One of the biggest barriers amputees face is social stigma. Health professionals in the 1940s and 1950s portrayed people with amputated limbs as “troubled” and socially “ill-adjusted”, according to the academic journal The Journal of Dress History, who published a study on the prosthetic leg of the artist Frida Kahlo. This social perception greatly influenced the technology, design, and realism of the appearance of prosthetic limbs during the second half of the 20th century. At that time, the industry saw them as “rehabilitation and cultural tools through which a person with disabilities could defend themselves against social criticism and stigmatization,” the study underlines. But thanks to a gradual process of normalization, these perceptions have changed and many people with disabilities no longer seek to camouflage their differences but rather highlight them through unique and personalized prostheses.
The Alternative Limb Project was founded on that idea. The businesswoman Sophie de Oliviera Barata is a specialist in manufacturing ultra-realistic limbs and for this she is based on the premise of transforming the prosthesis into a medium of art and creativity. De Oliviera Barata collaborates with a team of experts in prosthetics and technology to create “alternative members” that promote “positive conversations around disability and celebrate body differences,” according to the founder on the company’s website. His clients include Paralympic athletes, musicians, models or artists. Among other projects, she designed a glass leg by a Paralympic athlete during the London 2012 Games and an arm with a coiled cobra in it for British swimmer Jo-Jo Cranfield. He even made for Rolls Royce a leg It generates an electric spark when it hits the ground.
This idea of personalization is not new, Frida Kahlo debuted a prosthetic leg very typical of her aesthetics in the fifties. Complications from polio that she suffered as a child and the car accident she suffered at the age of 18 led to the amputation of her right leg in 1953. her artificial leg, which is now in the Frida Kahlo Museum , was studied by The Journal of Dress History with the aim of understanding how it became another element through which the artist reconciled with her physical problems. Her prosthetic leg was fashioned from a laced leather boot with a heel, something that might seem outlandish at the time, but it showed that aesthetics were as important to the artist as function. Orientalist-inspired motifs with dragons and phoenixes are embroidered in green silk on the sides of the boot, and a leather corset serves as the lace that connects the metal tibia to the femur.
In the second half of the 20th century there were different advances in prosthetic technology, documented in an investigation from the Polytechnic University of Madrid. The introduction of silicone elastomer in the 1980s allowed for the development of sockets (what connects the residual limb to the artificial appliance) with greater cushioning and suspension. In the 1990s, the American engineer Van Philips launched the model flex feet, a carbon fiber prosthetic foot with a design that gave the foot a ‘heel’ that improved energy transfer and facilitated actions such as running or jumping. Little by little progress has been made in the idea of defining these prostheses with different aesthetic visions. According to the orthopedic technician Clara Gómez, “10 years ago, most people wanted limbs with skin color.” She adds that thanks to the expansion of the market and the existence of greater awareness among professionals in this field, the options for customizing prostheses have expanded: “Abefore, almost all they were merely functionalbut we realized dand the benefits psychological that contribute carry something nice”.
Manufacturers of prosthetics and orthotics such as Ottobock and UNYQ, as well as clinics such as SIT Ortoprotésica, where Gómez works, offer several options to their patients to adapt their prostheses to their personal style. The person with a disability can use a cover-protective layer of PVC that covers the inside of the member – which comes in different colors, with glitter, and all kinds of designs. Or you can make an aesthetic cover – another type of protective silicone layer that mimics the color of the skin – with tattoos. A design can also be painted or laminated directly on top of the lace.
SIT Ortoprotésica has offices in Barcelona and Madrid and is a specialist in manufacturing upper limbs. Gómez affirms that now “90% of the children who come to the center ask for arms with drawings.” Iron Man, Anna and Elsa from Frozen or Simba, from The Lion King, are among the most popular figures to be laminated on top of covers of children’s arms And although adults tend to prefer something that looks more natural, “there are more and more who want something particular. They especially like the carbon fiber arms, which shows the pattern of the material.” The idea that Frida Kahlo planted has flourished, seventy years later.
