Disability Talks: Don't Dis My Ability

Alleles- More Than Just Prosthetic Covers

May 14, 2021 Abilities in Motion Season 2 Episode 9
Disability Talks: Don't Dis My Ability
Alleles- More Than Just Prosthetic Covers
Show Notes Transcript

Ten years ago, Industrial designer, McCauley Warner wrote a thesis on creating prosthetic leg covers that were fashionable, protective and full of choice. Her professor argued that she would never accomplish it and clinicians pushed back stating, insurance companies would never allow it. McCauley partnered with Ryan Palibroda after college and today,  they own a successful company creating customized prosthetic covers to amputees all over the world. 

Join us to hear how designing for this not-so-small demographic is seeing big returns.

To find out more about ALLELES and their product, visit:
Website:   https://alleles.ca/
Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/allelesdesign/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alleles/?hl=en

For more information about Abilities in Motion, visit our website at https://www.abilitiesinmotion.org/ or follow us on social media.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AbilitiesinMotionPA
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/abilitiesinmotion/

Intro:

Welcome to DisAbility Talks, a podcast produced by Abilities i n Motion. I'm your host, Shelly Houser. Join us for real conversations and no nonsense talk from everyday people with disabilities. Living their most independent everyday lives tune in for the latest news surrounding disability, accessibility and independence, w here conversations aren't dissed and stories that need to be told aren't missed. So let's talk.

Shelly:

Welcome back listeners. I am your host Shelly Houser, and you're listening to DisAbility Talks. Amputees have complaint for years, how basic and sometimes ugly their prosthetics were. That was until a Canadian- based couple decided to put a new twist on old technology. Founders, M cCauley W arner, and Ryan Palibroda join us today from Alleles to tell us more about their design studio and how they fabricate individualized, stylized prosthetic art. Welcome guys, how are you this morning?

McCauley & Ryan:

Great. Thanks so much for having us.

Shelly:

So tell our listeners what prosthetic fairings are and how you guys design them.

McCauley:

Well, for us, what we decided to do is prosthetic accessories, protective covers, is basically you can think of it like an iPhone case for a prosthesis. They're Interchangeable shells that attach to a prosthetic device to give a little bit of personal style and a little bit of protection to the device beneath it.

Shelly:

How do they fit onto the prosthetic? And is it for an above the knee or for a below the knee prosthesis?

Ryan:

I guess we have a couple different styles.We have a below the knee specific one and and a above the knee specific one. but they are a shell that goes around and straps on around the prosthetic.

McCauley:

It took us a really, really long time to figure out how to do sizing. Coming up with the sizing is actually the thing that took us the longest by far. T he t hing that we usually do is we ask for two basic measurements. We'll ask for the length and we'll ask for the width. So the length just means the length that the cover is going to be manufactured t o, and then the width references someone's sound limb. So the circumference can create that symmetry with the body. And the hope was that if we simplified it enough, people would start remembering what their side was and be ab le to reorder them, like shoes.

Shelly:

Tell us about your colors and your designs.

Ryan:

Oh man, I think McCauley has always been good at picking and curating colors. I think aesthetically for a design studio you always want things to look and be as awesome and exciting as possible. Colors are always changing, what other companies are doing, and what's going on in fashion.

McCauley:

The whole point was to create choice. How the covers work is there's a logic to them where you get the choice of two colors. You get the main color and then you get the detailed color. So like what all the line work is colored in. Even to this day, I don't even know if we've ever sent the same cover out twice when you consider the variability. So yeah, you can order the one that has the skull on it. But most of the time it's in two different colors and that completely changes the feel of the piece. So that was something that we always wanted to make sure we maintained, was give that ability of choice to the end user so that they can personalize it in the way that would go with their clothes or go with their style.

Shelly:

How many designs and how many colors do you guys currently have in your catalog?

Ryan:

Well, I think right now we have about 50 designs to choose from, and then the colors?

McCauley:

We have 28 colors, but we do have the ability to do some custom colors as well.

Shelly:

I find it interesting that neither one of you are prosthetic users and you don't have a design, a fashion design background. So how did you get interested in this line of work?

