Despite the fact that around 1 in 4 people in the UK have a disability, we live in a world designed for people without disabilities. Although accessibility legislation has made design more inclusive over the last decade, there is still a way to go before the utopian ideal of ‘universal design’ is significantly realised across both the public and private sectors. Design and Disability at the V&A is a call to action not just for accessibility but for disabled-led design. Celebrating the radical contributions of Disabled, Deaf, and neurodivergent people to contemporary design culture since the 1940s.
The exhibition itself is an example of inclusive design, serving as a model for best practices in museum accessibility. It begins with a rest space for visitors to orient themselves and address access needs, offering additional seating and self-regulation areas. The exhibition has been configured following Deaf Space principles and includes an array of tactile objects, BSL guides, and tactile floor surfaces to help orient blind and low-vision visitors.
The ingenuity and innovation of the disabled community are explored across three sections: Visibility, Tools and Living. Nearly two hundred objects tell the story of inclusive design, encompassing art, architecture, fashion, photography and even handmade objects and zines. The challenge of making a tool or utensil more accessible not only benefits people with health conditions or impairments but often has far-reaching benefits for the entire design world, which assimilates new solutions. An example from the exhibition is the Fingerworks Touchstream Keyboard (2005) by Wayne Westerman. This keyboard, originally designed to alleviate severe hand pain, would go on to revolutionise the tech world when it became the basis for the iPhone touchscreen.
Disabled designers have had to think outside the box to find solutions to facilitate their everyday lives. The Tools section highlights how disabled creatives have adapted and subverted designed objects to suit diverse needs, a process which often involves exploring their own identity. This reclaiming and reimaging of existing objects challenges the conception of disabled people as passive users of design. The reinvention, breaking and adapting of objects is known as ‘hacking’. ‘Hacking’ asks us to rethink what counts as engineering and who is considered a designer. After Cindy Garni suffered a heart attack, she underwent amputations involving all four of her limbs; her ‘hacked’ prosthetics on display, including silicone cutlery holders and eyeliner holders, are simple, clever and ultimately more useful than her expensive robotic hand.
Creative communities and design networks of individuals with disabilities collaborate to create new things, often taking advantage of the power of grassroots and digital communities. This is celebrated in the exhibition through the display of graphic design and typography. For instance, Conor Foran’s graphics for ‘Dysfluent Magazine’ represent people who stammer, taking pride and destigmatising this form of speech. These publications appear alongside examples of how disability has been defined in the mainstream media, including the May 23’ issue of British Vogue ‘Reframing Fashion’, the disability justice special, featuring activist Sinead Burke and Aaron Rose Phillip, as well as examples of adaptive wear from global brands, for example, Adaptive Crocs (2022) and the Nike Adaptive Trainer (2021).
In the Visibility section, the curators illuminate designers at the forefront of inclusive design, including, for instance, designer and activist Sky Cubacub’s sci-fiesque fashion, made for queer and trans disabled people of all sizes and ages offering an explosion of futurist colour to their wardrobe. Their Dragon Scale Head Dress, as well as being a fashion statement, functions as a wearable weighted blanket and can be paired with a matching gender affirming binder.
The exhibition's final section, Living, explores the changes forged by Disabled people. They have changed the designed environment through protest and envisaged the future. Highlighting artistic interventions and solidarity movements such as the Anti-Stairs Club by Finnegan Shannon and Camp Jened, a summer camp for Disabled people in New York that became crucial to the disability rights movement.
Natalie Kane, Curator of Design and Disability, said, “This exhibition shows how Disabled people are the experts in our own lives, and have made invaluable contributions to our designed world. Design and Disability aims to honour Disabled life as it engages with creative practice, presenting a strong culture of making that has always been central to Disabled identity. In putting this show together, it is an act of joy and resistance.”
Both joy and resistance are embodied in one standout design featured in the final section of the exhibition, ‘The Squeeze Chaise Longue’, a red recliner developed by artist Wendy Jacob. She was inspired to create the design as a contrast to pared-back medical aesthetics. Working alongside Temple Grandin, an American academic, animal rights activist, autism self-advocate, and inventor of the 'Hug Machine', she devised the chair, which embraces the sitter between two red mohair arms, providing comforting sensory feedback for those who appreciate deep pressure stimulation.
Despite the fact that around 1 in 4 people in the UK have a disability, we live in a world designed for people without disabilities. Although accessibility legislation has made design more inclusive over the last decade, there is still a way to go before the utopian ideal of ‘universal design’ is significantly realised across both the public and private sectors. Design and Disability at the V&A is a call to action not just for accessibility but for disabled-led design. Celebrating the radical contributions of Disabled, Deaf, and neurodivergent people to contemporary design culture since the 1940s.
The exhibition itself is an example of inclusive design, serving as a model for best practices in museum accessibility. It begins with a rest space for visitors to orient themselves and address access needs, offering additional seating and self-regulation areas. The exhibition has been configured following Deaf Space principles and includes an array of tactile objects, BSL guides, and tactile floor surfaces to help orient blind and low-vision visitors.
The ingenuity and innovation of the disabled community are explored across three sections: Visibility, Tools and Living. Nearly two hundred objects tell the story of inclusive design, encompassing art, architecture, fashion, photography and even handmade objects and zines. The challenge of making a tool or utensil more accessible not only benefits people with health conditions or impairments but often has far-reaching benefits for the entire design world, which assimilates new solutions. An example from the exhibition is the Fingerworks Touchstream Keyboard (2005) by Wayne Westerman. This keyboard, originally designed to alleviate severe hand pain, would go on to revolutionise the tech world when it became the basis for the iPhone touchscreen.
