"A human is a whole package with whoever they are. If adversities arise, they use help and adapt and stand back to deal with things again. And our happiness stems from the fact that we acknowledge the above; acknowledge the struggle of everybody and make each one feel that their prize is for their exclusive contest and no one else."
Disability is the occurrence of fault in using or facilitating a function assigned to any machine or object or all kinds of beings including humans.
Other words - incapable, ineffective, abnormal - join into this train of thought which dictate the real side of disability as we see and discuss popularly.
This design challenge was born out of a visit to a school in Bangalore in my first year at design school. This school is an educational habitat for kids with different kinds of ability, so to speak. These kids compared to us in enthusiasm just equally, but their ways of going about life were different. There is extra facilitation for these kids in helping them to learn in classrooms, in outdoor activities or interpersonal skills sometimes.
As designers, this project was about breaking this train of thought with a simple question : Who are we designing for?
This question establishes the fact that in a sense of understanding limits of human beings, we all are limited. So if we were to approach a project to design educational products for this group of users, how do we take on the role of empathetic designers?
The project that I worked on for this assignment is about dealing with fables and fairy tale stories that kids devour on when they are growing up. These stories dabble in fantasies and adventure and often suggest ideas of the aspirations of these kids. But another look at these stories will also show you that they are not written for everyone.
Looking at them from the lens of a kid who, for example, has trouble in walking unlike someone else, the only characters that the share resemblance to this condition are either getting pitied or sidelined in the stories.
Looking at them from the lens of a kid who, for example, has trouble in walking unlike someone else, the only characters that the share resemblance to this condition are either getting pitied or sidelined in the stories.
Fair-Retell, taken from the word 'fairy tale', is a storytelling device for kids.
This device had two prospects to address:
...to make a device for kids who cannot see from their eyes as well for kids who can.
...to suggest stories of differently-abled kids in a more adventurous light.
Since this project is largely based on the stories, work had to be done on designing what kind of stories were meant to go in this project. It was clear that a sudden upliftment of the status of a differently-abled character speaks oppositely to the flow of how we want the reality to be shown. Along with inspiration from The Grimm Brother Tales, I wrote one story which tried to work this pattern of storytelling and champion the subtle aspects of portrayal.
The Princess and the Grand Deed
Once lived a Princess Kaushalya with the King and Queen.
She had no legs to walk and was eighteen.
Her parents were ashamed of her and thought she wasn’t beautiful.
Who would marry her and how would she be useful?
She was told to move in a palanquin and not allowed to meet any villager.
‘But you will do a grand deed one day!’ said Maya her sister.
One night in Kaushalya’s sleep, she dreamt of butterflies flying into her room.
They were sparkling blue in colour, and smelled like good perfume.
They told her that a great gift awaits her.
If she does a grand deed in a week here.
Worried, she told Maya about the dream that had come.
Who asked her to find an opportunity for a deed in the kingdom.
Kaushalya sat in the palanquin and went around the palace looking
And caught the Garden Minister declining the old gardener his earning.
She immediately told the guards to take the Minister to the King.
The old Gardener thanked her a lot and stopped crying.
Kaushalya thought she had done it and waited for the butterflies at night.
They came but said this was a good deed, not grand, and flew out of her sight.
In the morning Kaushalya was upset.
But Maya told her not to be sad and remember the bet.
Three days later she saw a man beating his wife in the market.
Sent the man to the king and gave the wife a breadbasket.
Then she saw a donkey tied in the sun by its master.
She ordered the master to untie it and feed it some fodder.
But every night the butterflies came
And their response was the same.
Sad at this, she asks the guards to take her into the forest
So she could look at the starry sky when it was the bluest.
As she entered the deep forest in her palanquin,
A huge festival of people from her kingdom could be seen.
The news of her deeds had reached the neighbouring King
There stood her family and a handsome prince with a ring.
But she said that she doesn’t want to marry anyone
But become a Minister and help the kingdom run.
That night, the butterflies told her that the grand deed was done.
She acted strong and showed she is worthy of throne.
Kaushalya was happy that she did succeed.
She was happy because she had finally done the grand deed.
Once lived a Princess Kaushalya with the King and Queen.
She had no legs to walk and was eighteen.
Her parents were ashamed of her and thought she wasn’t beautiful.
Who would marry her and how would she be useful?
She was told to move in a palanquin and not allowed to meet any villager.
‘But you will do a grand deed one day!’ said Maya her sister.
One night in Kaushalya’s sleep, she dreamt of butterflies flying into her room.
They were sparkling blue in colour, and smelled like good perfume.
They told her that a great gift awaits her.
If she does a grand deed in a week here.
Worried, she told Maya about the dream that had come.
Who asked her to find an opportunity for a deed in the kingdom.
Kaushalya sat in the palanquin and went around the palace looking
And caught the Garden Minister declining the old gardener his earning.
She immediately told the guards to take the Minister to the King.
The old Gardener thanked her a lot and stopped crying.
Kaushalya thought she had done it and waited for the butterflies at night.
They came but said this was a good deed, not grand, and flew out of her sight.
In the morning Kaushalya was upset.
But Maya told her not to be sad and remember the bet.
Three days later she saw a man beating his wife in the market.
Sent the man to the king and gave the wife a breadbasket.
Then she saw a donkey tied in the sun by its master.
She ordered the master to untie it and feed it some fodder.
But every night the butterflies came
And their response was the same.
Sad at this, she asks the guards to take her into the forest
So she could look at the starry sky when it was the bluest.
As she entered the deep forest in her palanquin,
A huge festival of people from her kingdom could be seen.
The news of her deeds had reached the neighbouring King
There stood her family and a handsome prince with a ring.
But she said that she doesn’t want to marry anyone
But become a Minister and help the kingdom run.
That night, the butterflies told her that the grand deed was done.
She acted strong and showed she is worthy of throne.
Kaushalya was happy that she did succeed.
She was happy because she had finally done the grand deed.
Once the story was prepared, the next consideration was form of the device
Reading had to be a seamless process but it had to be a little fun since it has to be used by kids. An illustration strip and alphabets for the kids who can read and comfortable Braille writing for the kids who cannot see.
Reading had to be a seamless process but it had to be a little fun since it has to be used by kids. An illustration strip and alphabets for the kids who can read and comfortable Braille writing for the kids who cannot see.
This form of a cassette was chosen as it made a lot of functions possible
Story-Rolls : for every one of these devices that you buy, one has to only keep changing the story rolls to read a new story. These rolls should be readily available and easy to install and remove from the device.
Play : A hands-on playing experience will suggest a fun experience for a kid and engage him in a different kind of reading experience than just a book in hand.
Play : A hands-on playing experience will suggest a fun experience for a kid and engage him in a different kind of reading experience than just a book in hand.
The text that reads the story out also has Braille embossed on the letters to emphasise the inclusivity of function. Now everyone reads from the same place!
This is the first prototype that came out of the Fair-Retell and it can be designed to look leaner with a mechanism powered electronically to allow for greater accessibility.
The stories are the protagonist of this product and I made this prototype with the idea that it makes it fun for kids to read the story.
The stories are the protagonist of this product and I made this prototype with the idea that it makes it fun for kids to read the story.
