Journal of FARM SCIENCES, Vol 29, No 5 (2016)

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Designed functional salwar-kameez for visually impaired adolescent girls

LEELA N. WALMIKI, JYOTI V. VASTRAD

Abstract


People with severe sight loss are called ‘visually impaired’ characterized by irretrievable sight loss. Touch is themost dominant sense used to identify the living and non living things among visually impaired persons. Children withvisually impairment face a number of problems while performing their daily activities. Among these one of the majorproblems faced by is with respect to clothing themselves. Therefore the present study was undertaken to design clotheswith self-help features and to assess the suitability and comfortability of the designed garment. In total 50 girls studyingin VIII to X standard were selected for the study. Self structured interview schedule was used to elicit the information onclothing preferences that included questions on type of garment and garment details. Anthropometric measurements of 50visually impaired adolescent girls were recorded. Data obtained was pooled and mode values of the anthropometricmeasurements were considered for designing adaptive clothing. Salwar-kameez was the most preferred garment among thevisually impaired adolescent girls. Therefore, salwar and kameez was designed with constructional features that it can beworn anyways. Features for identification included appliqué work of similar type on both the parts of the garment andBraille label indicating the type of the garment and colour of the garment. The garment was subjected for wear trial to assessthe comfortability and functionality among visually impaired adolescents. The respondents opined that, adaptive andidentification features of salwar- kameez were highly comfortable, functional, acceptable and cost effective. The Braillelabel was most preferred because of their readability and ease of garment assembly from the wardrobe. Such self-help andadaptive features can increase the self confidence and independence of the visually impaired adolescent consumers. Thereis a further need to mass customize and popularize such technologies for adaptability.

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