Dr Graham Pullin
University of Dundee
Co-design and a sense of ownership in rehabilitation services; disability-led design and improvement studies (Project complete)
Background
Dr Graham Pullin’s recent project, Hands of X, involved the creation of unashamed yet understated prosthetic hands co-designed with Corinne Hutton, Eddie Small and Andrew Cook.
The experience of a new service was prototyped within an eyewear retailer. Wearers were encouraged to choose from a range of materials and create a hand that felt their own, by reflecting their identity and stance about their disability.
Conversations with participating prosthetic wearers highlighted the complexity of their feelings about ownership of their hands, and underscored how current prosthetic services – and the prosthetic hands they offer – don’t adequately address this nuance.
A recent exhibition at the V&A Design Museum Dundee opened this conversation out to a wider public audience of disabled and non-disabled visitors.
Digging deeper into issues of ownership and best practices in prosthetics services using the lens of design thinking could help understand potential improvements to these services and the role for healthcare improvement studies.
Approach
This project builds on the work of Hands of X, engaging diverse stakeholders (e.g. prosthetic wearers, policymakers, improvement researchers) to elicit further conversations about ownership and co-design in prosthetics and in healthcare practice in general.
It also explores the adoption of innovative practice, looking particularly at how Hands of X can might be adopted by the NHS.
Finally, it involves illustrating and communicating the role of design in improvement studies.
Watch and listen to find out more about Graham’s fellowship project
Graham gave a lightning talk about his research project at our 2020 annual event, THIS Space.
In this session for THIS Space 2022, Graham took part in a panel discussion on frameworks, models and experiences for inclusive research.
As part of his fellowship project, Graham produced a podcast entitled Four Conversations in a Triangle, which facilitated discussions on prosthetics, aesthetics and ethics.
Episode 2: Tom and Natasha from Jared Schiller on Vimeo.