The exhibition shows how Disabled people have designed for every aspect of life through their own experience and expertise, tracing the political and social history of design and disability. 170 objects are on display across three sections – Visibility, Tools and Living – spanning design, art, architecture, fashion, and photography.
The exhibition also explores the rich history of Disabled designers challenging ableism in the design industry, as well as the practitioners working today to 'hack' pre-existing design to make it more usable.
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About the exhibition
Design and Disability begins with a rest space for visitors to orient themselves and address any access needs. A tactile map, audio description and BSL welcome is available to visitors, as well as a sensory map, large print, and plain English guides.
Section 1: Visibility
The exhibition's first section, Visibility, explores how Disabled makers visualise and express their own identities across fashion, photography, demonstrations, graphic design and zine culture. Highlights include the hypervisual ensemble by designer and activist Sky Cubacub, including their gender-affirming, adaptive garment Rebirth Garments Binder, and a handmade Notting Hill Carnival Costume inspired by Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus, sewn by Maya Scarlette, a fashion designer with ectrodactyly.
Photography in this section includes Marvel Harris' self-portrait 'First Swim after Rebirth', a joyous self-portrait taken following gender-affirming surgery. As an autistic person who has dealt with issues of self-acceptance, well-being and gender identity, it celebrates Disabled joy. Also on display is a portrait by Scallywag Fox of performer Davina Starr, a member of Drag Syndrome Collective, the world's first drag troop featuring drag Queens and Kings with Down's Syndrome.
DIY cultures, like self‑publishing and podcasting, are essential alternatives to mainstream media, holding a space where Disabled people can create ‘by and for’ themselves. In this section we offer a small selection of zines and podcasts that reflect on themes of self‑representation and visibility.
You can listen to three podcasts here:
The White Pube, ‘Slow Art’, September 2024
Zarina Muhammad and Gabrielle de la Puente take turns spilling their guts and trying to right the art world's wrongs.
Say my Meme, ‘Cats, Cats, Cats’, February 2021
Will and Caroline seek to describe five of the internet's best cat memes, past and present, and invite listeners to submit their own meme descriptions
Contra* Making (1) with Corbett O'Toole
Contra* Making (2) with Corbett O'Toole
Aimi Hamraie's podcast about disability, design justice, and the lifeworld.
Another example of editorial representation of disability is Dysfluent Magazine, which uses graphic and font design by Conor Foran to represent how people who stammer speak, de-stigmatising stammering, and actively taking pride in it. Derived from the word 'dysfluency', meaning a disruption in the flow of speech, the typeface repeats or stretches letterforms, giving stammering its own visual identity.
Section 2: Tools
The second section, Tools, explores the creativity of Disabled people in adapting and subverting designed objects to suit a greater diversity of access needs. This section challenges the way society views Disabled people as passive users of design, instead focusing on their inventing, breaking, adapting and 'hacking' the designed world for themselves.
On display is the Touchstream keyboard by Fingerworks (2005) by Wayne Westerman, a technology which revolutionised the tech industry and was later used in the iPhone 1. Other examples of tools in this section include the first Microsoft Xbox Adaptive Controller 2018, as well as a selection of hacked prosthetics including silicone cutlery holders and eyeliner holders used at home by Cindy Garni. Simple, clever, and ultimately more useful to Cindy than her expensive robotic hand, the prosthetics have challenged and expanded our ideas of engineering.
This section also looks at the relationship between design and disability across the world. On display are photographs taken by Simon Way, which document Jaipur Foot, who make free prosthetic legs, feet and arms for millions of people across India, many of whom became Disabled because of landmines, war, illnesses like polio, or railway accidents.
Section 3: Living
The final section Living explores how Disabled people have imagined the worlds that they want to live in through design, and how they have affected change in the environment around them through protest. It explores how Disabled people have advocated for access and design through artistic interventions and solidarity movements, such as the Anti-Stairs Club by Finnegan Shannon and Camp Jened.
Highlight objects in this section include the McGonagle Reader, an audio-assisted voting device to help Blind and low vision people to vote independently, and 'Public S/Pacing' by Helen Stratford, a rest blanket for use in public spaces. Also on display is the Squeeze Chair (chaise longue), 1998, a recliner developed by artist Wendy Jacob, which embraces the sitter between two red mohair arms, providing comforting sensory feedback for those who appreciate deep pressure stimulation.
The finale of this section is a specially designed decompression zone, for self-regulation, reflection, and rest. The area includes comfortable seats, a collection of objects designed by occupational therapists, many of them Disabled themselves, as well as an installation by artist Seo Hye Lee, which uses creative, emotive subtitling to reimagine archival film.
Design and Disability is on at V&A South Kensington from 7June 2025 – 15 February 2026.
