This week’s reading stayed with me more than any other. It made me think about how disability is usually approached through design, not with pride, but with silence. So many assistive devices are made to blend in, to be as invisible as possible. But what if visibility is the point? What if difference is not something to hide? This prosthetic eye with a small butterfly detail says more than a thousand clean, neutral medical devices ever could. It does not pretend to be a real eye. It says, I am here. I am not hiding.
This prosthetic eye doesn’t try to hide. It turns a medical object into a moment of expression.
That reminded me of how often people are taught to minimize themselves. To shrink into what is considered normal. Even in design school, we are often told to prioritize simplicity and universality, which sometimes ends up erasing complexity and identity. The reading showed how glasses once carried shame, but now they are fashion. We pick them in colors, shapes, and moods. That change happened because someone dared to design with beauty in mind, not because they tried to make glasses disappear.
The part about Aimee Mullins was especially striking. She does not just wear prosthetic legs. She expresses herself through them. Some are made of carved wood. Some are translucent. Some are bold and sculptural. They are not about fitting in. They are about standing in her truth. That made me wonder why assistive design is still expected to be beige, flat, and purely functional. Why do we still act like blending in is better than standing out?
This reading helped me realize something personal. I have spent so much time trying to design things that are clean, minimal, and safe. But rarely have I asked myself if they help someone feel more like themselves. That is the kind of work I want to make going forward. Not just design that works, but design that empowers. Not just access, but expression.
Owning yourself is powerful. It means showing up as you are, even when the world wants you to stay small. And design should not be about helping people disappear. It should be about helping them be seen.