Design for Disability
September 7th, 2009 § 9 Comments
One of my favorite new online discoveries is Design Observer. A print journal recently turned online only, Design Observer features great articles and essays on a wide range of design topics. The best part it is how well-written it is. These days when all you get are short snippets and top 10 lists and 140 character limits, Design Observer has lengthy essays with substance that actually make you think.
Last week, they published an essay by Chappell Ellison, a winner of an Education Award in the 2009 AIGA Winterhouse Awards for Design Writing and Criticism. This essay, entitled Compulsion: Where Object Meets Anxiety is probably one of the more insightful and touching things I’ve read online in a long time. In it, Ellison talks about her older brother who has a severe form of OCD, and his difficult interactions with everyday objects that are supposedly designed to make our lives easier. At the end, she briefly mentions ideas of Universal Design and the possibilities of designing for someone with OCD. Although I really enjoyed reading her stories about her brother’s experiences, I wish that she would have spent more time on the issue of designing for disabilities. Ellison mentioned the iPhone as an inadvertent example of an object that may be helpful to people with OCD – with a smooth screen, you don’t need to worry about dirt that gets stuck in button crevices.
What I find most interesting about this is it makes me think about the issue of design vs. technology. It’s a fuzzy line between the two these days, ie like with most Apple products. But after reading this essay, I wanted to see what kinds of objects or things have been made specifically for people with disabilities. After awhile, I realized that many of the most interesting products I found were still conceptual and had yet to be invented. And most of the time, it seemed to be an issue of technology. Here are some of my favorite finds, all conceptual devices:
self explanatory – ballet shoes that vibrate for deaf dancers
a mug for blind people that rings when it’s full
the Voice Stick – it scans documents and read them to you
not really for people with a disability – a pill organizer and container for old people that reminds you when to take your medicine, but also self locks so you don’t overdose
(via Tuvie)
Some of these just seem so obvious – like the ringing cup – that you wonder why they haven’t been invented yet.
This reminded me of another blog that I love – Roger Ebert’s Journal. Hands down, this is my favorite blog. One day I will write another entry solely dedicated to how much I love it. Anyway, I only recently discovered this, but after battling thyroid cancer, Mr. Ebert is unable to speak anymore. I was actually shocked when I read this on wikipedia, because his writing has SO much voice that I guess it just seemed so tragically ironic he couldn’t talk anymore. In one of his many great blog posts, Finding my Own Voice, he writes about his experiences using the voices on his Mac to communicate with people. He mentions how, with all the hundreds of videos, recordings, lectures, and DVD commentaries he’s done, you think someone would be able to create a computerized version of his voice. But alas, though it sounds so simple an idea, the technology to do it is still lacking.
After all this, my point is that although yes, some things just still need to be invented, technology is not the end-all. Design by itself can still play a huge role in helping people. (The same can be said for sustainable buildings – people have been making ‘green’ buildings long before solar panels were invented ie the cliff dwellers in Mesa Verde.) What better place to find examples of this than in architecture?
This is the Hazelwood School for the Sensory Impaired in Glasgow, designed by gm + ad architects in 2004. Not only does the serpentine layout follow the natural contours of the site, but it provides a clear route through the school in a linear progression and allows for easy access to the outside from the classrooms.
Instead of hand railings, there is a cork-lined sensory folded wall that leads people through the school. The architects carefully chose various materials for inside and outside the building that would be warm to the touch. Clerestory windows provide diffuse natural light and prevent glare that would hurt students’ eyes. (images via Arch. Record)
Another example from somewhere closer to home is the Anchor Center for Blind Children in Denver, by Davis Partnership. I love these images – it’s like a mini Ronchamp with color.
(via Sources+Design)
I think these are both great examples of how design that isn’t technology-dependent can positively influence people’s lives. Ahhh, and isn’t that what good architecture is all about? Of course I still hope that one day some smart person can create a computer voice for Roger Ebert.
As an ending note, one area I find extremely lacking in good case studies is (affordable) senior living centers (and assisted living, and hospices). These are becoming more and more important, but so many of the affordable ones look like institutions and hospitals. Perkins Eastman has done a lot of good work in this field, but most of the projects look like they’re for rich people. If anyone has found any examples of well-designed senior/assisted living centers, please let me know! One day when I become a starchitect and have my own firm, I would love to design these types of buildings.
Very cool stuff. I especially love the cork walls in the Hazelwood school. What a great and appropriate idea to have pleasant things to touch throughout the building. We design so many buildings and items to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye; why not make them aesthetically pleasing to the sight impaired as well?
Thanks for adding the link to my blog on your site! It will put the fire on me to keep updating.
thanks for the link on yours!
i think you’re one of two people that reads this, so thanks for the comments too :)
Dear Catherine,
I think what you have put here is indeed amazing. This not only address the need of the diversity among us but also usable by all. Such specialised designs at times are so handy but difficult to find where they are needed. Thank for compiling and putting it here.
I am an Access Consultant and constantly look out for designs that provides options to variety of users regardless of their abilities.
Please keep me informed of your “keen observations”
regards
Subhash, India
Hi Subhash,
Thanks for your comments…I only wish I could find more examples out there, then it would mean more people were addressing such issues.
good luck with your work
Just want to thank you for the kind words about my essay. Sometimes the harder it is to write something, the more you need to get it out for others to read.
And you’re right, I wish I had talked more about the future of universal design, but I knew it would become a whole other essay. I’m hoping I’ll be able to expand and add another chapter.
You wrote a great entry here, and I think it’s truly a topic that deserves more attention.
Dear Chappell,
Your essay was so beautifully written and touching – thank you for writing it!
And I hope you do get a chance write more about this. I’m looking forward to reading it when you do!
I actually found it pretty hard to find a lot of information on this topic online. That just shows how much more it needs to be talked about.
When you become a starchitect and have the chance to design nursing homes and assisted living centers, please take into account residents’ needs/desires to see and/or have access to the outdoors.
My parents, who both died this past year, were in assisted living for a couple of years and spent their last days in the nursing home section of the same facility–my father in the dementia unit. Oddly, he had better access to the outdoors than my mother did, as that unit was on the ground floor and had its own access to a small garden area.
For most, however, getting outside was a challenge, and neither the design of the building nor institutional policies helped. It struck me as odd that providing for such opportunities hadn’t been taken into account in designing the building and planning activities for the residents.
I understand that there are safety issues and so on, but it was so refreshing and enlivening for them to be out. And, in this instance, the facility was in a medium-size city in a predominantly rural state. Many of the residents came from farm communities and had lived under the rule of weather all their lives. Furthermore, it was relatively new, and there was lots of space around it, so there really was no excuse.
Good luck to you. The field certainly needs more people w/ imagination.
Jolene,
Thanks for your comments…I completely agree that it makes a huge difference if people have access to the outdoors! Or natural sunlight for that matter.
There’s a cancer hospital in Houston where they have a giant atrium in the center. There’s tons of natural light, and all these plants and trees inside. The gift shop and food stands are made to look like little stores. They call it The Park. It’s not the same as actually being outside, but I think it still is amazing.
I’m still forever plus a day away from being a starchitect, but if it ever happens, I really do hope I’ll be able to design assisted living centers and hospitals. They’ll only become more and more important, and, maybe I’m naive but, why should all the rich young people get all the good architecture?
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