Ryan:

Kind of a skill set that doesn't really fit anywhere? I have a background, I've always been into exhibiting artists, and then I eventually got into the more, the design side of architecture. I ended up doing that in school with McCauley, it was digitally h eavy, o r, but when I got out into the field, l ike I couldn't really use any of it. I was better suited to do more o n product design. And then, McCauley...

MCCauley:

Yeah, my background is I have industrial design is my background. So basically stemmed from my master thesis in industrial design. So we've been working on this for over 10 years now. But this idea was kind of always just floating around. We need to be able to get it to people. How do we do that? How do we evolve this thing from like an art concept, and bring it into the world where people could actually have it. And so that was one of the things that we were always trying to figure out. And then with Ryan's background in digital fabrication, we kind of had the skill set to do it.

Ryan:

And I think working in those fields that you find out pretty quick and architecture, that it's an afterthought, it's frustrating, even in fashion and stuff like that. It's an industry that for all the different people working in it and everyone wears clothes and they'll change all the time and up until recently it's very limiting. I think for us we were kind of more driven by why are people focusing on all these other people and this like super narrow range of what's ideal?

McCauley:

I think a lot of times there is that thing where, you know, we get that question a lot. It's like, well, neither one of you are amputees. Why would you do this? It's like, but we have extensive design background. And why would we as designers do the same thing everyone else is doing? But the thing is the medical industry in general is just dying for soul. There is no soul injected in any of these devices. And to us, we're like- Hey designers come with us! Come hither! We need help! Ya know we really have to do it on our own. Really did have to do it on our own.

Ryan:

Even in the beginning when McCauley started looking at this in school, she had a really hard time with it. Her professor she was working actually thought she wasn't even going to be able to work on this project cause at the time his exact words were," It's going to be really hard to pair something so frivolous as fashion with something so serious or sensitive as prosthetics". And she said- That's the problem! People refuse to look at because of that idea.

McCauley:

People just look at it as, Oh, solve this problem, solve this problem as if disability is a problem to solve. It's like, No, it's just, why wouldn't we apply our skill sets here? We are not trying to SOLVE anything! It's just like, Why are not there options? Just create cool and better stuff people are proud to use! I think we've been doing that for 10 years. The company incorporated for seven, but we're only now coming out of the weeds and sort of realizing that what is our design philosophy? And I feel like the thing for us that we've always gravitated to is doing stuff because no one else is doing it. It's like, why wouldn't we do it? No one else is doing it. And it's not a thing, prouder thing. Like we can do all this leftover stuff that no one's paying attention to. Why wouldn't we do that? Why, why wouldn't you do that? Why wouldn't you try?

Shelly:

My prosthetics were made of like non-human shade of, Caucasian shade of, I don't know what, but it was never matched anybody's skin tone. It was awful! And then the leather would get Brown and green and look awful and terrible. And it was ugly. And that's what I grew up with. That was my option. And then for years I tried to hide my prosthetic and take one of those long foam, like covers that went from the toe all the way up to the hip. But the knee always got torn out and you know, the edges got ripped and it was, just after six months, it was a mess. And then that was pretty much my option and it didn't look pretty. So when I first got my first cover,

McCauley:

I didn't even know you had another one!

Shelly :

Yeah, I have this one, I have a black and gold floral one.

McCauley:

You have three?!

Shelly:

I have four.

McCauley:

You have four?(laughs)

Shelly:

So I have a black and gold one. I have a pink with bronze, floral. I have this one, which was my first one. And then I have the white Nike one that you guys designed for me.

McCauley:

I honestly, thought you only had the Nike one. I had no idea!

Shelly:

I bet I've been with you guys for like four years.

McCauley:

Woah!(laughs) That's so crazy!

Ryan:

It's the little things. Like when you start the company you have and idea about how they feel and how they fit. It's kinda amazing when people get it and it happens and people get it.

Shelly:

It was almost like a shell shock to me because it felt pretty and people stopped saying, Oh, what happened to your leg? More like, that's a really cool leg. That is a really cool color. I love that design. And it was just, it took on a whole different tone of how people addressed and looked at me. So that was really cool. So tell our listeners about the name Alleles and how you came up with that name because it's such a unique name.

