Materials of Independence: High and Low Tech Designs for Disability

Time: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.

Place: 6th Floor Conference Room, Chemical Heritage Foundation

Information: 215-873-8289 or bbl@chemheritage.org

Throughout the last half of the 20th century, people with disabilities became increasingly visible in American society, agitating for rights protections and equal access to education and employment. Though this movement drew on the lessons of race- and gender-based activism of the time, it was unique in its focus on technological change—from new medical aids to building design—as a tool of civil rights.

In this talk, Williamson will describe how designers, engineers, and manufacturers directed technological innovation toward the cause of greater independence for people with physical abilities from the postwar period to end of the century. Sometimes employing cutting-edge new materials and devices, sometimes revisiting more conventional tools, these American producers sought technical solutions that would fit a diverse array of body shapes, sizes, and abilities.

Bess Williamson is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Delaware. Her dissertation, “The Right to Design: Disability and Access in the United States, 1945–1990,” describes the role of technology and design in the American Disability Rights movement. She received a Master's in Design History in a program jointly operated by Parsons School of Design and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in 2005.