The department of textile and clothing in the College of Home Science at Chandra Shekhar Azad (CSA) University of Agriculture and Technology in Kanpur has designed special clothes for the physically-challenged persons, particularly women.
In a survey conducted among physically disable students studying in various institutions, it was found that such persons faced maximum discomfort while dressing up since their clothes were not tailored to suit their needs.
The assistive devices used by such persons, including crutches and calipers, also cause damage to their clothes. Nearly 70 per cent of the females interviewed during the survey said that their assistive devices caused considerable damage to their clothing. The garment area damaged by using assistive devices included knee, under arms and around the hip.
Dr Ritu Pandey, associate professor in department of textile and clothing, who has been guiding the project, says, “Besides providing extra comfort to the wearer, these clothes would go a long way in making the persons self reliant. Besides, such persons said that the existing clothing designs made it difficult for them to use the toilet without assistance. This factor drove us to design some new clothes that would make their life easier.” The “special clothes designed for special people” include long tops with zippers and trousers that could be opened with zippers on both sides that makes it very easy for the person using callipers to dress and undress without any help. The new designs use Velcro in trousers to protect cloth damage.
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 often cause bruises due to the immense pressure.