Prosthetics is a manmade artificial body part that people have been developing since back then in ancient Egypt and following, its major advancements in past centuries due to military needs. Surprisingly prosthetic legs are easier to make or design compared to prosthetic hands. Prothetic hands or myoelectric arms that are powered by battery only started developing during the Cold War and according to Britt, the early myoelectric hand couldn’t even grab a piece of paper. Passive prosthesis or cosmetic prosthesis is a much better version which is realistic and could move and form different grip pattern. Some other problems that remains during the development of prosthesis are them being heavy, uncomfortable, hot and not being able to perform certain actions like turning a doorknob.
Most people see people with disability as objects of inspiration and give special attention when disability is in the equation. Social media shaped disability as a tool of inspiration for the benefit of non-disabled people with the images and quotes, in which Stella Young called it as inspiration porn. Like what Stella Young said, it made people to think “well, however bad my life is, it could be worse; I could be that person.” Disabled people are viewed as brave or inspirational in doing ordinary things while they get objectified. Often the challenges that disabled people overcome are not the things that people usually think. The challenge is not from the body but the society and the diagnoses. People may think that claiming a disabled person as inspirational may be a compliment, however, it is a kind of injustice in marginalizing them as exceptional.
How does/doesn’t Technology designed to Help People with Disability Benefits People with Disability?
Technology designed to help people with disability such as adaptive keyboards help people with visual impairments or one-handed users. They have higher keys compared to normal keyboards, which make people to find the keys easier and avoid typos. Automatic doors are also another technology that help people with disability.
Though a lot of designs can benefit people with disability, however, they often come with extremely high price tag that make them inaccessible. Besides, some prothesis are heavy, uncomfortable, and lack functionality or predictability.