Ryan:

It really is like for us, we really want to b e more like, w hat do we want to do? We want to create choice for people. We're gonna work with things that are a not just boring and stuff like that.

McCauley:

Yeah, focus on the things that makes people special.

Ryan:

Yeah! We were looking through words and we found Alleles and it's the thing that males people special in individual traits. And that's kinda perfect.It really embodies What we're doing and what we want the company to be. And we always pronounced it Alleles because we like then the pronunciation better but.

McCauley:

And our logo is a bunch of L's. So it's all L's. So the thing that gives people their individual characteristics, which is why people have blue eyes versus green, and so the logo then is a bunch of L's and the Allele or the different thing is represented by the b ackward L. So it's kinda like that thing is a sea of things that are all the same we design fo r th e thing that is special or different.

Ryan:

We design for it in a way that makes people p roud o f i t and feels great wearing it instead of trying to pretend i t's n ot t here.

Shelly:

Well see that's the difference. I think psychologically when I grew up it wasn't cool to be friends with the handicap kid. So it was something that was to be hidden.

McCauley:

Yeah.

Shelly:

So it never felt pretty. And I wasn't proud for the most part growing up until I just decided to let go of that long foam cover. And emotionally it took me a while, but when I heard society taking on a different tone, then I started to let that wall down. So it's psychologically, your fairing made a difference to me.

McCauley:

Well, thanks so much r eally. But you know the thing, that's kind of like super interesting about that. A lot of times when people ask us, Oh, you d esign for design for amputees? It's like No, we design for everyone else. An amputee already knows they're an amputee. They dealt with it, they know. They're not the thing that n eeds the conditioning to look at things different. They see different because t hey h ave t o, because the world wasn't designed for them. Things aren't accessible. The problem is everyone else! That becomes the social implication of the product. Ye ah. It's a piece of plastic. Yeah the person who's wearing it, is an amputee. But the main shift is e veryone else. It's been so consistent, that feedback, what you're saying. It's from almost every person we talk to, says the exact same sentence you said. Looking at me now being like, Oh, what happened to you? It's like,"Cool those match your shoes!"" Cool those match what is that?!" That's the shift, that's the people we design for. It's the general public if you stop and thing about it if you actually flip it around, right? The mindset change adapts our whole life forever.

Ryan:

Yeah we really try to just infiltrate every where we can in pop culture normalize it.

Shelly :

It's not like there's only one or two of us out there!

Ryan & McCauley:

NO!

McCauley:

And that's the other thing we thought so too, until you get in. And it's like, there's like, I don't remember the stats now, but on average there's like 300,000 new amputees in the US alone from all demographics. You know what a small demographic is? Size 0, 6' tall Amazon women.That's a lesser demographic than the amputee community and we don't have a problem designing for them! And we have no problem designing for them.

Shelly:

Yeah,on the runway. I think with that, we're going to take a commercial break and we will b e back with Ryan and McCauley.

AD:

Abilities in Motion is a Pennsylvania based nonprofit organization dedicated to helping individuals with disabilities live their lives on their own terms, Abilities in Motion, strides to eliminate psychological stereotypes, physical barriers and outdated attitudes that prevent social and civic inclusion as well as promote the independent living movement to empower, educate, and advocate for individuals with disabilities. For more information about programs and services, Abilities in Motion provides call(610) 376-0010, or visit our website at www.abilitiesinmotion.org.

Shelly:

And we're back with Ryan and McCauley from Alleles in Canada. Folks, tell us about what your design team is creating in the studio these days.

Ryan:

Oh it's nice. I kinda feel like we have the design team back. Ya know we finally got a really good friend of ours, Bedeala that we have actually been working with since school to join us and I think now our mission to try and really blend and blur the lines between prosthetics and fashion. So really working on trying to bring other things or other products or things that we can design to fashion. So we are really trying to not make it just an accessory but a whole head to toe look.

