When people are missing limbs, medical device companies come into play, which has to produce specially made body parts for those affected. More and more of these companies are focusing on developing design objects that emphasize and strengthen the individuality and identity of the wearer, such as the Swedish company Anatomic Studios, based in Malmö. However, such body parts should also have an accessory effect on fellow human beings and signal a more relaxed attitude of the wearer towards his or her missing body part. In addition, the social stigmatization of those affected is to be prevented, because disabilities and impairments are often seen as negative in society. Anna Vlachaki, a doctoral student at the Design School of the English Loughborough School, has investigated the „prosthesis as an eye-catcher“ in different cultures in cooperation with scientists from two research projects. It was clearly shown that when the wearers of the Design prostheses are involved in the development of the spare parts, the self-confidence of those affected is strengthened. However, this is not the same in all societies around the world. If the wearers live in individualistic societies, such as in Great Britain, such wearers find recognition and communication. The prosthesis then acts as an icebreaker, so to speak, so that those affected can talk to non-disabled people. The strengthening of self-confidence is part of a positive psychological aspect. In a collective social environment, the whole thing looks quite different. People with disabilities should not necessarily stand out here, because they are part of a whole so that so-called expressive prostheses are more likely to be perceived as a hindrance here. People in such societies, as for example in Greece, increasingly rely on realistic images of body parts rather than on functionality and design. Expressive prostheses attract attention, but this is not desired here. However, the wearer and affected person perceives this quite differently, because the study found that people with disabilities tend to opt for a more functional replacement of a more conspicuous variant with technical features and a robot-like structure, thus increasing self-confidence and otherness, while the vast majority of the population finds replacement limbs most attractive when they are most similar to the human appearance.
