Empowered Mobility: Inclusive Apparel and Product Designs for Wheelchair Users Exhibition
“Inclusive design for the community through adaptive clothing and accessories” is the learning outcome of a new service-learning subject at SFT. This is a collaborative effort among SFT, the Service-Learning and Leadership Office (SLLO) at PolyU and 1STep Association. Students form teams to plan, coordinate and collaborate with wheelchair users to design apparel and accessories. The students are taught the concepts of inclusive design, as well as the basic skills and techniques of adaptive clothing design, including pattern design and construction, stitching, smart textile, and hand knitting. Apparel and accessories are used as tools to help the service recipients build inner confidence in their daily activities through the apparel outfits. The students had the opportunity to interact with each recipient to customise design products according to individual needs. A photo exhibition was held in early March 2024 at The Fashion Gallery of PolyU and showcased the creative outputs from this subject.
As the subject lecturers, Professor Kit Yick and Dr Huang Tsai-Chun also emphasised that the subject equips students with the skills and knowledge for inclusive design and adaptive clothing, and fosters a sense of empathy and understanding towards the different needs. This is the first cohort of the subject, kick-started with students from SFT, and students in engineering, design, accounting, service management, linguistics and translation. The subject provides opportunities for them to work and communicate with a diverse group of people, therefore developing their teamwork and communication skills which are very important as the students prepare for their professional future.
We look forward to the next cohort who starts in Autumn 2024 and anticipate a dynamic collaboration with people who have different needs. We are confident that more students at PolyU and service recipients will truly benefit from this subject.
