Olin College - Special Topics in Design Engineering

Investigating Normal

Course Description: Assistive technologies usually refer to prosthetics and
medical aids: tools, devices, and other gear that either restore or augment
the functioning of body parts. Historically, these have been designed for
people with diagnosable disabilities. In this course, we look at medical as
well as cultural tools that investigate the “normal” body and mind, and we
design our own devices - high-tech, low-tech, digital, or analog - with these
ideas in mind. Through readings, site visits, guest speakers, and projects,
we investigate both traditional and unusual prosthetics and assistive
technologies, broadly defined. We talk to end-users, to engineers and
industrial designers, to artists, and to others whose technologies assist
with visible and invisible needs, externalize hidden dynamics, and create
capacities far beyond or outside ordinary functionality. The course is
organized to facilitate both functional projects in design engineering and
projects that are much more speculative and experimental.

Source:
http://www.olin.edu/course-listing/engr3299-special-topics-design-engineering

Links:
Investigating Normal: Adaptive and Assistive Technologies
https://ablersite.org/investigating-normal

All Technology Is Assistive
https://medium.com/backchannel/all-technology-is-assistive-ac9f7183c8cd

Examined Life - Judith Butler & Sunaura Taylor (video 14:23)
https://youtu.be/k0HZaPkF6qE

Investigating Normal (video 4:21)
https://youtu.be/3OZlOEIpaSI