention to the message being shared, rather than the speech device being used to share it. The six-button layout of the Tango means faster communication with fewer distractions. The structure speeds up the selection process, helping you quickly say just what you want to – the way you want to – in no time. Tango’s symbols were developed by animation illustrators from the education and entertainment industry, making them especially appealing to children and young adults.

Surround Sound Eyewear

Surround Sound Eyewear designed by Industrial Facility for RNID

Regardless of sight capabilities, glasses have become as popular as watches, having been absorbed into accessorized culture, so it is conceivable that someone who is hard of hearing but with perfect eyesight would prefer to wear glasses, even though the lenses prescriptive benefits are not involved.  However, this project was not simply thought of as a way to overcome aesthetic stigmas.  Technologically, the product followed the experiments of Professor Marinus Boone of Delft University and his notion of superdirective beamforming as the basis for a highly directional hearing aid.  By involving a set of four microphones on both side-armatures, it increased hearing capability dramatically and gave much better speech intelligibility than conventional hearing aids.  The result was a type of 3 dimensional hearing, similar to that found in certain animals such as coyotes. 

Hearing glasses have existed before.  But they disappeared primarily because of the combination of two functions that were articulated in an awkward, incohesive and problematic manner.  Instead, Surround Sound Eyewear made an attempt to create a more holistic object not intended to hide the hearing aid, but to incorporate it with Professor Boone’s superdirectivity concept. 

Fashion Meets Discretion

discretion 

The priority for design for disability has traditionally been to enable, while attracting as little attention as possible.  Medical-looking devices are molded from pink plastic in an attempt to camouflage them against the skin.  The approach has been less about projecting a positive image than about trying not to project an image at all.

But is there a danger that this might send out a signal that disability is after all something to be ashamed of?  If discretion were to be challenged as a priority, what would take its place? Invisibility is relatively easy to define, and may even be achieved through technical and clinical innovation alone, but it is more difficult to define a positive image purely from these perspectives.

fashion

Fashion, on the other hang, might be seen as being largely concerned with creating and projecting an image: making the wearer look good to others and feel better about themselves.

Eyewear is one market in which fashion and disability overlap.  On the rare occasions that the words design and disability are mentioned in the same breath, glasses are often referred to as the exemplar of a product that addresses a disability, yet with little or no social stigma attached.  This positive image for disability has been achieved without invisibility.

tension

Fashion and discretion are not opposites.  There may be tension between these qualities because they cannot both be the absolute priority.  There are also deep cultural tensions between the two design communities.  Fashion, with its apparent preoccupation with an idealized human form is seen as having little to say about diversity and disability.  The extremes and sensationalism of cutting edge fashion can seem inappropriate in the context of disability, where discretion is seen as being so important.

But learning from fashion might require embracing not only its design qualities but also more of its values.  Fashion does not just arise from a particular set of skills but creates and requires a culture.  The mechanism through which fashion design evolves, whether through haute couture or street fashion, creates extreme designs that can provoke negative as well as positive reactions in different audiences.  It may not be possible to have one without the other, to have the results without the culture and the values.

Pullin, Graham.  “Design Meets Disability.” Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 2011, 15-16. 

Charles and Ray Eames

an original leg splint alongside a sculpture by Ray Eames

nurturing healthy tensions

The journey from leg splints to mainstream furniture was not a direct path.  Ray Eames began by making sculptures out of spare leg splints, cutting into them with a jigsaw.  She was exploring the visual languages that this new material could support, which was a natural mode of inquiry for an art school graduate - apparently playful, but with serious intent.  Within the Eameses' work, two cultures existed side by side, in a healthy tension: the first directly solving problems and respecting constraints, and the second more open-mindedly, even playfully challenging these constraints and exploring further freedoms beyond them.  The plywood furniture arose from both sides, from the splints and the sculptures.

Within design for disability, where teams still tend to come exclusively from clinical and engineering backgrounds, the dominant culture is one of solving problems.  A richer balance between problem solving and more playful exploration could open up new valuable directions. 

Pullin, Graham.  “Design Meets Disability.” Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 2011, Introduction.

Redesigning the Prosthetic Arm

During the fall semester of 2009, 21 students embarked on a journey to conduct design work around upper limb prosthetics. Through readings, research, and an incredible group of guest critics including Aimee Mullins, Jon Kuniholm, Frank Wilson and Elliot Washor, the students attempted to put a dent in what may arguably be one of the most daunting design challenges imaginable—to design a better prosthetic arm.

The students took different approaches to the problem: some attacked it directly with mechanical improvements to existing prosthetics. Others offered devices and garments that introduced alternative modalities or provided new functionality. Some students took a more abstract approach, creating formal, often sculptural, gestures as a way to help us think about the notion of ‘prosthetic,’ while others took an extremely conceptual approach to investigating the paradigms and cultures around prosthetics and amputees.

Many of the projects were targeted at kids, arguing that there may be wider leeway in what would be deemed acceptable to the user. Some of these push the definitions of function, providing devices that are playful and life-affirming. The more sobering investigations in the group try to address the realities of arm amputees—as much as is possible by designers with both limbs.

Throughout the 10 weeks, the design project was humbling, daunting, and thrilling in its ability to demonstrate the power of design, and the potential for design thinking and creativity to impact this long-neglected problem. I hope that looking through these projects, you will feel their power and imagination, and use it to fuel your own paths to celebrating the lives of people, whatever their abilities.

-- Allan Chochinov [The Prosthetic Project]

Soft Clothing

Many children are extra-sensitive to the texture and feel of clothing. Soft® is the first line of inclusive clothing designed with the needs of all children in mind, including those with Autism, Sensory Processing Disorder, ADHD, and tactile defensiveness/sensitivity. We use flat seaming and seamless construction for extra comfort, 100% of the softest combed cotton and our specially developed Soft Sensory Blends , wide collars, encased elastic waistbands, printed labels (tagless), custom fits, and much more.