My first takeaway is the importance of design for disability support. Prior to the reading, I was not aware that glasses were used as medical prescriptions not long ago (in the 1960s and 1970s), people were stigmatized for the medical model (they were considered to “cause social humiliation”) and that there was a transition to eyeglasses becoming more stylish with new, fashionable glasses. The irony that striking fashion frames are less stigmatizing than pink plastic glasses strikes me. So I thought that what is more visible (such as the striking fashion frame) can be more positively received than what is intended to be visible (pink plastic glasses). But my thought is not fully correct – glasses’ acceptability does not come from directly from its degree of brightness, for its brightness can be to the distaste of certain consumers. Instead of making things more “visible,” I see that the author tries to bring forward the importance of designers in the making of disability support devices. In the design of prosthetic limbs, design engineers are not demanded in a multidisciplinary team of engineers, clinicians, etc. Yet, I see so much potential through the hearing aid designed by Ross LoveGrove for RNID, called The Beauty of Inner Space. Since design can project negative connotation (such as invisibility to project a sense of shame of something to be hidden) or positive connotation, we need designers for people with disabilities to feel more comfortable. With more comfort, it is easier to “wear” than to “use” – also words I took note of with interest – as the former means more closeness to oneself than the latter.
My second takeaway is the importance of design in general, not just for disability. Steve Jobs words about design being not just “what it looks like and feels like” but “how it works” suggest that design is essential, significant and should not be downplayed! It makes sense because of the example of how the design choice of only two options for the iPod shuffle then allows the user to select either playing tracks in the order they were downloaded or in a random order. Two good principles I wish to remember for design in the future are: one, to consider and pursue great cohesion in design between the parts and the whole; two, creating a more accessible design and using simplicity to achieve this.