The growing popularity of adorning artificial limbs is the result of a gradual process of standardization of prosthetic limbs, says Tomás Atienza, a representative of the Andade (Spanish National Association of Amputees) delegation in Madrid. He believes that one factor that has greatly contributed to amputees being more adventurous has been the increased visibility of the amputee community in the media and on social media. Many influencersmodels, and amputee athletes have taken advantage of these platforms in recent years to become advocates for people with physical disabilities.
In 2015, the Spanish acrobatic gymnastics champion Desirée Vila Bargiela suffered an injury that, due to medical negligence, ended with the amputation of her leg. Now Bargiela is a Paralympian (she finished sixth at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the long jump) and she uses her Instagram to post all kinds of posts aimed at empowering people with disabilities and celebrating bodily differences. She is in favor of changing her looks frequently and commemorate every occasion; she even went to a tattoo parlor to adorn one of his latest orthotics. “I present to you my new paw,” she wrote in the post. Among the drawings painted on the new member, the red, green and blue symbol of the Paralympic games could not be missing.
Other influencers who has become a spokesperson for the community of people with disabilities is the young British tilly lockey. At just 15 months old, Lockey lost both of his forearms to bacterial meningitis. At the age of 13, she received her first pair of bionic arms from Open Bionic, a UK laboratory that manufactures 3D-printed prosthetics under the slogan “turning disabilities into superpowers.” The hero weapon (this is the name of the prosthesis model he has), uses myoelectric technology, which incites an electrical response that moves the arm through muscle contraction. These arms give you a greater range of motion. Lockey, who has since become an ambassador for Open Bionicshare your bionic journey on the company’s digital platform. “Before, I had very basic silicone myoelectric hands. I could only open them (and not much) and close them », he recounts. They were created from a mold of his sister’s. “They made me feel like everyone else. They camouflaged my differences. But this is not what I wanted,” Lockey confesses, “I wanted to stand out. I didn’t want to hide the fact that I had no hands and I wanted to be me.”
Their hero arms they allow you to be the person you have always been. Independent, self-confident, and glamorous. Because in addition to making it easier for her to perform simple gestures with her hands, she can dress them up the way you want using covers personalized. Studded with rhinestones, clad in bubblegum pink armor or covered in intricate geometric designs, her arms are the centerpiece of her photos on Instagram, where she already has more than 100,000 followers.
But like everything, bringing along an alternate member of personal style comes at a price. Tomas Atienzo, representative of Andade Madrid, reports that a prosthesis itself can cost from 4,000 to 12,000 euros, and up to 30,000 when talking about the latest generation models. Although the Social Security financing program for orthoprosthetic members has improved a lot in the last year (Andade emphasizes that until January 2022; the plan had not been updated since 1992), it does not cover any device whose purpose is merely aesthetic, according to what they point out. from the Jens Muller Orthopedic Clinic in Madrid. This means that any person with a disability who wants an aesthetic prosthesis (that resembles the natural member), or personalized with designs, has to pay for it.
«The customization of the prosthesis is something so particular that we cannot give an indicative price of how much it can cost. ANDThe type of prosthesis, the materials, what the patient wants… tAll this influences the price and the final number can vary greatly from one case to another». They explain from the Madrid health center. Even so, the psychological benefit cannot be underestimated. “It can completely transform the relationship you have with your prosthetic limb,” says Gomez. “If you have a nice and unique cosmetic prosthesis you don’t feel the pressure to hide it, and instead of interpreting the looks as something negative, you interpret them as a sign of admiration for your cool arm or leg,” he adds.
Above all, it has an important effect on the little ones. “That a child learns to accept himself and be proud of his differences greatly increases his self-esteem at a key stage of his formation,” says Gómez. “I can’t tell you how many times I hear them say, ‘I can’t wait to go to school and show my new arm to everyone.’ He even hears his siblings say, “I wish I had an arm as cool as my brother’s or sister’s.” Indeed, for them wearing a prosthesis is not a symbol of disability, but a superpower.
#Turning #disability #superpower #evolution #personalized #prosthetics