As technologies rapidly develop in our world, more and more disabilities can be treated to help each disabled person live a normal life without limitations. However, those technologies are often treated by disabled people as “embarrassing” because they explicitly state the disability and show it to society. Disabled people are often treated differently in society. They are treated as “sick” people and are often shown compassion and willingness to help, which is good and ethically right, but some of them do not wish to be treated that way. Some of them do not want to be pitied. This is exactly why I found “Design meets disability” a very interesting reading and enjoyed looking at the author’s perspective on this matter. I really liked the description of how glasses transformed into a stylish accessory from the plain medical device. It is a quite remarkable achievement – transformation into the essential object of fashion, and of course, for other devices created for people with disabilities it would be ideal to do the same. However, I think that it is still hard to achieve.
First of all, the glasses is a small object that can does not substitute the human body but rather complements it. This is why it can be called an accessory – it is something people add on as an extra element of their outfit. Sunglasses, for example, are worn even by people who have a perfect vision, simply because to looks good on them. The optimal goal for other devices should be exactly the same – to look more as a complementary object and less as an artificial substitute. The scientific progress pushes forward this idea, and the artificial arms and legs are now looking more and more “human”, which positively contributes to the perception by other people. Yes, the idea of embracing these artificial devices by plugging them into the fashion described by author (e.g. Aimee Mullins) contributes positively as well, but I believe that this is a temporary step to treat people with disabilities equally and decrease their level of feeling uncomfortable in the society rather than the ideal solution. The ideal solution would be to build the artificial arm to look the same as the normal arm. Giving an example, let’s refer to the Star Wars movies:
The first prosthesis belongs to Luke Skywalker and reflects the technological advancements for the period between the prequel movies and the original trilogy. The second prosthesis belongs to Luke’s father, Anakin Skywalker. Obviously, the first looks much better than the second one. (By the way, Anakin wore the glove to cover his mechanical arm).
Overall, the technological inventions in the field of protheses are very important to make the people with disabilities all around the world feel included and equal to other members of society. As of now, while we are waiting for future advancements, it is a great idea to try to use them as elements of fashion just like the author suggested.