Kurt Kohlstedt
Digital Director, Producer and Writer at 99% Invisible
Skeptical urbanist & design journalist @ 99% Invisible || NYT Best Seller: https://t.co/KhGoSU5sEH || M. Arch || Now on https://t.co/MgPk4huBmU 🦝
Articles
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1 month ago |
99percentinvisible.org | Kurt Kohlstedt
Peripheral neuropathy feels paradoxical at times, as sensory nerve damage can lead both to extreme hypersensitivity on the one hand, as well as sections of complete numbness on … well, that very same injured hand. The impacts of such damage can be felt most persistently in the realm of apparel. Increased sensitivity (hyperesthesia) coupled with unusual pain responses to ordinary stimuli (allodynia) can make ordinary fabrics, seams, and tags feel unusually (and even unbearably abrasive).
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1 month ago |
99percentinvisible.org | Kurt Kohlstedt
I’ve worn a lot of orthoses over the past year, the designs of which have varied more widely than I would have anticipated, considering that each one addresses aspects of the same injury. There are soft slings made mostly of cloth and hard braces that incorporate metal and thermoplastics; off-the-shelf designs and custom creations. Some cover as little as half of my right hand; others the majority of that arm.
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1 month ago |
99percentinvisible.org | Kurt Kohlstedt
Severe brachial plexus injuries (BPI) are relatively rare, which can make it difficult for sufferers to find useful resources. Broken Plexus is a three-part micro-series on assistive design, centered on (but not limited to) people with serious BPIs facing long-haul recoveries. The brachial plexus is a critical network of nerve pathways running between the spinal cord and the arm.
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1 month ago |
99percentinvisible.org | Kurt Kohlstedt
Each of the five pieces in this miniseries, leading up to this one, has considered a different subset of adaptive design problems for people dealing with one working hand, like I was in the wake of a serious accident. We’ve covered various solutions I researched, evaluated, and adopted along the way; some of which I found, others I adapted, and still others I created.
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1 month ago |
99percentinvisible.org | Kurt Kohlstedt
A severe arm injury can leave you with a lot of time on your hands, while simultaneously limiting your recreational options. For me, two-handed video games were out, at least until I had the time and patience to research and learn to use accessible gaming controllers. At the same time, physical therapy soaked up any athletic energy I might have had for sports and such.
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My boy Ohren's big debut modeling seasonal apparel for a highly relevant article on *checks notes* how his owner's paradoxical nerve damage impacts his human clothings choices 🙃 #99pi #brachialplexus
In this third and final act of Broken Plexus, 99pi's @kurtkohlstedt covers clothing challenges raised by often paradoxical sensory inputs, from numbness to hypersensitivity ... oh and: dog apparel pics for, uh, illustrative purposes‽🥰 #adaptivedesign https://t.co/sknWNrNxVH
RT @99piorg: Last year, 99pi's @KurtKohlstedt suffered a severe injury initially rendering his right arm and hand both completely numb and…
Approaching the six-month anniversary of my brachial plexus injury. My right arm has come a long way from full paralysis, but it's still a work in progress. Meanwhile, being the nerd that I am: all of my splints, slings, braces, etc… feature a 99% Invisible patch. 🤓 #99pi4life https://t.co/5smzisYJ1Y