Disabled designers have had to think outside the box to find solutions to facilitate their everyday lives. The Tools section highlights how disabled creatives have adapted and subverted designed objects to suit diverse needs, a process which often involves exploring their own identity. This reclaiming and reimaging of existing objects challenges the conception of disabled people as passive users of design. The reinvention, breaking and adapting of objects is known as ‘hacking’. ‘Hacking’ asks us to rethink what counts as engineering and who is considered a designer. After Cindy Garni suffered a heart attack, she underwent amputations involving all four of her limbs; her ‘hacked’ prosthetics on display, including silicone cutlery holders and eyeliner holders, are simple, clever and ultimately more useful than her expensive robotic hand.
Creative communities and design networks of individuals with disabilities collaborate to create new things, often taking advantage of the power of grassroots and digital communities. This is celebrated in the exhibition through the display of graphic design and typography. For instance, Conor Foran’s graphics for ‘Dysfluent Magazine’ represent people who stammer, taking pride and destigmatising this form of speech. These publications appear alongside examples of how disability has been defined in the mainstream media, including the May 23’ issue of British Vogue ‘Reframing Fashion’, the disability justice special, featuring activist Sinead Burke and Aaron Rose Phillip, as well as examples of adaptive wear from global brands, for example, Adaptive Crocs (2022) and the Nike Adaptive Trainer (2021).
In the Visibility section, the curators illuminate designers at the forefront of inclusive design, including, for instance, designer and activist Sky Cubacub’s sci-fiesque fashion, made for queer and trans disabled people of all sizes and ages offering an explosion of futurist colour to their wardrobe. Their Dragon Scale Head Dress, as well as being a fashion statement, functions as a wearable weighted blanket and can be paired with a matching gender affirming binder.
The exhibition's final section, Living, explores the changes forged by Disabled people. They have changed the designed environment through protest and envisaged the future. Highlighting artistic interventions and solidarity movements such as the Anti-Stairs Club by Finnegan Shannon and Camp Jened, a summer camp for Disabled people in New York that became crucial to the disability rights movement.
Natalie Kane, Curator of Design and Disability, said, “This exhibition shows how Disabled people are the experts in our own lives, and have made invaluable contributions to our designed world. Design and Disability aims to honour Disabled life as it engages with creative practice, presenting a strong culture of making that has always been central to Disabled identity. In putting this show together, it is an act of joy and resistance.”
Both joy and resistance are embodied in one standout design featured in the final section of the exhibition, ‘The Squeeze Chaise Longue’, a red recliner developed by artist Wendy Jacob. She was inspired to create the design as a contrast to pared-back medical aesthetics. Working alongside Temple Grandin, an American academic, animal rights activist, autism self-advocate, and inventor of the 'Hug Machine', she devised the chair, which embraces the sitter between two red mohair arms, providing comforting sensory feedback for those who appreciate deep pressure stimulation.
Despite the fact that around 1 in 4 people in the UK have a disability, we live in a world designed for people without disabilities. Although accessibility legislation has made design more inclusive over the last decade, there is still a way to go before the utopian ideal of ‘universal design’ is significantly realised across both the public and private sectors. Design and Disability at the V&A is a call to action not just for accessibility but for disabled-led design. Celebrating the radical contributions of Disabled, Deaf, and neurodivergent people to contemporary design culture since the 1940s.
The exhibition itself is an example of inclusive design, serving as a model for best practices in museum accessibility. It begins with a rest space for visitors to orient themselves and address access needs, offering additional seating and self-regulation areas. The exhibition has been configured following Deaf Space principles and includes an array of tactile objects, BSL guides, and tactile floor surfaces to help orient blind and low-vision visitors.
The ingenuity and innovation of the disabled community are explored across three sections: Visibility, Tools and Living. Nearly two hundred objects tell the story of inclusive design, encompassing art, architecture, fashion, photography and even handmade objects and zines. The challenge of making a tool or utensil more accessible not only benefits people with health conditions or impairments but often has far-reaching benefits for the entire design world, which assimilates new solutions. An example from the exhibition is the Fingerworks Touchstream Keyboard (2005) by Wayne Westerman. This keyboard, originally designed to alleviate severe hand pain, would go on to revolutionise the tech world when it became the basis for the iPhone touchscreen.
Disabled designers have had to think outside the box to find solutions to facilitate their everyday lives. The Tools section highlights how disabled creatives have adapted and subverted designed objects to suit diverse needs, a process which often involves exploring their own identity. This reclaiming and reimaging of existing objects challenges the conception of disabled people as passive users of design. The reinvention, breaking and adapting of objects is known as ‘hacking’. ‘Hacking’ asks us to rethink what counts as engineering and who is considered a designer. After Cindy Garni suffered a heart attack, she underwent amputations involving all four of her limbs; her ‘hacked’ prosthetics on display, including silicone cutlery holders and eyeliner holders, are simple, clever and ultimately more useful than her expensive robotic hand.
Creative communities and design networks of individuals with disabilities collaborate to create new things, often taking advantage of the power of grassroots and digital communities. This is celebrated in the exhibition through the display of graphic design and typography. For instance, Conor Foran’s graphics for ‘Dysfluent Magazine’ represent people who stammer, taking pride and destigmatising this form of speech. These publications appear alongside examples of how disability has been defined in the mainstream media, including the May 23’ issue of British Vogue ‘Reframing Fashion’, the disability justice special, featuring activist Sinead Burke and Aaron Rose Phillip, as well as examples of adaptive wear from global brands, for example, Adaptive Crocs (2022) and the Nike Adaptive Trainer (2021).
In the Visibility section, the curators illuminate designers at the forefront of inclusive design, including, for instance, designer and activist Sky Cubacub’s sci-fiesque fashion, made for queer and trans disabled people of all sizes and ages offering an explosion of futurist colour to their wardrobe. Their Dragon Scale Head Dress, as well as being a fashion statement, functions as a wearable weighted blanket and can be paired with a matching gender affirming binder.
