Tania Allen Ross
"What these garments are really about is helping people to become more independent."
For sufferers of Sensory Integration Dysfunction, whose brains cannot adequately process information from the senses, navigating the physical world can be a daily challenge.
Otago Polytechnic fashion design lecturer Tania Allan Ross is convinced that clothing design can play an important role in helping children who live with a specifi c type of SID associated with processing tactile, vestibular and proprioceptive sensations, which causes them to regularly seek deep pressure feedback against their bodies. "These children often wear therapy garments such as vests weighted with sand or steel, which apply constant pressure," Allan Ross explains.
"The starting point for my research was a personal observation that many of the garments these children were being supplied with were particularly unappealing – not very contemporary and a little odd looking." Allan Ross has developed a number of prototypes for a radical new type of therapy garment, which are made from elasticised webbing and Lycra and which allow the wearer to self-apply pressure when required through a built-in pressure delivery system. They are easily concealed, endow the wearer with a larger degree of autonomy, and also solve another problem associated with weighted clothing – users can over time become immune or acclimatised to pressure if it is constant.
People are already showing an interest in this preliminary research, and not only parents of children with SID. "I've presented this research in various places and it's been interesting, the people who come and talk to me about it," Allan Ross says. "I've had adults who have had head injuries and strokes who have shown an interest. There are a number of different people who might benefit from this."
The next stage of Allan Ross's research will involve an analysis of various high-tech fabrics which apply textile tension that might be incorporated into her designs. Ultimately she would like to produce garments that are custom-made for the needs of individuals, based on the advice of therapists.
"What these garments are really about is helping people to become more independent," Allan Ross says. "If a person who seeks deep pressure can apply it for themselves when needed, then that's a step forward.