“An act of joy and resistance.” This is how Natalie Kane, Curator of Digital Design at V&A, describes Design and Disability, the museum’s latest show. It showcases the radical contributions of Disabled, Deaf and neurodivergent people to contemporary design and culture, from the 1940s to now, across 170 objects.
The exhibition is split into three sections. Visibility spans fashion, photography, graphics, typography and zine culture. It’s exciting to see printed publications front-and-centre here, with contributions from Able Zine, Bed Zine and Dysfluent Magazine. Tools, meanwhile, focuses on how Disabled people have invented, broken, adapted and “hacked” various objects to meet a greater diversity of access needs. In 2005, Wayne Westerman and Fingerworks revolutionised the tech industry with Touchstream. Conceived to help alleviate severe hand pain, Touchstream replaced a traditional keyboard with a touch-sensitive surface and sensors to track movements like pinching, swiping and scrolling. If this sounds familiar, that’s because it is: the technology would later be used in the first iPhone. Other landmark innovations include the adaptive Xbox controller by Microsoft, which was a huge moment for gamers and the first of its kind to be manufactured at scale. The final part is titled Living, with a focus on protest and advocacy, and how practitioners are building spaces on their terms, in which they can thrive.
Beyond the objects on display, V&A is rethinking what an exhibition needs to be truly accessible. The show includes self-regulation and resting areas as well as additional seating. It has been planned to consider Deaf Space principles, and will feature BSL guides, and an array of tactile objects, surfaces and floors, to help orient blind and low vision visitors. This show is both a celebration of Disabled-led design and a call for action, affirming the importance of embedding the experiences and expertise of Disabled people in creative processes. We caught up with Kane to discuss how the show came to life.
A: This is an essential exploration of Disabled-led design. Where did the idea for the show come from?
NK: The V&A has always been interested in design’s relationship with disability. It has acquired objects such as Engineering at Home and the McGonagle Reader, which are currently on permanent display in the Design 1900-Now galleries. The idea for this show came about from conversations around prosthetic design. We wanted to expand this, and take the opportunity to look at design and disability more broadly – to explore what Disabled cultural production across many different fields means today. It is always the time to have conversations about Disability in the design world, but right now there’s a lot of momentum building – although it’s steeped in such a deep history.
A: How did the insights of Disabled artists and activists inform the curation?
NK: We had a two-stage advisory process, over many months. Our initial advisory group comprised eleven Disabled, Deaf, neurodivergent, chronically ill and Mad people from across design, architecture, community practice and the arts who gave feedback on the content, interpretation and early-stages of the exhibition. They were really important in keeping us accountable and generating conversation. Our design team then brought in Disordinary Architecture; they are a Disabled collective who ensured our show was accessible and could meet multiple different access requirements. These two stages have ensured a holistic approach to exhibition-making. It shows that access can be considered from the beginning and be woven seamlessly into a brief. Access is integral and key to so many people’s enjoyment. I think we’ve proven that access and aesthetics aren’t interchangeable. There’s no excuse not to consider Disabled communities, and their experience, in your planning. The team internally is Disabled and non-Disabled, so we’ve had multiple collaborative conversations around what access means to all of us.
A: Does the show challenge the ways in which Disabled people have been overlooked by the industry?
NK: Disabled people have always been a part of design and its history, whether formally recognised or not. Often, narratives around a Disabled person’s contributions suggest that Disabled-designed objects are made FOR Disabled people, not BY them, which isn’t always the case. One example is the OXO Good Grips. The narrative around them suggests that they were made for Betsey Farber by her husband, but what’s often missing is that she was previously Director of Design of OXO – so had her own knowledge and was part of the process. Also absent from these conversations is the recognition of the expertise of the many, many Disabled people who contributed to the prototypes that got us to the final product – the consultative voices who took part in Smart Design’s focus groups, using their lived experience and suggestions to contribute to the final product. With this exhibition, we are hoping to change that. Design is a process, and lived experience is expertise – especially so with Disabled people.
A: You split Design and Disability into three sections: Visibility, Tools and Living. Could you talk us through what these areas include, and why you chose to guide visitors through the display in this way?
NK: There’s no way to do a full, complete history of disability and design – it would fill many galleries! We wanted to focus on a few conversations and themes that could highlight some areas in which design interacts with Disabled cultural production. Visibility asks what it means to be represented; Tools looks to the ways in which we make, break, adapt and hack, ourselves and with others, the designed world with objects; and Living looks to how we live together and independently, looking to joy and creative spaces where disability-first thinking has been the catalyst. Although there’s a clear line you can follow, there’s no prescribed narrative, and we’re keen for people to take their time – there’s plenty of seats for people to gather their thoughts. What’s important to note is that visitors will have a welcoming and leaving space where they’ll be able to orient themselves, choose what access they need, and then at the end have time to rest, sit down and relax before going out into the main museum again. Rest is fundamental to this show.
A: What were the key principles you considered when making sure the exhibition was accessible?