The exhibition's final section, Living, explores the changes forged by Disabled people. They have changed the designed environment through protest and envisaged the future. Highlighting artistic interventions and solidarity movements such as the Anti-Stairs Club by Finnegan Shannon and Camp Jened, a summer camp for Disabled people in New York that became crucial to the disability rights movement.
Natalie Kane, Curator of Design and Disability, said, “This exhibition shows how Disabled people are the experts in our own lives, and have made invaluable contributions to our designed world. Design and Disability aims to honour Disabled life as it engages with creative practice, presenting a strong culture of making that has always been central to Disabled identity. In putting this show together, it is an act of joy and resistance.”
Both joy and resistance are embodied in one standout design featured in the final section of the exhibition, ‘The Squeeze Chaise Longue’, a red recliner developed by artist Wendy Jacob. She was inspired to create the design as a contrast to pared-back medical aesthetics. Working alongside Temple Grandin, an American academic, animal rights activist, autism self-advocate, and inventor of the 'Hug Machine', she devised the chair, which embraces the sitter between two red mohair arms, providing comforting sensory feedback for those who appreciate deep pressure stimulation.
Despite the fact that around 1 in 4 people in the UK have a disability, we live in a world designed for people without disabilities. Although accessibility legislation has made design more inclusive over the last decade, there is still a way to go before the utopian ideal of ‘universal design’ is significantly realised across both the public and private sectors. Design and Disability at the V&A is a call to action not just for accessibility but for disabled-led design. Celebrating the radical contributions of Disabled, Deaf, and neurodivergent people to contemporary design culture since the 1940s.
The exhibition itself is an example of inclusive design, serving as a model for best practices in museum accessibility. It begins with a rest space for visitors to orient themselves and address access needs, offering additional seating and self-regulation areas. The exhibition has been configured following Deaf Space principles and includes an array of tactile objects, BSL guides, and tactile floor surfaces to help orient blind and low-vision visitors.
The ingenuity and innovation of the disabled community are explored across three sections: Visibility, Tools and Living. Nearly two hundred objects tell the story of inclusive design, encompassing art, architecture, fashion, photography and even handmade objects and zines. The challenge of making a tool or utensil more accessible not only benefits people with health conditions or impairments but often has far-reaching benefits for the entire design world, which assimilates new solutions. An example from the exhibition is the Fingerworks Touchstream Keyboard (2005) by Wayne Westerman. This keyboard, originally designed to alleviate severe hand pain, would go on to revolutionise the tech world when it became the basis for the iPhone touchscreen.
Disabled designers have had to think outside the box to find solutions to facilitate their everyday lives. The Tools section highlights how disabled creatives have adapted and subverted designed objects to suit diverse needs, a process which often involves exploring their own identity. This reclaiming and reimaging of existing objects challenges the conception of disabled people as passive users of design. The reinvention, breaking and adapting of objects is known as ‘hacking’. ‘Hacking’ asks us to rethink what counts as engineering and who is considered a designer. After Cindy Garni suffered a heart attack, she underwent amputations involving all four of her limbs; her ‘hacked’ prosthetics on display, including silicone cutlery holders and eyeliner holders, are simple, clever and ultimately more useful than her expensive robotic hand.
Creative communities and design networks of individuals with disabilities collaborate to create new things, often taking advantage of the power of grassroots and digital communities. This is celebrated in the exhibition through the display of graphic design and typography. For instance, Conor Foran’s graphics for ‘Dysfluent Magazine’ represent people who stammer, taking pride and destigmatising this form of speech. These publications appear alongside examples of how disability has been defined in the mainstream media, including the May 23’ issue of British Vogue ‘Reframing Fashion’, the disability justice special, featuring activist Sinead Burke and Aaron Rose Phillip, as well as examples of adaptive wear from global brands, for example, Adaptive Crocs (2022) and the Nike Adaptive Trainer (2021).
In the Visibility section, the curators illuminate designers at the forefront of inclusive design, including, for instance, designer and activist Sky Cubacub’s sci-fiesque fashion, made for queer and trans disabled people of all sizes and ages offering an explosion of futurist colour to their wardrobe. Their Dragon Scale Head Dress, as well as being a fashion statement, functions as a wearable weighted blanket and can be paired with a matching gender affirming binder.
The exhibition's final section, Living, explores the changes forged by Disabled people. They have changed the designed environment through protest and envisaged the future. Highlighting artistic interventions and solidarity movements such as the Anti-Stairs Club by Finnegan Shannon and Camp Jened, a summer camp for Disabled people in New York that became crucial to the disability rights movement.
Natalie Kane, Curator of Design and Disability, said, “This exhibition shows how Disabled people are the experts in our own lives, and have made invaluable contributions to our designed world. Design and Disability aims to honour Disabled life as it engages with creative practice, presenting a strong culture of making that has always been central to Disabled identity. In putting this show together, it is an act of joy and resistance.”
Both joy and resistance are embodied in one standout design featured in the final section of the exhibition, ‘The Squeeze Chaise Longue’, a red recliner developed by artist Wendy Jacob. She was inspired to create the design as a contrast to pared-back medical aesthetics. Working alongside Temple Grandin, an American academic, animal rights activist, autism self-advocate, and inventor of the 'Hug Machine', she devised the chair, which embraces the sitter between two red mohair arms, providing comforting sensory feedback for those who appreciate deep pressure stimulation.
Despite the fact that around 1 in 4 people in the UK have a disability, we live in a world designed for people without disabilities. Although accessibility legislation has made design more inclusive over the last decade, there is still a way to go before the utopian ideal of ‘universal design’ is significantly realised across both the public and private sectors. Design and Disability at the V&A is a call to action not just for accessibility but for disabled-led design. Celebrating the radical contributions of Disabled, Deaf, and neurodivergent people to contemporary design culture since the 1940s.
