Design Meets Disability
The first thing I thought of when reading the text is when Chinese jewelry brand YVMIN designed prosthetics for the Chinese model Xiao Yang. They were honestly like no other prosthetic I had ever seen attached below are only some of the designs:
This text coupled with my memory of the model made me think about how inclusivity, design, and functionality should be combined in a product. A lot of the times people with disabilities face problems with self-esteem and self-image, so incorporating incredible designs to me feels like an important aspect of building any product. Especially when looking at how glasses are seen as fashionable items; I even remember hearing people tell me about how they would fake not being able to read letters at the doctor’s office to get glasses.
Nonetheless, I feel that a product without all three elements is incomplete. A lot of the times you see certain elements incorporated into a product for the sake of aesthetics that just end up making using the product much more difficult. Or sometimes the design just looks ugly altogether.
This reading was really eye-opening and made me reflect on how I should incorporate all three elements into my designs to make them most effiicient and accessible.
Also yes I forgot to mention, including fashion with products made for disabilities is brilliant whether its in glasses, hearing aids, prosthetics, or bionics.