McCauley:

And the other was to blur the lines between prosthetics and fashion. Basically, as of the last couple of months, we just delivered on the promise that we set out seven years ago, which was to create choice. And now we want to focus on, the blurring of the lines between prosthetics and fashion. And for us, this part is the fun stuff for us! We haven't released anything yet, but we're in the concept stage of a bunch of the the design of the new stuff So we're super excited.That's the other thing too, where it's like, I think so metimes i t is a bit overwhelming for people to come over into the medical industry be cause t here's a lot of people involved. There's clinicians and prosthetists, manufacturers and insurance providers and administrators. There's a lot of people involved. So as Ryan said, we faced a lot push back from the first two, three years from cclinicians.

Shelly:

But I think I've seen your company grow.

McCauley:

Yeah! I mean, we work at it. We, haven't not been putting in crazy hours and time since the day we started. Like last year was the first time we had one day weekends. That's the thing, I hope things look like they're getting better from the outside, cause we really try!.(laughter) We're trying really hard! But things take a long time because there's a lot of people involved, like I said, and there's a lot of, there's a lot of the nuances. You get people asking us, do you do cranial helmets? And do you do that? We tell them, No we barely have the leg covers down! We have lists of things we want to get done. I wish I c ould b e l ike, H ey, you guys do these. There isn't anything! I wish I had the option of this and this and this. People in the adaptive community are constantly telling everyone what they want, but yeah, no, one's doing anything about it.

Ryan:

If you're a designer right now and don't have a job trying to design little blacks dresses for people, listen to what people want that there's nothing but work out there.

Shelly:

So if I send them to your social media at the end of this podcast, you might have a flood of resumes coming your way.

Ryan:

And then what I'd say to is that too, is like, I feel like people have a lot of power to bring it on themselves, to figure it out. That's really the power that designers have is when you can really see something and develop a solution for people. You'll never be out of work and you'll always be in demand.

Shelly:

What's your muse for your color palette and for the designs you come out with? Because some are really beautiful, and some are crazy badass!

Ryan:

McCauley and I, we are so different We're so different people. We have like very, very different tastes. Like a lot of it just comes from our own interests. It's like, what would we wear? What would we do? And then sometimes it's like, those things mash. And it's a complete mish mash of things. I'm, I'm really into like, I'm not into video games and stuff like that. That's really a lot of my inspiration comes from.

McCauley:

Yeah. And I feel like for me, I am way more into like color. I draw a lot from like fashion and interior design and thrift shops. I feel like the t hing i s the inspiration if we're ever stuck thing that we always do is like, what would I wear a lot of the t ime people say that women only wear pink. It's like, yeah. Sometimes I want to be super feminine. I want to wear p ink, but other times I want to wear black. And I want, studs sticking out of it because I have many layers of a woman and I want those options. S o I think a lot of times, like one thing that we've also always done is we've never gendered o ur covers. We've never been like- Here's the guys selection, Here's the Gals selection! It's always just been- Here's the covers, because the second and you wear a cover and choose the colors that match you. And it doesn't matter what the design is. we can never put those limits on people and make them feel like- Oh, I guess I better only order from the man's selection. Another thing that we've always done is just be ing s ure that was the options of size and color people can do what they want, and we're ever stuck, to work is l ike, what would I wear?

Ryan:

That's interesting while you're saying about the muse thing? We don't really have a muse, we don't have an ideal customer that we d esigned for. And then here's the kind of like aesthetic. It's almost like w e p rovide a bunch of options and people are who they are and what they want.

McCauley:

So it's like, we'll do things that we think are cool now in a little bit more modern, just based on what's going on in the design world and architecture and interior and all that, and even like graphics and video games. So what's super current and what's cool. We'll draw from a lot of that, but then it's the individual who will then see it and make it their own. And then when we get to see that we're like, damn that's not what it was ever designed around, but they made it better!

Ryan:

So much better!

McCauley:

When people take it and make it their own, it's like, WOW, I w ould've never pictured that f or t hem getting that in that color. And does that design ever? I liked some of my most hated d esign. I'll see someone wearing it. I'm like, damn I think that's my favorite design t hat w eek.( laughter) The person is the thing that brings it. They're the reason it cool!

