'Abled' to dress up in a jiffy

KANPUR: The physically disabled could now have it easier while dressing up for college. They could do it faster and on their own. Especially, the female students would soon need no assistance for dressing up or using toilets.
Courtesy, special garments designed and developed keeping in mind the specific needs of the physically disabled by the department of textile and clothing of College of Home Science at Chandra Shekhar Azad (CSA) University of Agriculture and Technology.
These garments were designed after a survey revealed that majority of the disabled girls not only experienced problem in putting on clothes but also faced difficulty due to their assistive devices that caused damage to the clothing.
"Besides providing extra comfort to the wearer, it would not be easy to spot that the person is disabled," said Dr Ritu Pandey, associate professor in department of textile and clothing, who has been guiding the project. The readymade garments available in the market do not incorporate the needs of the disabled. This led us to think of a project that would cater to this need, said Dr Pandey.
A survey was carried out among 120 disabled college-goers between the age group of 15-25 years studying in the three prominent educational institutes and rehabilitation centre for handicapped, taking into consideration their preferences and problems in wearing garments designed for the general populace.
The study revealed that 70 per cent of the girls faced problem in putting on clothes and 73.33 per cent claimed to have problems while changing clothes and that they required assistance in dressing and undressing. Also, 76 per cent of the girl students complained of their disability causing hindrance in their daily activities. While 70 per cent of them said that the clothing caused problem while walking, 75 per cent of the respondents said that unfit clothes prevented them from playing.
Over 70 per cent of the females said that their assistive devices caused damage to their clothing. The garment area damaged by using assistive devices included knee (26.66 per cent), under arms (10%) and around hip.
On the basis of the feedback, 20 designs were prepared initially. The garments included long tops with zippers and the trousers had the feature of both sides opening with a zipper. Explaining the reason behind zippers, Dr Pandey said, "Both side opening was used in trousers to help them put on and remove the clothes at ease. Also, velcro has been used in trousers to protect cloth damage due to use of assistive devices."
The above garments would be helpful for the person using callipers (artificial limb), as the person can open the zipper on their own and put on the garment over the calliper easily.
For avoiding damage to the clothes, the area covering the armpits and the knees has been padded since the crutches/supports used by the disabled students cause bruises in these places owing to the immense pressure, said the associate professor.
For those using wheelchairs, particularly those having a disability in the lower limbs, a special pair of trousers have been developed that can be used as full length while standing or reduced to half pants while sitting. Also, short kurta has been designed to prevent rubbing against wheels of wheelchairs.
Students using crutches were provided with foam padding in arm pits of the clothes to prevent friction and a wraparound was stitched to hide their assistive device.
Students with disabilities in their limbs generally prefer string and other means to hold the garment in place of buttons.
It was also found that family members of disabled students lacked awareness on how to get clothes stitched for them. "Our garments have been highly appreciated by the students and authorities of the Ambedkar Institute of Technology, where five of our designs were tried on students of the institute," Pandey concluded.