How is designingfor disability beneficial for the wider population?
Disabilities are impairments of the body’s function caused by a deterioration of health and communication, without which everyday parts would be more difficult. Disabilities can come in many forms involving many people; therefore, designing for disability is taught to students to help benefit the user experience of those people with disability. This benefits the user experience because it becomes available to a broader population. This can be seen within mainstream designs where assistive technology is needed to be added to make the design more accessible for the enabled and the disabled. Designing for disability has been a way of producing and converting the old into the new, especially when helping and aiding the disabled to do everyday activities regarding the function and form of the products made. This brings the question of designing for disability, which becomes beneficial for the wider population. If planning for disabilities enables the people, then the production of tools and objects allows for more sales to be driven at lower prices, and more people would be buying, making it mass-produced. However, trying to make the products worthwhile will lessen the purpose of the product’s actual needs in the first place.
[1]Shin & Tomoko Azumi
1995
Beech, beech-veneered wood
67.5*39.3*40cm
Because disabled people possess physical attributes different from those of a ‘normal’ human being, designing furniture plays a significant role in developing disabilities. Tomoko Azumi designed ‘Table=Chest,’ which, as the name indicates, quickly transforms between a chest piece of furniture and a table piece of furniture. This is to benefit the disabled. Designing is beneficial to society and not just to those in need, as Azumi was inspired by Sandra Marshall, a woman with achondroplasia. Marshall said, [2]‘the world isn’t made for someone like me.’ Thus, creating is beneficial to the person in need and the rest of society in general. A statement piece of furniture, the Table=Chest, can be manipulated to fit people of a shorter height by varying the height. As a result of its minimalist design and size, this would benefit a broader population.
Designing for disability means that the users have complete control and opportunities to complete their actions, whether they sit down or move using a walking aid. This can be evident within the design of a wheelchair. Wheelchairs were developed and improved throughout the centuries. One of the first records of a wheelchair was when wheels were added to chairs which helped develop further into the commonly known wheelbarrow. A wheelbarrow was an early mode of transport for patients and the disabled during World War 2. This was when the wheelchair started to have connotations with a hospital and to have ‘chrome, tubular steel’ wheels which made the experience of using the wheelchair unsettling. After some time, the invention of bicycles benefitted the design of wheelchairs, so the wheels were changed from wooden spokes to iron spokes; in the late 1800s, hollow tires were added, allowing for smoother transportation. Later in the 1900s, the horsepower engines were added to some wheelchairs to make them motorized; therefore, the more fortunate of the disabled could afford them. Wheelchairs are used in many forms, mainly to transport a person with fewer physical needs back and forth from one place to another place. They were limiting the number of people owning motorized wheelchairs. Having designs that are more suitable for individuals with disabilities would allow access to various terrains, such as the beach and the forest, where those with the capability can enjoy. This is not beneficial for those in the broader population because of its sole purpose of aiding those with fewer bodily functions and impairments than what could be considered the norm. However, before 1995, there was a downside to owning a wheelchair due to the building’s access and surrounding areas due to the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995. This then changed how architecture had to be designed by adding ramps and handrails to make sure that it was accessible for those who were in wheelchairs and those who had difficulty walking upstairs.
Bibliography:
Pullin, G., 2011. Design meets disability. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, p.189.
Roy, Elise. “When We Design For Disability, We All Benefit.” Ted.Com, 2022, https://www.ted.com/talks/elise_roy_when_we_design_for_disability_we_all_benefit?.
Designing tools for those who need them due to impairments and the fewer physical needs allows the user to experience a much more natural use and perform everyday tasks. Those with arthritis must deal with inflammation of the joints and build-up surrounding the joints, making it harder for the task to be performed with ease and without pain. Arthritis is a condition where any part of the body can be affected, decreasing the strength and mobility of each joint affected; flexibility is also affected depending on where the arthritis is occurring in that person’s body. Designing for users with arthritis means that the producers must create fewer movements within the joints and the struggles that will arrive when using that product. Therefore, designing for that sense of disability must enable the production of everyday tools to be adapted and changed from the general design to ones that suit the person’s needs. This suggests that producing a tool that will work with someone who has arthritis will benefit the broader population due to the advanced research that will make the task at hand performed smoother.
One tool that has been designed for people with arthritis is the “OXO Potato Peeler” (Elise Roy), in the beginning, the peeler was designed for those with arthritis, but as it spread through society, it found its way into everyone’s hands, benefiting everyone. The peeler was designed for those with arthritis. However, as it was produced and put into our society, there was no stopping it from becoming a universal tool. “When we design for disability first, you often stumble upon better solutions than those when we design for the norm.” (Elise Roy)
[1]https://www.artsy.net/artwork/shin-and-tomoko-azumi-folding-table-equals-chest
[2]Pullin, G., 2011. Design meets disability. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, p.187.
[3]https://www.nhs.uk/