While progress has been made in assistive technologies, eye-tracking technology, mouth-controlled joysticks or voice recognition assistance have their limitations. They lack privacy (dictating texts aloud, for example) or are obtrusive or tiring to use (mouth-controlled devices can damage teeth). The experience can be frustrating and leave people with disabilities with reduced autonomy.
The jury was looking for work where ‘you cannot imagine a world before this work existed,’ said jury president Grace Francis, global chief creative and design officer at WongDoody. ‘This Grand Prix is truly something I’ve never seen before, and it’s really important for disabled people because we often think about mobility design as [helping users] get from A to B, helping you to do your work, simple essentials.’ By contrast, MouthPad empowers users to have autonomy over smaller acts that improve their quality of life.
Francis also revealed that Shellmet, protective gear made from recycled scallop shells and the sole Gold Lion-winner in the category, was also in the running for the Grand Prix. Ultimately, they said, it came down to the impact the innovation could have on human life.
‘For me, it's about ability design [being] able to [achieve] such a wide, encompassing change in our lives,’ said Francis. ‘It can do anything – I did not expect to say masturbation in the first 10 minutes of the conference. But the World Health Organisation says it's a human right to be able to connect with our own sexuality and our own bodies, and I don't think enough people are talking about that.’
