Ghost Wheelchair II, K. Wasserman, 2011.

Ghost Wheelchair II, K. Wasserman, 2011.

Rethinking Disability & Design

“Ghost Wheel Chair” - K. Wasserman, 2011. 

I’ve been obsessing lately over design’s ability to restructure how we see disability. The view most accepted by disability theorists and activists defines disability as a purely social category.  The common medical understanding of disability, in contrast, can only create a very negative and restrictive view—one which supports that a disabled individual has a bodily defect that must be cured or eliminated in order for them to achieve full capacity and personhood.

It is important to remember that homosexuality and being female or black were considered disabilities up to the late 60s in the US. These groups have thankfully had their revolutions, however, those still stuck in the category by force or choice (to receive benefits) have become compounded and further enveloped by stigma as others have escaped it.  A source of this stigma is associated with how the disabled individual appears - whether they have a unique body, behavior, or assistive technology. 

In essence, I believe the medicalized look of these technologies or prosthetics is limiting social understanding and the disabled individual’s ability to feel and know their self worth. As a project, I  altered the presently trendy “Ghost Chair” into a wheelchair.  Although this model is not the most practical looking, I think it makes a statement and proclaims a hope that disability can possibly not exist if designers can critically create assistive devices that are not only cool, but functional. Eye glasses were once heavily discriminated against due to their previous medical look. Now they have become something we not only use to assist, but also, to express our selves.

(Read Graham Pullin’s “Disability Meets Design” if you’re interested in this topic.)

2011. 

2011. 

2011.

2011.

Tropic of Cancer, 2011.

Tropic of Cancer, 2011.

2011.

2011.

Limb(less), version II. 2011.

Limb(less), version II. 2011.

Limb(less), 2011.

Limb(less), 2011.

Cage. Berlin, May, 2011.  As a media and communications major, the issue of time has been a central theme in my studies. No matter the mode of the message, the development of communications has always aimed to decrease the physical and logistical restrictions created by this boundary.  My concentration in technology has only heightened my interest in this natural human obsession for instantaneous and seamless communication.  Ironically, what we strive for, “pure communication”, can only be achieved through face-to-face contact, yet our methods of recreating this technologically only prove to erode the value we have historically or personally placed on time.   My piece explores this human desire to manipulate time and therefore also, the subsequent distortion of its value.  Namely, I want to highlight the notion that the more we aim to control time, the more its preciousness decreases. Logically this also means that any loss of control of time, increases its value. Human obsessions that transcend time and aim to control it, like immortality, time travel, or technological development for example, create new perceptions that support a devaluation of time and therefore, in a way, life.  Conversely, things which we cannot control, such as biological time (aging, death, or disease), or cultural values of time, uphold life through their restraining qualities.  

Cage. Berlin, May, 2011. 

As a media and communications major, the issue of time has been a central theme in my studies. No matter the mode of the message, the development of communications has always aimed to decrease the physical and logistical restrictions created by this boundary.  My concentration in technology has only heightened my interest in this natural human obsession for instantaneous and seamless communication.  Ironically, what we strive for, “pure communication”, can only be achieved through face-to-face contact, yet our methods of recreating this technologically only prove to erode the value we have historically or personally placed on time.  

My piece explores this human desire to manipulate time and therefore also, the subsequent distortion of its value.  Namely, I want to highlight the notion that the more we aim to control time, the more its preciousness decreases. Logically this also means that any loss of control of time, increases its value. Human obsessions that transcend time and aim to control it, like immortality, time travel, or technological development for example, create new perceptions that support a devaluation of time and therefore, in a way, life.  Conversely, things which we cannot control, such as biological time (aging, death, or disease), or cultural values of time, uphold life through their restraining qualities.  

Shoe, 2009.

Shoe, 2009.

My first attempt at chair design. It’s a start I suppose. 

My first attempt at chair design. It’s a start I suppose. 

Auf Wiedersehen Berlin.

I’m in London, en route to New York, and can’t believe my adventure is coming to a close. Oddly, this feeling of strangeness and uncertainty is much greater than when I was sitting in Heathrow just four short months ago. I’m ready to see my family and friends, to start my new internship, to return to school, however, do not feel ready to leave my new home. Out of any city in the world (coming from my travels and experience living in SF and NY), I really believe Berlin provides the best quality of life out of anywhere I’ve been. Come graduation, who knows, maybe I’ll make my way back for a few years. 

beautiful-soup

horrorandglamour: Photo taken at MOCA, Los Angeles.

horrorandglamour:

Photo taken at MOCA, Los Angeles.

horrorandglamour

Sad Fuzz - Ty Segall

This album is SO GOOD. I’m convinced Ty is a forgotten punk rock love child of John Lennon.