Enabled by Design ( http://enabledbydesign.org ) an online company which was founded by Denise Stephens, a 30-year-old British woman who has multiple sclerosis (MS), aims to make assistive equipment designed to help people with disabilities which is funky, aesthetically pleasing and useful.
There is an interview with Denise in the Guardian newspaper for March 18: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/ ... -by-design . She says that Enabled by Design is about removing the stigmatising image of assistive equipment and encouraging designers to adopt the concept of inclusive design."
When she was diagnosed with MS in her early twenties she was very pleased to get assistive equipment because it enabled here to live independently, but she did not want her friends to see the equipment when they visited her.