NK: Our team worked with DisOrdinary Architecture and their team of Disabled creatives to consider a number of principles, including neurodiverse principles and those that centre around Deaf Space, using reflection, vibration and considerations around sensory space to ensure that Deaf and hard of hearing visitors would enjoy using the space. We have considerations around colour and texture, particularly around thresholds and obstructions which will aid navigation and wayfinding for our blind and low vision audiences. There’s a lot of thought put into tactility in the exhibition furniture, and there’s a plethora of seats and resting spots. One of the things we learned from DisOrdinary Architecture was that we couldn’t design a space that would work for everyone, but that there was a way that we could go “beyond compliance” and see a space as a generative and creative opportunity for access for as many as possible.
A: The inclusion of grassroots and digital communities is especially significant in the Visibility section. Can you tell us more about how zines and independent media have contributed to the conversation?
NK: We’ve chosen to include zines and indie publishing because, for many Disabled people, our voices or narratives have often been heavily mediated. So, we’ve had to make our own media and represent ourselves. We will be displaying editions of Able Zine or Sick Zine, as well as the Toomey J Gazette, which is one of the earliest examples of indie publishing for, and by, a Disabled audience. It was made by polio patients which, alongside gossip columns, also shared design ideas that were authored by Disabled people. Another example on display is Black Disabled Lives Matter by Jen White Johnson, a digital graphic-turned-poster which rapidly became used as protest material in the light of the murder of George Floyd in 2020. We’ve also got examples of projects like Dysfluent, which is a font and magazine that aims to present how people who stammer speak through printed matter. The 504 Font by Emily Sara is made from dozens of placards from the 1977 504 sit-in protests, a landmark moment in disability rights history. These are part of creating a legacy where mainstream culture has either ignored, erased or flattened disability. It’s really exciting to show such an incredible variety of graphic culture in the show.
A: In the Tools section, you highlight how Disabled people are not merely passive consumers of design but active innovators. Could you share a standout example from this section?
NK: A great one is Adaptive Hacks, a community resource and response network by Mary Slattery. It’s essentially an Instagram page where Disabled people ask for recommendations to problems they have, and Disabled-led collective expertise responds, suggesting existing objects that are reappropriated, augmented or made new. Or, someone will suggest how to make something. It’s a huge network of people reacting to the (often unsuitable) designs of today and building brilliant things – many of which might only work for that person. It’s great to see something which pushes against the gadgets we often see marketed at Disabled people, which are expensive, unnecessary and can be seen to “fix disability” with their techno-solutionism – when, actually, all that’s needed sometimes is a pair of well-placed rubber bands.
A: How does the show acknowledge the intersectionality of disability with other identities?
NK: Disability is often only one aspect of someone’s identity or sense of being in the world, so a lot of the objects in this show aim to speak to multiple different experiences. Many people are multiply marginalised and therefore experience disability and the design world in different ways. We’ve sought to respond to this, particularly in conversations around debility and medical injustice. One example is the Pulse Oximeter, from 2020, which failed to adequately read the blood oxygen levels of those with darker skin tones in the earlier days of COVID-19. It led to many members of the Black and Asian community not getting emergency help sooner, and to long term, debilitating health conditions.
A: What do you hope visitors, and the industry more broadly, take away from the experience?
NK: I hope that Disabled people feel affirmed, excited and represented. I also hope they feel rested! We’ve tried to be thoughtful about the experience, and what it means for visitors to give their time to us. For the design community, it’s very much an invitation to be open collaborators willing to listen and communicate. There are so many ideas here that aren’t about solutions or trying to “fix” disability – which is often the trap that non-disabled designers fall into with gadgets, even if they don’t intend to. I hope this exhibition gives confidence, power and community to the next generation of Disabled, Deaf and Neurodivergent creatives. It’s meant for them to see parts of themselves in it – though of course disability is not a monolith: it’s complex and amazing and impossible to surmise in 170 objects. For those non-Disabled industry visitors, I hope that it gives tools for allyship, or goes in some way to help them start to build a toolkit that ensures access and justice. We hope the industry can take some lessons from the access methods we’ve used and build on them, and see the importance of prioritising access. Mostly, I hope that this encourages design teams to nurture, fund and support Disabled practitioners so that we see more of what we see in the show. I’m excited for the conversations the exhibition creates.
Design and Disability is at Victoria and Albert Museum, London, until 15 February.
Words: Eleanor Sutherland & Natalie Kane
Image Credits:
1. Fork for Cindy suspended in a silicone cap. Photo by Michael J. Maloney.
2. ‘First Swim after Rebirth’, 2018. Image from the series ‘Inner Journey, 2014–ongoing. © Marvel Harris, courtesy of the artist.
3. Jewellery Becomes Law by Ntiense Eno-Amooquaye. 2023, Intoart Collection. © Ntiense Eno-Amooquaye. Photo by Adama Jalloh.
4. Xbox Adaptive Controller, developed by Microsoft. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
