Designing for the disabled?

So many times I've heard someone take up projects which fall into that category. What do people mean when they talk about disabilities? We've all had a coffee time conversation about the blind, the deaf, the maimed, the mentally challenged. Who do we refer to when we talk about these things? Deaf people, for example. The people who have a physical impairment in their ears.. are they deaf? I think they're the best listeners around. Every moment of their existence, they are trying hard to just listen. They are not deaf, they just don't have the proper hardware to listen. The blind.. I wonder if there's even a single moment in their lives that they spend without trying to mentally visualize something or the other from the world around them. They would incessantly be wondering what is colour, what is bright, what is dim, how does light look.. They're not blind.

I've never really interacted with a person who had dysfunctional eyes or ears; but I sure have talked to disabled people. The real disabled people. The people who have all the necessary equipment to listen, to see, but who have a real impairment: They have no capability to listen, no mental ability to really see what their eyes are trying to show. Such people are everywhere. They talk and talk and talk but all that comes out of their mouths is senseless. They are not physically unable to speak; they're just unable to use their ability to speak to say anything worthwhile or sensible. These people look as if they can listen, they seem as if they're listening, but when you've finished talking and made your point, they open their mouths and you realize they've heard nothing. They start talking about the same old senseless things they've always talked about.

These disabilities are spreading everywhere and becoming graver by the day. The biggest problem is detection. The people who have these disabilities medically seem totally healthy and hence, never even realize they're disabled. The only subtle hint that they ever get is that life continuously seems confusing, unjust, revolting and something that deserves to be conquered and ruled over, instead of simply deserving to be lived.

I often think of a parallel universe where everything is set right. There are institutions for real disabilities like these. All these mentally deaf, dumb and blind people are put in these homes and are trained to use the perfectly healthy eyes, ears and mouths that they've got. When a person says something, they're trained to respond, not repeat what they'd said earlier to which the person had in turn responded. And the people with medical impairments are all sitting around a coffee table and casually having a conversation about these hapless poor beings, wondering how they ever get through life.

So many times I've seen designs for the disabled. So many times it has seemed ironic. And I dont just mean physical disabilities. This applies to all kinds of shortcomings, be it monetary, scholastic, mental or physical.