Acquired Disabilities And Cool Devices

Do you have your computer glasses yet? I didn’t even realize that they were a necessity until I started running into other people my age who had them. While discussing our mortgage with the woman in the bank, she squinted at her computer screen for a second before turning to put on her computer glasses. She said they’d made a big difference. I suddenly realized that maybe there was a solution to the squinting I was doing to see my laptop: computer glasses.

Battling My Old Bias

I’ve worn corrective lenses for distance most of my life without a problem, but as my eyes weakened over time I met my first big aging hurdle: trifocals. It took me at least five years to accept and adapt to them. After several years of balancing my glasses halfway down my nose to read a book, I became annoyed and frustrated enough to try them. I didn’t want to wear those thick glasses with the horizontal lines across the lens that I remembered my father wearing.  But I discovered those old trifocals have long faded into history, and the new progressive lenses look like any other pair of glasses.  No one can tell. Once I found the correct type of progressives for me the transition was easy. 

Easier To Adapt Now

Unlike my fight to accept the need for progressives, I hurried off to the optometrist’s for some computer glasses. I chose a flashy purple frame and I’m loving how easy it is to focus on the screen now. Why was it so easy to adapt to this change?

Fashionable Assistive Technology

I think it’s the design. Similar to my progressives, my computer glasses can be in any colour or style that I like. That makes them more like a fashion statement than an ugly, functional piece of equipment. It’s the difference between using them or shunning them. Companies are discovering that there is a big market for fashionable assistive technology thanks to the push from people with disabilities.

…historically, assistive devices for disabled people – from wheelchairs to prosthetic arms – have been associated with a dreary, institutional aesthetic. Only in recent years have designers begun to listen to the demands of disabled people, who want the same range of choice when it comes to mobility aids and other assistive devices as they would with any other product.*

Keeping All With Disabilities Feeling Current

As we age and acquire more disabilities, assistive devices from computer glasses, to compression socks need to be well-designed. Adapting to a new device is much more difficult if it’s an aesthetic nightmare and doesn’t fit into our lifestyle. No one wants to look and feel out of touch no matter how old they are. 

Here are some examples of new designs that take the edge off of adapting to an age-related disability:

Note: I do not have any connection to these two products and they don’t have any connection to me. I just thought they were interesting examples.

What are some examples of well-designed devices that you’ve found?  Comment below.

*To read more about design adaptions, click here for an article.

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