The exhibition itself is an example of inclusive design, serving as a model for best practices in museum accessibility. It begins with a rest space for visitors to orient themselves and address access needs, offering additional seating and self-regulation areas. The exhibition has been configured following Deaf Space principles and includes an array of tactile objects, BSL guides, and tactile floor surfaces to help orient blind and low-vision visitors.
The ingenuity and innovation of the disabled community are explored across three sections: Visibility, Tools and Living. Nearly two hundred objects tell the story of inclusive design, encompassing art, architecture, fashion, photography and even handmade objects and zines. The challenge of making a tool or utensil more accessible not only benefits people with health conditions or impairments but often has far-reaching benefits for the entire design world, which assimilates new solutions. An example from the exhibition is the Fingerworks Touchstream Keyboard (2005) by Wayne Westerman. This keyboard, originally designed to alleviate severe hand pain, would go on to revolutionise the tech world when it became the basis for the iPhone touchscreen.
Disabled designers have had to think outside the box to find solutions to facilitate their everyday lives. The Tools section highlights how disabled creatives have adapted and subverted designed objects to suit diverse needs, a process which often involves exploring their own identity. This reclaiming and reimaging of existing objects challenges the conception of disabled people as passive users of design. The reinvention, breaking and adapting of objects is known as ‘hacking’. ‘Hacking’ asks us to rethink what counts as engineering and who is considered a designer. After Cindy Garni suffered a heart attack, she underwent amputations involving all four of her limbs; her ‘hacked’ prosthetics on display, including silicone cutlery holders and eyeliner holders, are simple, clever and ultimately more useful than her expensive robotic hand.
Creative communities and design networks of individuals with disabilities collaborate to create new things, often taking advantage of the power of grassroots and digital communities. This is celebrated in the exhibition through the display of graphic design and typography. For instance, Conor Foran’s graphics for ‘Dysfluent Magazine’ represent people who stammer, taking pride and destigmatising this form of speech. These publications appear alongside examples of how disability has been defined in the mainstream media, including the May 23’ issue of British Vogue ‘Reframing Fashion’, the disability justice special, featuring activist Sinead Burke and Aaron Rose Phillip, as well as examples of adaptive wear from global brands, for example, Adaptive Crocs (2022) and the Nike Adaptive Trainer (2021).
In the Visibility section, the curators illuminate designers at the forefront of inclusive design, including, for instance, designer and activist Sky Cubacub’s sci-fiesque fashion, made for queer and trans disabled people of all sizes and ages offering an explosion of futurist colour to their wardrobe. Their Dragon Scale Head Dress, as well as being a fashion statement, functions as a wearable weighted blanket and can be paired with a matching gender affirming binder.
The exhibition's final section, Living, explores the changes forged by Disabled people. They have changed the designed environment through protest and envisaged the future. Highlighting artistic interventions and solidarity movements such as the Anti-Stairs Club by Finnegan Shannon and Camp Jened, a summer camp for Disabled people in New York that became crucial to the disability rights movement.
Natalie Kane, Curator of Design and Disability, said, “This exhibition shows how Disabled people are the experts in our own lives, and have made invaluable contributions to our designed world. Design and Disability aims to honour Disabled life as it engages with creative practice, presenting a strong culture of making that has always been central to Disabled identity. In putting this show together, it is an act of joy and resistance.”
Both joy and resistance are embodied in one standout design featured in the final section of the exhibition, ‘The Squeeze Chaise Longue’, a red recliner developed by artist Wendy Jacob. She was inspired to create the design as a contrast to pared-back medical aesthetics. Working alongside Temple Grandin, an American academic, animal rights activist, autism self-advocate, and inventor of the 'Hug Machine', she devised the chair, which embraces the sitter between two red mohair arms, providing comforting sensory feedback for those who appreciate deep pressure stimulation.
Despite the fact that around 1 in 4 people in the UK have a disability, we live in a world designed for people without disabilities. Although accessibility legislation has made design more inclusive over the last decade, there is still a way to go before the utopian ideal of ‘universal design’ is significantly realised across both the public and private sectors. Design and Disability at the V&A is a call to action not just for accessibility but for disabled-led design. Celebrating the radical contributions of Disabled, Deaf, and neurodivergent people to contemporary design culture since the 1940s.
The exhibition itself is an example of inclusive design, serving as a model for best practices in museum accessibility. It begins with a rest space for visitors to orient themselves and address access needs, offering additional seating and self-regulation areas. The exhibition has been configured following Deaf Space principles and includes an array of tactile objects, BSL guides, and tactile floor surfaces to help orient blind and low-vision visitors.
The ingenuity and innovation of the disabled community are explored across three sections: Visibility, Tools and Living. Nearly two hundred objects tell the story of inclusive design, encompassing art, architecture, fashion, photography and even handmade objects and zines. The challenge of making a tool or utensil more accessible not only benefits people with health conditions or impairments but often has far-reaching benefits for the entire design world, which assimilates new solutions. An example from the exhibition is the Fingerworks Touchstream Keyboard (2005) by Wayne Westerman. This keyboard, originally designed to alleviate severe hand pain, would go on to revolutionise the tech world when it became the basis for the iPhone touchscreen.
Disabled designers have had to think outside the box to find solutions to facilitate their everyday lives. The Tools section highlights how disabled creatives have adapted and subverted designed objects to suit diverse needs, a process which often involves exploring their own identity. This reclaiming and reimaging of existing objects challenges the conception of disabled people as passive users of design. The reinvention, breaking and adapting of objects is known as ‘hacking’. ‘Hacking’ asks us to rethink what counts as engineering and who is considered a designer. After Cindy Garni suffered a heart attack, she underwent amputations involving all four of her limbs; her ‘hacked’ prosthetics on display, including silicone cutlery holders and eyeliner holders, are simple, clever and ultimately more useful than her expensive robotic hand.