Shelly:

So you talk about fashion and design. I wanted to bring up a beloved fashion model. That's no longer with us Mama Cax in case our listeners don't know who she is. She was a beautiful and international model and amputee. She was a very high legged, I guess she was a hip or a Hemi, amputee. And she was tagged wearing one of your covers. And she, throughout her career, when she was alive, continued to wear your covers and she rocked them so beautifully. I want you to tell us when you first realized she tagged you guys and what it was like working with her during her career.

McCauley:

It's kind of interesting because after year one of having the company, we were super small, there was only Ryan and I,

Ryan:

I think she was a travel blogger.

McCauley:

Yeah, had a travel blog and she had a professional job. And she wore the full foam from ankle to hip as well. And she was always super styley and was like, it just doesn't feel like me. I'm just, and so then when we came around, all of a sudden, she just, I think she took a picture of one of our, a picture from our website and it was like Christmas wish list. She tagged us like, Oh my goodness, she would be.

Shelly:

Amazing!

McCauley:

We talked to her and sent her, her first cover. She posted on her travel blog and it was a picture of just her leg and her passport and was the first time we've ever had out of context, someone take the product and style it without us styling it. So in that moment we were like, She gets it. We have to get her another one. Cause it's the best thing would be if she had another one in a different color. And she styled that one! I think she ended up with three in the first little bit, then all of a sudden she started dabbling with her fashion alter ego.

Ryan:

Yeah. I feel like what it must have been working with David Bowie early on. Where's it's like you know there's the man then there's the alter ego.

McCauley:

Totally!

Ryan:

It was just like, you understood that Casmey Brutus was who she was and Mama Cax was also who she was. It was so easy to work with because it was like the best mix of artists working together where we just had ideas and see where they went and she would just take things on,

McCauley:

Yeah.

Ryan:

But it just seemed effortless for her. And she just worked so much.

McCauley:

And then there became like a tipping point where the world of disability was like, Oh my God, that could be me! ANd then we realized the world needs Mama Cax. It's interesting that we were kind of part of that journey with her, in a way, but still the thing is it's like, she then realized like, wow, there's so many people who don't express themselves in this way, but they don't have the confidence to do it. And then she just quit her day job and became Mama Cax full-time basically. Last year was pretty rough. To be honest, it was a huge part of our beginning. Honestly, the past year we didn't really post anything on social media. Cause we were pretty devastated.

Shelly:

She was so fierce and so bold and so beautiful in every look that she had.

McCauley:

Yeah

Shelly:

And her fairings matched or completely clashed with her outfit and still looked amazing. And she, she completely got it and we need that representation. And she really just was, she was an amazing human being and a beautiful human being. So you have a lot of really beautiful models on your social media page. I think on Instagram is where I see most of them. Who are these people and where do you get them from to show off your fairings?

McCauley:

Well, I guess the thing that happened was that at the beginning we worked a s a few of our early ambassadors and friends and did photo shoots with them, and styled things the way we thought. And what ended up happening by sharing those photos is other people saw themselves in it and without us asking just started getting covers, taking photos of themselves, sometimes it was just their friends taking them, and send them to us! And the thing that we always thought was the first time it happened, we were like, HOLY! What?! If you were an amputee this whole time, how did this one piece of plastic? You could have done these photo shoots the whole time! You're still the same person. Why is i t t ha t, that thing gave you the confidence to give yourself this gift of being yourself in this way? And I think that was the pow erful thing where it's like people. Yes, for us it's amazing to see people wearing our stuff but when we see people wearing our stuff, but it's more that people see themselves in a way they always had it. They always had the edge. A nd th at' s the t h ing that becomes like e moti onal. When you see it, that you realize that people just g ri p onto wh o t hey are and you're like, damn,I would' ve never, in a million years, have anticipated that that type of reaction. So people just started send them to us! We' re a ble t o kind of like, I think there j ust w a s no p lace on social media or anywhere. There's a lot of amputee support groups, there's a lo t, b u t th ere was no place for people to go wi th out it being a pity story. Feel like peop le actually in the community started becoming very protecti onist of our page, I think it was a breath of fresh air. They're g oing on there and be like, Oh my God, would you wear this with pink or would you wear it with blue? Cause I t hink people were just like, you know what? It's time we have some fun.

