Personalised assistive products : managing stigma and expressing the self

In the design of assistive products, the focus is on the products’ assistive utility functions. Less attention is paid to functions which could allow users to identify with the products, or to express their identities. Associations that assistive products create are seldom addressed. More research has been carried out on the stigma of disability than on the possible stigma caused by assistive products. Yet, it appears that rather than experiencing disability as stigmatising, particularly young people associate stigma with using assistive products and attempt to influence that. Personalisation of assistive products is a phenomenon that has not yet been studied, at least not from the viewpoint of managing stigma. In this doctoral research, the stigma of using assistive products is explored from the viewpoint of design. Answers are sought for how young adults with physical disability experience the design of assistive products (including accessible space) in use, what the assumed stigma associated with the products is like, and how young adults manage the stigma. A perspective is adopted, which considers people with disability as active and inventive in relation to their assistive products. The personalization of assistive products is explored as a means of managing the assumed stigma. The phenomenon of personalising assistive products is approached as a case. Understanding the phenomenon is gained by exploring literature on products’ role in identification, a questionnaire on assistive device satisfaction, an Internet database about users’ inventive product modifications, interviews with professionals who work with users, and interviews with users who have personalised their assistive products. A theoretical framework, which has also guided the analysis of the data, considers the role of products in identification. The social and material construction of the self, similarity and difference between people, and the emergence of roles, types and stereotypes are unfolded. The meaning of products in constructing and expressing the self is explored. Perceiving and interpreting products, various product functions and managing impression with products are discussed. Particularly products that stigmatise and stereotype are in the focus and light is shed on the nature and emergence of stigma, the assumed stigma of using assistive products, and people’s techniques in managing stigma. Diverse angles help understand the multifaceted consequences of using assistive products. The findings are organised into a typology where users’ experiences of both ready-made and personalised assistive products are categorised into types and subtypes, which describe the various functions assistive products can have. The negative types, Instruments, Misrepresentations and Uniforms, reveal the complexity of the stigma associated with current ready-made assistive products. The neutral types, Shields and Mainstream Products, show how users managed the stigma by personalising the products. The positive types, Accessories, Handicrafts and Prestige…