Creative communities and design networks of individuals with disabilities collaborate to create new things, often taking advantage of the power of grassroots and digital communities. This is celebrated in the exhibition through the display of graphic design and typography. For instance, Conor Foran’s graphics for ‘Dysfluent Magazine’ represent people who stammer, taking pride and destigmatising this form of speech. These publications appear alongside examples of how disability has been defined in the mainstream media, including the May 23’ issue of British Vogue ‘Reframing Fashion’, the disability justice special, featuring activist Sinead Burke and Aaron Rose Phillip, as well as examples of adaptive wear from global brands, for example, Adaptive Crocs (2022) and the Nike Adaptive Trainer (2021).
In the Visibility section, the curators illuminate designers at the forefront of inclusive design, including, for instance, designer and activist Sky Cubacub’s sci-fiesque fashion, made for queer and trans disabled people of all sizes and ages offering an explosion of futurist colour to their wardrobe. Their Dragon Scale Head Dress, as well as being a fashion statement, functions as a wearable weighted blanket and can be paired with a matching gender affirming binder.
The exhibition's final section, Living, explores the changes forged by Disabled people. They have changed the designed environment through protest and envisaged the future. Highlighting artistic interventions and solidarity movements such as the Anti-Stairs Club by Finnegan Shannon and Camp Jened, a summer camp for Disabled people in New York that became crucial to the disability rights movement.
Natalie Kane, Curator of Design and Disability, said, “This exhibition shows how Disabled people are the experts in our own lives, and have made invaluable contributions to our designed world. Design and Disability aims to honour Disabled life as it engages with creative practice, presenting a strong culture of making that has always been central to Disabled identity. In putting this show together, it is an act of joy and resistance.”
Both joy and resistance are embodied in one standout design featured in the final section of the exhibition, ‘The Squeeze Chaise Longue’, a red recliner developed by artist Wendy Jacob. She was inspired to create the design as a contrast to pared-back medical aesthetics. Working alongside Temple Grandin, an American academic, animal rights activist, autism self-advocate, and inventor of the 'Hug Machine', she devised the chair, which embraces the sitter between two red mohair arms, providing comforting sensory feedback for those who appreciate deep pressure stimulation.
Despite the fact that around 1 in 4 people in the UK have a disability, we live in a world designed for people without disabilities. Although accessibility legislation has made design more inclusive over the last decade, there is still a way to go before the utopian ideal of ‘universal design’ is significantly realised across both the public and private sectors. Design and Disability at the V&A is a call to action not just for accessibility but for disabled-led design. Celebrating the radical contributions of Disabled, Deaf, and neurodivergent people to contemporary design culture since the 1940s.
The exhibition itself is an example of inclusive design, serving as a model for best practices in museum accessibility. It begins with a rest space for visitors to orient themselves and address access needs, offering additional seating and self-regulation areas. The exhibition has been configured following Deaf Space principles and includes an array of tactile objects, BSL guides, and tactile floor surfaces to help orient blind and low-vision visitors.
The ingenuity and innovation of the disabled community are explored across three sections: Visibility, Tools and Living. Nearly two hundred objects tell the story of inclusive design, encompassing art, architecture, fashion, photography and even handmade objects and zines. The challenge of making a tool or utensil more accessible not only benefits people with health conditions or impairments but often has far-reaching benefits for the entire design world, which assimilates new solutions. An example from the exhibition is the Fingerworks Touchstream Keyboard (2005) by Wayne Westerman. This keyboard, originally designed to alleviate severe hand pain, would go on to revolutionise the tech world when it became the basis for the iPhone touchscreen.
Disabled designers have had to think outside the box to find solutions to facilitate their everyday lives. The Tools section highlights how disabled creatives have adapted and subverted designed objects to suit diverse needs, a process which often involves exploring their own identity. This reclaiming and reimaging of existing objects challenges the conception of disabled people as passive users of design. The reinvention, breaking and adapting of objects is known as ‘hacking’. ‘Hacking’ asks us to rethink what counts as engineering and who is considered a designer. After Cindy Garni suffered a heart attack, she underwent amputations involving all four of her limbs; her ‘hacked’ prosthetics on display, including silicone cutlery holders and eyeliner holders, are simple, clever and ultimately more useful than her expensive robotic hand.
Creative communities and design networks of individuals with disabilities collaborate to create new things, often taking advantage of the power of grassroots and digital communities. This is celebrated in the exhibition through the display of graphic design and typography. For instance, Conor Foran’s graphics for ‘Dysfluent Magazine’ represent people who stammer, taking pride and destigmatising this form of speech. These publications appear alongside examples of how disability has been defined in the mainstream media, including the May 23’ issue of British Vogue ‘Reframing Fashion’, the disability justice special, featuring activist Sinead Burke and Aaron Rose Phillip, as well as examples of adaptive wear from global brands, for example, Adaptive Crocs (2022) and the Nike Adaptive Trainer (2021).
In the Visibility section, the curators illuminate designers at the forefront of inclusive design, including, for instance, designer and activist Sky Cubacub’s sci-fiesque fashion, made for queer and trans disabled people of all sizes and ages offering an explosion of futurist colour to their wardrobe. Their Dragon Scale Head Dress, as well as being a fashion statement, functions as a wearable weighted blanket and can be paired with a matching gender affirming binder.
The exhibition's final section, Living, explores the changes forged by Disabled people. They have changed the designed environment through protest and envisaged the future. Highlighting artistic interventions and solidarity movements such as the Anti-Stairs Club by Finnegan Shannon and Camp Jened, a summer camp for Disabled people in New York that became crucial to the disability rights movement.
Natalie Kane, Curator of Design and Disability, said, “This exhibition shows how Disabled people are the experts in our own lives, and have made invaluable contributions to our designed world. Design and Disability aims to honour Disabled life as it engages with creative practice, presenting a strong culture of making that has always been central to Disabled identity. In putting this show together, it is an act of joy and resistance.”
