Designing Disability

Designing Disability traces the emergence of an idea and an ideal - physical access for the disabled - through the evolution of the iconic International Symbol of Access (ISA). The book draws on design history, material culture and recent critical disability studies to examine not only the development of a design icon, but also the cultural history surrounding it.
Infirmity and illness may be seen as part of human experience, but 'disability' is a social construct, a way of thinking about and responding to a natural human condition. Elizabeth Guffey's highly original and wide-ranging study considers the period both before and after the introduction of the ISA, tracing the design history of the wheelchair, a product which revolutionised the mobility needs of many disabled people from the 1930s onwards. She also examines the rise of 'barrier-free architecture' in the reception of the ISA, and explores how the symbol became widely adopted and even a mark of identity for some, especially within the Disability Rights Movement.
Yet despite the social progress which is inextricably linked to the ISA, a growing debate has unfurled around the symbol and its meanings. The most vigorous critiques today have involved guerrilla art, graffiti and studio practice, reflecting new challenges to the relationship between design and disability in the twenty-first century.

Elizabeth Guffey is Professor of Art and Design History and directs the MA in Modern and Contemporary Art, Criticism and Theory at the State University of New York, Purchase College, USA. She is co-editor of Making Disability Modern (Bloomsbury, 2020) and author of Designing Disability (Bloomsbury, 2018), Posters: A Global History (2015) and Retro: The Culture of Revival (2013). She is Founding Editor of Design and Culture and has also published essays in a number of popular publications, including The New York Times and The Nation.

Acknowledgments Illustrations Introduction: Disability By Design? Design's Misfit Defining Disability Defining a Symbol PART ONE: History of an Idea: Access (- 1961) Origins of a Misfit Design: The Advent of the Modern Wheelchair (- 1945) An Environmental Misfit A Symbol of Defeat? How to Behave in a Bath-Chair The Chair That Changed the World Fitting In (1945 - 1961) Accessing a Culture on Four Wheels The Nugent Ethic An Attack on Barriers PART TWO: Redesigning Signs and Space (1961 - 1974) The Personal Politics of Signs (1961 - 1965) What a Good Sign Can Do Down the "Welfare Path" The Ideologies of "Self-Help" and "Social Welfare Cultures" Breaking Barriers Signs of Discrimination (1965 - 1968) The Secret Signs of Disabled People Positive Discrimination and the Psychology of Disablement Towards s Universal Sign A Design for the Real World? (1968 - 1974) A Technical Aid Man and The Environment A Misfit Head A Positive Step Forward PART THREE: A Mark of Identity? (1974 - Today) Signs of Protest (1974 - 1990) "The Selma of Handicapped Rights" Rights and Protest Passing the ADA: Compliance and Defiance A Critical Design? (1990 - Today) A Cry for Help A 21st Century Makeover Epilogue: The Beginning of the End? Bibliography