Like, 90% of infomercial style products were designed by/for disabled people, but you wouldn’t know that, because there is no viable market for them. THey have to be marketted and sold to abled people just so that any money can be made of off them and so the people who actually need them will have access.
I think snuggies are the one example
almosteveryone knows. They were invented for wheelchair users (Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a coat on and off of someone in a wheelchair? Cause it’s PRETTY FUCKIN HARD.) But now everyone just acts like they’re some ~quirky, white people thing~ and not A PRODUCT DESIGNED TO MAKE PEOPLES DAY TO DAY LIVES 10000X EASIER.But if at any point you were to take your head out of your own ass and go “Hey, who would a product like this benefit,” that would be really cool.
This makes informational make so much sense now.
Like… of course there’s no reason for that guy to knock over that bowl of chips. However, the person it was actually designed for has constant hand tremors that would make this pretty rad, but since we don’t want to show that in a commercial, here’s an able bodied guy who can’t remember how gravity works.
Shit. Those commercials suddenly get a lot less funny when you realize it’s pretty much just people ineptly trying to mimic disability.
Or like the thing for the eggs? Like, oh, it cracks eggs perfectly, you only need one hand?
IT WAS DESIGNED FOR PEOPLE WHO ONLY HAVE THE USE OF ONE HAND.
Or the juice bottle pourer? For people who’re TOO LAZY TO POUR THEIR OWN JUICE? Or FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE DIFFICULTY BEARING WEIGHT IN THE HANDS.
It’s amazing how with just a few words by a few people, my whole perspective on something can shift entirely.
I feel so ignorant for never having realized this before.
Don’t feel bad. You’re not supposed to realize it, since the collective conscious isn’t supposed to realize disabled people are sentient and therefore can be advertised at.
This is why I hate those buzzfeed articles that have these products featured and the title is something like “for the laziest people ever” like For example, a device to pick up your sock and put it on your foot with minimal bending over ( http://youtu.be/9GFOqlAmJUc ) , it would take more effort than it’s worth for an able bodied person, but for someone who is disabled, it’s super helpful. These products are not even meant for able people to use, that’s why when they see them they think it’s ridiculous.
yeah it took me forever to realize this too. those buzzfeed articles feel especially weird now because i actually have some of those products – not because i’m lazy, but because it actually allowed me to do more within the constraints of my chronic illness
It’s things like this that make me wonder if ‘laziness’ isn’t a completely made up concept altogether. Like, there are the physically disabled people who are going to use them. Then there’s people who are too depressed to do ‘simple’ tasks, or have some kind of executive dysfunction that makes having a tool to do something easier (sometimes even just as a reminder), or some sort of anxiety that they aren’t going to do it right (the egg cracking thing sounds great for OCD). Then there’s people where these things offer a different kind of stimulation, where because they work in different ways than people expect, they could help with memory loss or offer a better sensory experience. Even completely able-bodied neurotypicals, if they’re going to use these products, I don’t know, maybe it’s because it takes them a while to wake up in the morning, or they’re sleepy when they make dinner because they eat late at night, or the products just make relaxing more convenient (and society does seem to have a problem with relaxation, just generally). I just don’t see where ‘laziness’ is coming in, or what it’s supposed to mean.
Or side-zipper shoes with long pull-tabs, – great for people with back injuries, who can’t bend over to touch their feet, so putting on shoes and lacing is super hard.
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