Shelly:

It was a totally different vibe.

Ryan & McCauley:

Totally!

McCauley:

And it's become a little bit more. But I think not so much that, but we're trying to bring that element back because it's still needed in the world.

Ryan:

I think everybody is, we are a little tiny piece of this thing that we try and work with a few people here and there, you know, like Jans or, Julia or Jared. You know, we have a few, Tara, there's like a bunch of other people where we do what we can with what we have to work with each other to make a difference.

McCauley:

Yeah, I think we have that community kind of vibe cause the thing is, there's an unspoken thing that everyone in the community already knows. We don't need to keep talking about it over and over. It's like just for once have a little reprieve community where people, like-minded, people can find each other. We d id w ere kind of the facilitator, b ut e veryone e lse i s t he r eason or there's like e ngagements.

Shelly:

What's about your 47 and a half plus project? What's that all about?

McCauley:

(Laughter) Oh Yeah. So if you think about it, who's typically on social media? The age demographic is basically between 18 and 35. So the people who are sending a photo between 18 and 35, and then we realized that we kind of did ourselves a disservice and everyone else a disservice because the thing that ended up happening is because of that everyone is that everyone assumed that only young people would wear one of these covers. The majority of our clients are over 50 actually, and we were like, We need to debunk that stigma because most of our power people rocking these covers are over 50. But it's our fault when we look through the stuff, everyone we show is young. So we were like, We need to figure out a way to show people the actual true demographic of the amputee community, because majority of people are over 50. So, we ended up putting like a little picture on our Instagram and it was a two women in their seventies being like something like,"Style exists for everyone let's not put an expiration date on style" and everyone started commenting,"That would be amazing to see more representation." So young people are like,"I'm all for these, let's see these older men or women" or whatever. So we were like, HOLY! We need to do something about that! So we did a call for submissions for people over 50 who wore our stuff and a couple of people who we've been working with forever were sending emails, you know, saying- I would love to submit, but I'm only 47 and a half. Would you consider having me?(laughter) So people were stretching their age to be older to be included in this project. Ok that's the cutest thing ever! So we extended the age range and so now we call it 47 and a half Plus. So anyways, we haven't got to roll it out officially yet. But what we decided to do was we created a style guide,nothing complicated. And so they ended up sending us these amazing photos. We haven't even rolled them out yet, but they are absolutely stunning. So then we curated them all into a hard covered book- Hey I should grab one of these books. So this is the 47 1/2Plus book!

Shelly:

Oh very cute!

McCauley:

So basically this is the 47 1/2+ book! we made hard copy blocks and it has all of the people and little quotes about them. So we're going to send them all to the people who participated and then we'll get to share them all to later a younger audience in the next little bit. And hopefully we evolve it into an ongoing project.

Ryan:

We wanted it to be so special, so they are like. They were working on the book, and the book's amazing.

McCauley:

So cute!

Shelly:

Well as a 47 and a half plus individual that wears your fairings, I thank you because it sounds like a fabulous project. And I look forward t o, to seeing more about that little campaign later. So I wanted to wrap up with you guys telling us where can our listeners find you on social media out there?

McCauley:

Um, our biggest platform that we use is Instagram. So it's just Alleles. That's A L L E L E S. And we do a little bit on Facebook or yeah, you can visit us on our website@www.Alleles.ca.

Shelly:

Well, that's it for today's episode of disability talks, thanks to my guests, McCauley and Ryan from Alleles for their creative and customized prosthetic creation.

McCauley:

Thank you so much for having us Shelly.

Ryan:

Thank you so much Shelly!

Shelly:

You're welcome. And to our listeners. Thanks for listening. Be sure you hit that like and subscribe button. So you never miss an episode of DisAbility Talks.

Music:

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Outro:

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of disability. Talks want to keep the conversation going then visit our website at Abilities in Motion.org, or connect with us on social media. And remember don't dis my ability.