Both joy and resistance are embodied in one standout design featured in the final section of the exhibition, ‘The Squeeze Chaise Longue’, a red recliner developed by artist Wendy Jacob. She was inspired to create the design as a contrast to pared-back medical aesthetics. Working alongside Temple Grandin, an American academic, animal rights activist, autism self-advocate, and inventor of the 'Hug Machine', she devised the chair, which embraces the sitter between two red mohair arms, providing comforting sensory feedback for those who appreciate deep pressure stimulation.
Despite the fact that around 1 in 4 people in the UK have a disability, we live in a world designed for people without disabilities. Although accessibility legislation has made design more inclusive over the last decade, there is still a way to go before the utopian ideal of ‘universal design’ is significantly realised across both the public and private sectors. Design and Disability at the V&A is a call to action not just for accessibility but for disabled-led design. Celebrating the radical contributions of Disabled, Deaf, and neurodivergent people to contemporary design culture since the 1940s.
The exhibition itself is an example of inclusive design, serving as a model for best practices in museum accessibility. It begins with a rest space for visitors to orient themselves and address access needs, offering additional seating and self-regulation areas. The exhibition has been configured following Deaf Space principles and includes an array of tactile objects, BSL guides, and tactile floor surfaces to help orient blind and low-vision visitors.
The ingenuity and innovation of the disabled community are explored across three sections: Visibility, Tools and Living. Nearly two hundred objects tell the story of inclusive design, encompassing art, architecture, fashion, photography and even handmade objects and zines. The challenge of making a tool or utensil more accessible not only benefits people with health conditions or impairments but often has far-reaching benefits for the entire design world, which assimilates new solutions. An example from the exhibition is the Fingerworks Touchstream Keyboard (2005) by Wayne Westerman. This keyboard, originally designed to alleviate severe hand pain, would go on to revolutionise the tech world when it became the basis for the iPhone touchscreen.
Disabled designers have had to think outside the box to find solutions to facilitate their everyday lives. The Tools section highlights how disabled creatives have adapted and subverted designed objects to suit diverse needs, a process which often involves exploring their own identity. This reclaiming and reimaging of existing objects challenges the conception of disabled people as passive users of design. The reinvention, breaking and adapting of objects is known as ‘hacking’. ‘Hacking’ asks us to rethink what counts as engineering and who is considered a designer. After Cindy Garni suffered a heart attack, she underwent amputations involving all four of her limbs; her ‘hacked’ prosthetics on display, including silicone cutlery holders and eyeliner holders, are simple, clever and ultimately more useful than her expensive robotic hand.
Creative communities and design networks of individuals with disabilities collaborate to create new things, often taking advantage of the power of grassroots and digital communities. This is celebrated in the exhibition through the display of graphic design and typography. For instance, Conor Foran’s graphics for ‘Dysfluent Magazine’ represent people who stammer, taking pride and destigmatising this form of speech. These publications appear alongside examples of how disability has been defined in the mainstream media, including the May 23’ issue of British Vogue ‘Reframing Fashion’, the disability justice special, featuring activist Sinead Burke and Aaron Rose Phillip, as well as examples of adaptive wear from global brands, for example, Adaptive Crocs (2022) and the Nike Adaptive Trainer (2021).
In the Visibility section, the curators illuminate designers at the forefront of inclusive design, including, for instance, designer and activist Sky Cubacub’s sci-fiesque fashion, made for queer and trans disabled people of all sizes and ages offering an explosion of futurist colour to their wardrobe. Their Dragon Scale Head Dress, as well as being a fashion statement, functions as a wearable weighted blanket and can be paired with a matching gender affirming binder.
The exhibition's final section, Living, explores the changes forged by Disabled people. They have changed the designed environment through protest and envisaged the future. Highlighting artistic interventions and solidarity movements such as the Anti-Stairs Club by Finnegan Shannon and Camp Jened, a summer camp for Disabled people in New York that became crucial to the disability rights movement.
Natalie Kane, Curator of Design and Disability, said, “This exhibition shows how Disabled people are the experts in our own lives, and have made invaluable contributions to our designed world. Design and Disability aims to honour Disabled life as it engages with creative practice, presenting a strong culture of making that has always been central to Disabled identity. In putting this show together, it is an act of joy and resistance.”
Both joy and resistance are embodied in one standout design featured in the final section of the exhibition, ‘The Squeeze Chaise Longue’, a red recliner developed by artist Wendy Jacob. She was inspired to create the design as a contrast to pared-back medical aesthetics. Working alongside Temple Grandin, an American academic, animal rights activist, autism self-advocate, and inventor of the 'Hug Machine', she devised the chair, which embraces the sitter between two red mohair arms, providing comforting sensory feedback for those who appreciate deep pressure stimulation.
Despite the fact that around 1 in 4 people in the UK have a disability, we live in a world designed for people without disabilities. Although accessibility legislation has made design more inclusive over the last decade, there is still a way to go before the utopian ideal of ‘universal design’ is significantly realised across both the public and private sectors. Design and Disability at the V&A is a call to action not just for accessibility but for disabled-led design. Celebrating the radical contributions of Disabled, Deaf, and neurodivergent people to contemporary design culture since the 1940s.
The exhibition itself is an example of inclusive design, serving as a model for best practices in museum accessibility. It begins with a rest space for visitors to orient themselves and address access needs, offering additional seating and self-regulation areas. The exhibition has been configured following Deaf Space principles and includes an array of tactile objects, BSL guides, and tactile floor surfaces to help orient blind and low-vision visitors.
