Last year, 99pi‘s Kurt Kohlstedt suffered a serious injury that initially rendered his right arm and hand both completely numb and paralyzed. Tests revealed severe damage to his right brachial plexus, an essential network of nerves between the arm and spinal cord. Kurt was told to expect a partial recovery spanning years, and has since regained limited use of his impacted limb. New everyday challenges have led him to seek accessible design solutions, which in turn set the stage for Adapt or Design, a twelve-part project of 99% Invisible in three acts. A full set of summaries and links can be found at 99pi.org/adapt
The first act is a six-article mini-series, Single Handed, that delves into inclusive designs for people with one functional hand. The second is a three-article micro-series, Broken Plexus, addressing assistive designs for long-haul recoveries. The third, dubbed Left to Write, is a three-piece set about adaptive one-handed keyboards and typing systems.
In this episode, Kurt and Roman discuss AoD topics including immediate post-injury problems and solutions, such as laced shoe hacks, left-handed pants, magnetic backpack buckles, and adaptive e-reader accessories. They also compare various single-handed keyboard designs as well as Kurt’s custom system for one-handed touch-typing on a two-handed keyboard, which can be replicated across different computers and is freely available for anyone to download, set up, and adapt to their own needs!
This project marks the one-year anniversary of Kurt’s debilitating injury … but this year also features some more upbeat milestones, including: the fifth anniversary of The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design, a New York Times Bestseller about built environments co-authored by Kurt Kohlstedt & Roman Mars. It will also be Kurt’s tenth year with 99pi this fall!
Psst! Adapt or Design: A Project in Three Acts
Wait. You’re still here, and not on main project hub page?! Well then: below you’ll find a brief overview of each act as well as boxed links to the beginning articles of each constituent series. Explore and enjoy!
First, Single Handed is a six article mini-series about adaptive designs for people operating with one functional hand. It centers on everyday challenges and accessible design solutions, including creative shoelace mods, left-handed pants, crossbody-hacked backpacks, assistive e-reader accessories, and more.
Next, over the course of three articles, Broken Plexus covers designing an organized exercise workbook, optimizing slings and braces, and the seeking out apparel to accommodate sensory nerve damage.
Lastly, Left to Write compares adaptive keyboards, reviews the iterative design process Kurt used to develop a custom one-handed keymap for touch-typing on two-handed keyboards, as well as instructions for converting your QWERTY into a single-handed KURTY.
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