As part of the research for this final unit at NUA, I’ve been keeping an eye out and attempting to maintain awareness around all kinds of design, which is created with and/or for people with disabilities. I came across this lady’s Instagram account and straight away felt I needed to share the importance and the impact the use of appropriate design has had on her wellbeing. - Without directly linking to my projects, her story does however put into perspective the general idea behind every designer’s work when they are creating for people with disabilities, and it promotes the impact it can have on an individual’s wellbeing, adding to quality of life.
‘Izzy Wheels’ is a brand founded by two sisters. It is stated on the Izzy Wheels website (https://www.izzywheels.com) that ‘the idea was inspired by Izzy who was born with Spina Bifida and is paralysed from her waist down. Ailbhe (Izzy’s sister) saw that her sister’s chair was the first thing people noticed about her but it wasn’t a reflection of her bright and bubbly personality. Izzy Wheels started off as a college project for Ailbhe during her final year in The National College of Art and Design (NCAD) in 2015.’ The project concluded a range of wheel covers that ‘expressed a wheelchair user’s individuality and personality’, transforming a vitally important piece of equipment into ‘a piece of fashion and self expression’.
"Our mission with Izzy Wheels is to challenge negative associations with wheelchairs and let users celebrate their individuality by personalising their source of independence. We want to show the world that wheelchairs can be so much more than a medical device, they can be a piece of artistic self expression" - Ailbhe Keane.
"Izzy Wheels empower wheelchair users to make a statement about themselves, it makes a persons wheelchair into a friendly object rather than something purely functional. Having stylish wheels on your chair that match your outfit or show off you interests immediately addresses the chair and opens conversation" - Izzy Keane.
Since the brand was founded, Izzy Wheels have gained huge exposure from the press, and are successfully selling wheel covers to individuals from across the globe. The importance of these wheelchair covers is huge- as human beings we take massive interest in our appearances on a daily basis, deciding which clothes we want to wear, and which accessories we want to match them with. We take having these choices for granted because we assume that these choices are a given right, when actually they are not. From a personal point of view, it is almost impossible to imagine that one day we might need a piece of equipment that we have to use daily, which helps us continue with our lives and without it the quality of our lives may greatly decrease, but so many people do have to use these objects- products- whatever they may be. Izzy needs her wheelchair every day, so to be able to make a choice about what it looks like putting aside its function, is as important to her as every aspect of our appearances are to us, maybe even more so. In 2017 Izzy Wheels collaborated with Orla Kiely, creating a beautiful, classic collection of covers. Successes such as these only prove how important it is for designers to be aware of opportunities like these ones. With awareness comes acceptance, and not just acceptance of physical disabilities, but all disabilities. I’m not sure if I will ever not be amazed by the thoughts and actions behind putting design to beneficial use. I know that textile design is important, and that we will always need (want) beautiful things to decorate and fill our homes and lives with, but when textile design is used like this? That’s when it’s impressive. By way of linking this research to my current projects, it proposes the same idea. A wheelchair is a specialist product, and it is something an individual most likely needs to function within every day life, exactly like the other specialist products I have been researching and using as design inspiration. There are people who cannot function without their wheelchair, and there are people who cannot function or cope without the use of a weighted vest, or a weighted toy or blanket. In no way are these products different, and in no way are their uses and what they promote dissimilar to each other. Therefore the concept and depth of this research lends itself perfectly to the projects I am currently undertaking- by proposing the importance behind the use of design when it comes to designing specialist products for a target audience of people with disabilities.
