Hasta La Ideas

Even the sighted often suffer from a sort of blindness. When another human being walks into their visual field with an “impairment,” the immediate reaction is frequently either to stare or to look away. Whether witnessing genetic, geriatric or accidental injuries, healthy people have an aversion to being reminded just how fragile their bodies are. Consequently, a book called Design Meets Disability isn’t the first thing that a “fashionable” designer might pick up off the shelf no matter how sexy amputee/paraplegic Aimee Mullins happens to be, nor how gorgeous Cutler and Gross’s eyewear advertisements appear … and that, um, short-sightedness is rather unfortunate. Although it was released a while ago, Pullin’s book is worth a look.

The design press is finally beginning to realize the importance of the design brief, and how critical it is in an era of manufacturing freedom to have constraints. However important the constraints required for the latest gadget seem to be, they pale in comparison with the criticality of details like fit and comfort in prostheses or function and ease of use in communication tools for individuals with cerebral palsy. What ties together these projects, along with things like Charles and Ray Eames’ iconic bentwood leg splint from WWII is a sense of urgency. Users don’t simply need these solutions, they need them yesterday. Fortunately, old aphorisms about progress during wartime happen to be true, and just as the Eames bentwood splint evolved into some of the most beautifully simple chairs ever built, so too has the evolution of hearing aids presaged earbud headsets. We can only imagine what influence the latest innovations in prosthesis may have on human work or transportation in the future. In Design Meets Disability, Graham Pullin applies a lens to a field where most of us look away.

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