Handicapped Design
From: Product Design and Development - 08/17/2009 - page 46
By: Mike Rainone

One of the better places to look for new product inspiration is from the
disabled because it enriches everyone and allows human potential to flourish.  

Like many of you, I am always searching for new sources of inspiration — for
ways of looking at things that will spark the creative juices.  

It's really the way most of us try to enhance serendipity, when you find
something that makes you think “Aha! That was so obvious, why didn't someone
(I) think of it.” 

You try to figure out what path the innovation took, and what set of
conditions were in place to create that inspiration. One of the more
interesting places to seek inspiration is from the disabled, because of what
we can learn about the ways they must compensate for the challenges life has
provided.  

There are at least three reasons to look at disability as a source of
inspiration. First, we are all destined to fit into that category eventually,
and as we age, the line between the technically disabled and the "aged" is
not so distinct. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.pddnet.com/news-innovation-handicapped-design-081809