How a Hong Kong designer came up with a wallet that can help the visually impaired identify banknote denominations
- Comma Leung is an award-winning designer who wants to bring inclusiveness into a city criticised for being market-driven
- She runs Mosi Mosi, a design studio centred on innovative products for people with disabilities
Flipping open a brown leather wallet, Hong Kong designer Comma Leung Man-wai closes her eyes and runs her fingers across a stash of banknotes of various denominations inside. She singles one out and accurately identifies it as a HK$100 bill.
But this is no magic trick.
The wallet, created by Leung, 29, has a special panel attached inside which allows a user to slide notes up against it and tell their value according to width. Looking no different from any other wallet on the outside, it is specially designed for the visually impaired.
“The needs of people with disabilities are often neglected in the market due to their small population and lower purchasing power,” Leung says.
“I want to use my skills to do something for them.”
According to government statistics, Hong Kong has 578,600 people with disabilities, accounting for 8.1 per cent of the population. Of this, there are 174,800 people with visual impairments.