#WhyNotShowOff

Medical engineers say that if they were not restricted by the tiny size of hearing aid, they could have improved the quality of sound. But still the main marketing requirement is to reduce the size and make the device as invisible as possible. If a hearing aid was designed to hide it better, does this mean that a wearer needs to hide it? If one is supposed to want to conceal the fact that she wears a hearing aid, does it make her actually want it? If so, how does this inflicted desire make one feel about her hearing aid and as a consequence about d/Deafness in general? How does the invisible nature of assistive devices affect their perception in society? If one sees that something is purposefully hidden, being polite means not to notice that. Who puts the invisibility requirement on a device, the d/Deaf or the hearing? Do our designs contribute to the voluntary ignorance about normativity of the body? In what ways they can make us more conscious and equipped for a meaningful communication? These are some of the questions that I intend to put on the table with the #WhyNotShowOff kit.