Design Meets Disability

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Bodywear

In many ways a more challenging area of design for disability is prosthetic limbs. But prosthetic limbs are extensions of the body, not distinct products to be picked up and put down, and as such their design is more sensitive. In some ways it is the body itself that is being redesigned.

Given a challenge of this sensitivity, it is surprising to find that a role for any designer other than design engineers is not even widely acknowledged within prosthetics. A recent contract issued by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop a prosthetic arm made no mention of anything needing to be designed, other than a human form and capabilities being achieved. Correspondingly, the call for proposals demanded an impressive multidisciplinary team of engineers, technologists, and clinicians, but made no mention of designers, let alone sculptors.

Legwear

A striking image of a different attitude to prosthetics is that of the athlete, model, and actress Aimee Mullins (see “Prosthetic Power,” p. 54), who is famous in part for her carbon fiber running legs and her ornately carved wooden legs.

Mullins has become an icon of the capable and glamorous disabled person, yet she is clear herself that the best thing she can do for people with disabilities is not to be thought of as a person with a disability.

The unashamed artificiality of Mullins’ prostheses is still controversial. Their abstract elegance challenges the duality that has existed for so long between aesthetics and functionality. Conventional wisdom is that prostheses should be made either for appearance, so-called cosmetic limbs that are an accurate copy of the human body, or for optimized functionality above all other considerations, as are tools. But Mullins’ legs show this to be too simplistic. They have a beauty of their own, not just as objects, but also in relation to her body and posture. Many attributes of even a functional prosthesis affect the image its wearer will project—implications that may not even be treated as conscious design decisions. But they could be, and designers could play a valuable role.

Armwear

Prosthetic hands are even more intimate than prosthetic legs, yet again it seems that there are only two common approaches, realism and functionalism. In the realistic approach, materials are chosen for their ability to visually represent human skin: PVC plastic and silicone in shades of pink and brown with molded wrinkles, nails, and sometimes even veins. But the static visual appearance is only one aspect of the aesthetics of any object. Some amputees have spoken of not liking the feel of their hand. They, like anyone, unconsciously cradle one hand in the other, yet the materials are rubbery and clammy. Some amputees even complain that their prosthesis smells unpleasant.

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