Tactile Dialogues
Teresa Koh
John Keats, an English poet once said, “Touch has memory.” How else is it that we know not to touch a boiling kettle or relate the feeling of sand between our toes to summers on a beach? We create these tactile memories and remember these because of how it affects our sense of touch. But what if these memories were all taken away? Not all at once, but in a gradual and unpredictable manner.
As a progressive disease that affects cognitive function, Alzheimer’s decreases the individual’s ability to communicate and perform simple daily tasks. This decrease in cognitive function, not only makes it more difficult for them to express their wants, desires and needs, it can also affect the individual’s confidence and feelings of self-sufficiency and independence.
Tactile Dialogues aims to change this by combining design, medicine, and textiles (three areas that are of interest to me) to provide suffers an alternative way to communicate in the context of way finding. At the same time, Tactile Dialogues aims to provide individuals with a sense of independence and self accomplishment even if it means navigating from their bed to the bathroom.