These things you use every day were originally designed for people with disabilities

We live in a world that is largely designed for those who can see, hear, walk and talk . Yet, this world is full of obstacles for the 1.3 billion people with disabilities.

In order to reduce the obstacles in their lives, people have invented or modified a variety of products. Nowadays, these products have brought convenience to everyone, and you must have used them in your life.

Typewriter and keyboard

The computer keyboard, which is indispensable for study and work, was originally invented specifically for the visually impaired.

In the early 19th century, Italian inventor Pellegrino Turri created the first mechanical typewriter to help the blind Countess of Fivizzano write.

The typewriter, which featured a keyboard and metal arms with raised characters, allowed the Countess to write a letter without the help of another hand.

However, there is also a saying that the Countess's brother Agostino Fantoni invented the typewriter, and Turi simply improved Fantoni's machine and invented carbon paper in 1806.

On today's keyboards, there are also raised bars on F and J to help you put your hands in the right position. | kidskonnect.com

Some of the Countess's letters have survived, describing how she used the typewriter, and the font used in these letters is also considered to be one of the oldest printed scripts.

Letters written by Countess Fivizzano on a typewriter | kidskonnect.com

Elbow straw

The bent straw was originally designed for minors.

American inventor Joseph Friedman created the curved straw based on the straight straw . He was inspired by his own daughter, who had difficulty drinking milkshakes with a straight straw.

So he took a straight paper straw, inserted a screw into it, and then wrapped dental floss around the screw threads to form corrugations. After removing the screw, the modified paper straw can be easily bent over the edge of the cup, making it easier for children to drink.

In 1930, the elbow straw was invented | invention.si.edu

Although not designed specifically for the disabled, the elbow straw is popular in hospitals, allowing bedridden patients to drink water easily without having to worry about aspirating liquid into their lungs and contracting pneumonia.

Plastic bent straws are very important for people with disabilities. Nowadays, some cities are gradually phasing out plastic straws, and even issuing plastic straw bans, which has caused protests from many people with disabilities.

Many alternatives do not have the properties of plastic straws . For example, paper straws will quickly rot; silicone straws are not as flexible as plastic elbow straws; metal straws cannot be bent, and there is a risk of burns when using them to drink hot drinks; reusable straws need to be cleaned, which is a burden for disabled people who are already inconvenienced.

Peeler with rubber handle

Nowadays, most of the paring knives we use have wide rubber handles for easy grip. But more than 30 years ago, people only had metal handles.

Old Style Metal Handle Paring Knife | Crestware Professional

For people with weak hand grip and poor finger flexion, it is difficult for them to operate such sharp, flat handles, and they may even get hurt. Inventor Sam Farber invented the peeler with a wide rubber handle based on the needs of such people.

One day in 1980, Sam's wife Betsey Farber was preparing an apple pie. But because Betsey suffered from arthritis, her knuckles were swollen and deformed due to the disease, and she couldn't hold the peeler well, and eventually hurt her hand. She felt very frustrated and hoped that Sam, who made household goods, could help design a good peeler. She also tried to modify the handle with clay.

Sam thought that steel handles were no more practical than other cheaper materials, so he and his partner Davin Stowell began to visit arthritis patients to understand their needs. Sam found that just like a child needs to hold a large crayon to draw firmly, a wider handle can help arthritis patients control it better.

Handles of various shapes | Oxo

The new handle needed a special rubber material that would give it enough grip even when wet. The material Sam and Davin found was called Santoprene, which was mainly used to make gaskets at the time, but it met the properties needed for the handle.

Eventually, the wide rubber handles that we see everywhere in our daily lives were created to make it easier for an arthritis patient to use a paring knife 25 years ago.

Curb slope

The curb is a small slope connecting the sidewalk and the road. Although it is inconspicuous, it provides great convenience for people's daily travel - people in wheelchairs, people pushing strollers, and people pulling suitcases can all walk up and down the curb effortlessly.

Curb slope sidewalk and main road｜wikimedia commons

The first curb ramps were built in 1945 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to make it easier for wheelchair users to get around. Prior to that, the curbs in downtown Kalamazoo were only 15 centimeters high.

The construction of the curb was initiated by Jack H. Fisher, a well-known local disability rights lawyer who originally studied at Harvard Law School. In 1943, Fisher was injured and disabled while serving in Oklahoma. When he was discharged from the army, he wore a steel brace from neck to hip and walked with a limp.

Faced with such a high curb, many people wearing prosthetic limbs often tripped. It was even more inconvenient for wheelchair users. So Fisher petitioned the city commission to have this curb slope.

In 1972, the city of Berkeley installed a curb ramp at an intersection at the urging of disability advocates, sparking a nationwide awareness of curb ramps. Since then, curb ramps have been voluntarily installed in public spaces across the United States.

Disability rights advocates have leveled this 10-centimeter-high barrier, and many people have benefited from it. If you ride a bicycle or an electric bike, you will often use the curb.

In her 2017 Stanford Social Innovation Report, Angela Glover Blackwell called this phenomenon, in which “designs that are initially made for accessibility ultimately benefit a wide range of people,” the “ curb effect .”

All previous inventions and designs are manifestations of the "curb effect". Keyboards, kitchen utensils, etc., which were originally designed for people with disabilities, eventually benefit everyone.

There are many more examples like this. Speech recognition technology was first designed for people who cannot write, so that they can use voice to convert their thoughts into documents and record them; audio books were first proposed by the American Foundation for the Blind, who used vinyl records to record books to help the blind "read". Now, voice navigation, audio books and podcasts are not exclusive to people with disabilities, they are essential auxiliary tools in the lives of most of us.

Accessibility features of a certain mobile phone｜apple.com

16% of the world's population has some form of physical disability. And every "disabled person" may become a "disabled person" as they age. If the various infrastructure and products in daily life do not take the needs of people with disabilities into consideration, their social activities will be further limited. Therefore, more and more products now incorporate the concept of inclusive design so that everyone can use them.

Designing with this 16% group in mind will ultimately benefit 100% of the people.

References

[1] 8 Everyday Items Originally Invented for People With Disabilities

https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/everyday-innovations/items-invented-people-with-disabilities.htm

[2]THE EVOLUTION OF ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY INTO EVERYDAY PRODUCTS

https://incl.ca/the-evolution-of-assistive-technology-into-everyday-products/

[3] The Curb Ramps of Kalamazoo: Discovering Our Unrecorded History

https://www.independentliving.org/docs3/brown99a.html

[4]The Curb-Cut Effect

https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_curb_cut_effect#

[5]Pellegrino Turri Facts & Worksheets https://kidskonnect.com/people/pellegrino-turri/#Download_This_Worksheet

[6]Top 100 Global Creator - P89. Pellegrino Turri: Creator of mechanical typing machine

https://wcsa.world/news/world-creators-federation/top-100-global-creator-p89-pellegrino-turri-creator-of-mechanical-typing-machine

[7]Sam Farber, Creator of Oxo Utensils, Dies at 88

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/22/business/sam-farber-creator-of-oxo-utensils-dies-at-88.html

[8]The untold story of the vegetable peeler that changed the world

https://www.fastcompany.com/90239156/the-untold-story-of-the-vegetable-peeler-that-changed-the-world

[9]The Straight Truth About the Flexible Drinking

https://invention.si.edu/straight-truth-about-flexible-drinking-straw

Planning and production

Source: Guokr (ID: Guokr42)

Author: Yakesi

Editor: Wang Mengru

Proofread by Xu Lailinlin