The ingenuity and innovation of the disabled community are explored across three sections: Visibility, Tools and Living. Nearly two hundred objects tell the story of inclusive design, encompassing art, architecture, fashion, photography and even handmade objects and zines. The challenge of making a tool or utensil more accessible not only benefits people with health conditions or impairments but often has far-reaching benefits for the entire design world, which assimilates new solutions. An example from the exhibition is the Fingerworks Touchstream Keyboard (2005) by Wayne Westerman. This keyboard, originally designed to alleviate severe hand pain, would go on to revolutionise the tech world when it became the basis for the iPhone touchscreen.
Disabled designers have had to think outside the box to find solutions to facilitate their everyday lives. The Tools section highlights how disabled creatives have adapted and subverted designed objects to suit diverse needs, a process which often involves exploring their own identity. This reclaiming and reimaging of existing objects challenges the conception of disabled people as passive users of design. The reinvention, breaking and adapting of objects is known as ‘hacking’. ‘Hacking’ asks us to rethink what counts as engineering and who is considered a designer. After Cindy Garni suffered a heart attack, she underwent amputations involving all four of her limbs; her ‘hacked’ prosthetics on display, including silicone cutlery holders and eyeliner holders, are simple, clever and ultimately more useful than her expensive robotic hand.
Creative communities and design networks of individuals with disabilities collaborate to create new things, often taking advantage of the power of grassroots and digital communities. This is celebrated in the exhibition through the display of graphic design and typography. For instance, Conor Foran’s graphics for ‘Dysfluent Magazine’ represent people who stammer, taking pride and destigmatising this form of speech. These publications appear alongside examples of how disability has been defined in the mainstream media, including the May 23’ issue of British Vogue ‘Reframing Fashion’, the disability justice special, featuring activist Sinead Burke and Aaron Rose Phillip, as well as examples of adaptive wear from global brands, for example, Adaptive Crocs (2022) and the Nike Adaptive Trainer (2021).
In the Visibility section, the curators illuminate designers at the forefront of inclusive design, including, for instance, designer and activist Sky Cubacub’s sci-fiesque fashion, made for queer and trans disabled people of all sizes and ages offering an explosion of futurist colour to their wardrobe. Their Dragon Scale Head Dress, as well as being a fashion statement, functions as a wearable weighted blanket and can be paired with a matching gender affirming binder.
The exhibition's final section, Living, explores the changes forged by Disabled people. They have changed the designed environment through protest and envisaged the future. Highlighting artistic interventions and solidarity movements such as the Anti-Stairs Club by Finnegan Shannon and Camp Jened, a summer camp for Disabled people in New York that became crucial to the disability rights movement.
Natalie Kane, Curator of Design and Disability, said, “This exhibition shows how Disabled people are the experts in our own lives, and have made invaluable contributions to our designed world. Design and Disability aims to honour Disabled life as it engages with creative practice, presenting a strong culture of making that has always been central to Disabled identity. In putting this show together, it is an act of joy and resistance.”
Both joy and resistance are embodied in one standout design featured in the final section of the exhibition, ‘The Squeeze Chaise Longue’, a red recliner developed by artist Wendy Jacob. She was inspired to create the design as a contrast to pared-back medical aesthetics. Working alongside Temple Grandin, an American academic, animal rights activist, autism self-advocate, and inventor of the 'Hug Machine', she devised the chair, which embraces the sitter between two red mohair arms, providing comforting sensory feedback for those who appreciate deep pressure stimulation.
Despite the fact that around 1 in 4 people in the UK have a disability, we live in a world designed for people without disabilities. Although accessibility legislation has made design more inclusive over the last decade, there is still a way to go before the utopian ideal of ‘universal design’ is significantly realised across both the public and private sectors. Design and Disability at the V&A is a call to action not just for accessibility but for disabled-led design. Celebrating the radical contributions of Disabled, Deaf, and neurodivergent people to contemporary design culture since the 1940s.
The exhibition itself is an example of inclusive design, serving as a model for best practices in museum accessibility. It begins with a rest space for visitors to orient themselves and address access needs, offering additional seating and self-regulation areas. The exhibition has been configured following Deaf Space principles and includes an array of tactile objects, BSL guides, and tactile floor surfaces to help orient blind and low-vision visitors.
The ingenuity and innovation of the disabled community are explored across three sections: Visibility, Tools and Living. Nearly two hundred objects tell the story of inclusive design, encompassing art, architecture, fashion, photography and even handmade objects and zines. The challenge of making a tool or utensil more accessible not only benefits people with health conditions or impairments but often has far-reaching benefits for the entire design world, which assimilates new solutions. An example from the exhibition is the Fingerworks Touchstream Keyboard (2005) by Wayne Westerman. This keyboard, originally designed to alleviate severe hand pain, would go on to revolutionise the tech world when it became the basis for the iPhone touchscreen.
Disabled designers have had to think outside the box to find solutions to facilitate their everyday lives. The Tools section highlights how disabled creatives have adapted and subverted designed objects to suit diverse needs, a process which often involves exploring their own identity. This reclaiming and reimaging of existing objects challenges the conception of disabled people as passive users of design. The reinvention, breaking and adapting of objects is known as ‘hacking’. ‘Hacking’ asks us to rethink what counts as engineering and who is considered a designer. After Cindy Garni suffered a heart attack, she underwent amputations involving all four of her limbs; her ‘hacked’ prosthetics on display, including silicone cutlery holders and eyeliner holders, are simple, clever and ultimately more useful than her expensive robotic hand.
Creative communities and design networks of individuals with disabilities collaborate to create new things, often taking advantage of the power of grassroots and digital communities. This is celebrated in the exhibition through the display of graphic design and typography. For instance, Conor Foran’s graphics for ‘Dysfluent Magazine’ represent people who stammer, taking pride and destigmatising this form of speech. These publications appear alongside examples of how disability has been defined in the mainstream media, including the May 23’ issue of British Vogue ‘Reframing Fashion’, the disability justice special, featuring activist Sinead Burke and Aaron Rose Phillip, as well as examples of adaptive wear from global brands, for example, Adaptive Crocs (2022) and the Nike Adaptive Trainer (2021).
