A mannequin upper body wears a gray and green vest-like suit.

Aura Power Suit (prototype), 2016, fuseproject and Seismic, designers. Lent by fuseproject

Access+Ability

Heinz Galleries

Access+Ability highlights some of the extraordinary research and designs developed over the past decade with and by people who span a wide range of physical, cognitive, and sensory abilities. Fueled by demand, as well as advances in research and technology, a proliferation of functional, life-enhancing products is creating unprecedented access.

The objects on view, many of which are still prototypes, represent the future of accessibility design. Low-tech designs that assist with daily routines, digital technology like eye-tracking devices for communicating and editing, sensors that stabilize tremors associated with Parkinson’s disease, innovations in all-terrain wheelchairs—these are some of the devices augmenting the potential for people to access the world.

Access+Ability was organized by the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. The CMOA presentation of Access+Ability is organized by Rachel Delphia, the Alan G. and Jane A. Lehman Curator of Decorative Arts and Design.

Exhibition Images

Neon, patterned cover for a prosthetic leg.
An open notebook with the words “emma” written twice, once messy and once cleanly, with an arm wearing a watch in the right corner.
A woman with short grey hair leans back with her face tilting upwards, shwoing off a bejeweled hearing aid on her left ear.
Three bowls and four colorful measuring cups displayed in a wooden carrier.
A mannequin head wears a device that wraps around the forehead and connects to a cord with a piece that rests in the mouth.
Racing wheelchair.

Support

Major support for this exhibition is provided by the Henry L. Hillman Fund and The Fellows of Carnegie Museum of Art. Additional support is provided by the Decorative Arts Exhibition Fund.

Supporting Sponsor