99PI Staffer Goes Deep Into Assistive Tech

[jesse_the_k]

99pi.org/adapt

Kurt Kohlstedt has spent ten years creating audio and print stories for the design podcast, 99% Invisible. He also co-authored the 99% Invisible City book.

Last year, 99pi’s Kurt Kohlstedt suffered a severe injury that incapacitated his right arm and dominant hand. In the aftermath, new everyday challenges led him to research, test, and evolve accessible design solutions. These experiences set the stage for Adapt or Design, a twelve-part project of 99% Invisible in three acts, available at the short link 99pi.org/adapt

The Adapt or Design series includes many groan-worthy puns related to hands; six essays exploring assistive designs for people with one functional hand; three design hacks and mods that helped Kurt manage long-term rehabilitation; and three final essays diving deep into adaptive writing technologies including a free one-handed "mirror keyboard" for Windows PowerToys.

While the first article posted in April, I just heard about it via the 99% Invisible podcast 630, where Kurt and Roman talk about all these things.

Comments

I'm a stone design nerd, so it's one of my weekly happy places.

[jesse_the_k]

There's lots of lessons in Kurt's series, and the kindest of them is the Hand Lenders Point Out Adaptive Designs & Helpful Ideas, where he gives credit to the other folks who pointed him in useful directions. My favorite there was ChronicallyJenni's technique to wrap a present so it's very easy to unwrap--basically take a skinny ribbon that's 4x the circumference of the package, tie loops in each end that a flail hand can fit through, and then wrap the ribbon under the paper with a loop hanging out. Grab the loop and it rips open the paper.

Re: I'm a stone design nerd, so it's one of my weekly happy places.

[capri0mni]

Ooh! Thanks for the links.

My father would have loved the wrapping video. He always wrapped packages with only folds and zero tape, so that the paper could always be reused.

Re: I'm a stone design nerd, so it's one of my weekly happy places.

[jesse_the_k]

I've been trying to imagine how that's accomplished and failing. Did he use ribbons to hold the folded construction together?

Re: I'm a stone design nerd, so it's one of my weekly happy places.

[capri0mni]

He didn't use any more ribbon than usual, though that was part of it. He was just very good at figuring out the right amount of paper needed, and creasing it just so, so that its own tension would hold itself together.

(He also earned the nickname "stacks," one time, for rearranging the trash in a rented dumpster, so the non-profit we were volunteering for could save money).

Re: I'm a stone design nerd, so it's one of my weekly happy places.

[jesse_the_k]

Stacks maximizing space in the dumpster makes me smile so hard! Thanks for sharing the memory.