In the Visibility section, the curators illuminate designers at the forefront of inclusive design, including, for instance, designer and activist Sky Cubacub’s sci-fiesque fashion, made for queer and trans disabled people of all sizes and ages offering an explosion of futurist colour to their wardrobe. Their Dragon Scale Head Dress, as well as being a fashion statement, functions as a wearable weighted blanket and can be paired with a matching gender affirming binder.
The exhibition's final section, Living, explores the changes forged by Disabled people. They have changed the designed environment through protest and envisaged the future. Highlighting artistic interventions and solidarity movements such as the Anti-Stairs Club by Finnegan Shannon and Camp Jened, a summer camp for Disabled people in New York that became crucial to the disability rights movement.
Natalie Kane, Curator of Design and Disability, said, “This exhibition shows how Disabled people are the experts in our own lives, and have made invaluable contributions to our designed world. Design and Disability aims to honour Disabled life as it engages with creative practice, presenting a strong culture of making that has always been central to Disabled identity. In putting this show together, it is an act of joy and resistance.”
Both joy and resistance are embodied in one standout design featured in the final section of the exhibition, ‘The Squeeze Chaise Longue’, a red recliner developed by artist Wendy Jacob. She was inspired to create the design as a contrast to pared-back medical aesthetics. Working alongside Temple Grandin, an American academic, animal rights activist, autism self-advocate, and inventor of the 'Hug Machine', she devised the chair, which embraces the sitter between two red mohair arms, providing comforting sensory feedback for those who appreciate deep pressure stimulation.
Despite the fact that around 1 in 4 people in the UK have a disability, we live in a world designed for people without disabilities. Although accessibility legislation has made design more inclusive over the last decade, there is still a way to go before the utopian ideal of ‘universal design’ is significantly realised across both the public and private sectors. Design and Disability at the V&A is a call to action not just for accessibility but for disabled-led design. Celebrating the radical contributions of Disabled, Deaf, and neurodivergent people to contemporary design culture since the 1940s.
The exhibition itself is an example of inclusive design, serving as a model for best practices in museum accessibility. It begins with a rest space for visitors to orient themselves and address access needs, offering additional seating and self-regulation areas. The exhibition has been configured following Deaf Space principles and includes an array of tactile objects, BSL guides, and tactile floor surfaces to help orient blind and low-vision visitors.
The ingenuity and innovation of the disabled community are explored across three sections: Visibility, Tools and Living. Nearly two hundred objects tell the story of inclusive design, encompassing art, architecture, fashion, photography and even handmade objects and zines. The challenge of making a tool or utensil more accessible not only benefits people with health conditions or impairments but often has far-reaching benefits for the entire design world, which assimilates new solutions. An example from the exhibition is the Fingerworks Touchstream Keyboard (2005) by Wayne Westerman. This keyboard, originally designed to alleviate severe hand pain, would go on to revolutionise the tech world when it became the basis for the iPhone touchscreen.
Disabled designers have had to think outside the box to find solutions to facilitate their everyday lives. The Tools section highlights how disabled creatives have adapted and subverted designed objects to suit diverse needs, a process which often involves exploring their own identity. This reclaiming and reimaging of existing objects challenges the conception of disabled people as passive users of design. The reinvention, breaking and adapting of objects is known as ‘hacking’. ‘Hacking’ asks us to rethink what counts as engineering and who is considered a designer. After Cindy Garni suffered a heart attack, she underwent amputations involving all four of her limbs; her ‘hacked’ prosthetics on display, including silicone cutlery holders and eyeliner holders, are simple, clever and ultimately more useful than her expensive robotic hand.
Creative communities and design networks of individuals with disabilities collaborate to create new things, often taking advantage of the power of grassroots and digital communities. This is celebrated in the exhibition through the display of graphic design and typography. For instance, Conor Foran’s graphics for ‘Dysfluent Magazine’ represent people who stammer, taking pride and destigmatising this form of speech. These publications appear alongside examples of how disability has been defined in the mainstream media, including the May 23’ issue of British Vogue ‘Reframing Fashion’, the disability justice special, featuring activist Sinead Burke and Aaron Rose Phillip, as well as examples of adaptive wear from global brands, for example, Adaptive Crocs (2022) and the Nike Adaptive Trainer (2021).
In the Visibility section, the curators illuminate designers at the forefront of inclusive design, including, for instance, designer and activist Sky Cubacub’s sci-fiesque fashion, made for queer and trans disabled people of all sizes and ages offering an explosion of futurist colour to their wardrobe. Their Dragon Scale Head Dress, as well as being a fashion statement, functions as a wearable weighted blanket and can be paired with a matching gender affirming binder.
The exhibition's final section, Living, explores the changes forged by Disabled people. They have changed the designed environment through protest and envisaged the future. Highlighting artistic interventions and solidarity movements such as the Anti-Stairs Club by Finnegan Shannon and Camp Jened, a summer camp for Disabled people in New York that became crucial to the disability rights movement.
Natalie Kane, Curator of Design and Disability, said, “This exhibition shows how Disabled people are the experts in our own lives, and have made invaluable contributions to our designed world. Design and Disability aims to honour Disabled life as it engages with creative practice, presenting a strong culture of making that has always been central to Disabled identity. In putting this show together, it is an act of joy and resistance.”
Both joy and resistance are embodied in one standout design featured in the final section of the exhibition, ‘The Squeeze Chaise Longue’, a red recliner developed by artist Wendy Jacob. She was inspired to create the design as a contrast to pared-back medical aesthetics. Working alongside Temple Grandin, an American academic, animal rights activist, autism self-advocate, and inventor of the 'Hug Machine', she devised the chair, which embraces the sitter between two red mohair arms, providing comforting sensory feedback for those who appreciate deep pressure stimulation.
.png)
.svg){kind=logo}
