Eye on the Triangle

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The views and opinions expressed during Eye on the Triangle do not represent WKNC or NC State. Student Media,

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Good morning everyone. Hope you're enjoying your day. My name is Emilia rival genera, host of Eye on the Triangle. And with further ado, let's get into some news. You

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Hi everyone. This is sunlight Richmond, and I'm the Social Media Manager of the Nubian message. Today we have our very first segment of the Nubian minute, and we are going to dig into headlines and break down what's really impacting black students and minority communities at NC State.

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Hi, I'm Ayana, and I'm a writer for the Nubian message,

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Hi, I'm Jonathan. I'm a writing and photography correspondent for the Nubian message,

1:19
Hi, I'm Olivia, and I'm a Layout Designer for the Nubia. Message,

1:25
all right, first off, we want to say Happy MLK Day, everyone. This is such a hype day, celebrating Martin Luther King and happy day off. And it's also another day.

1:42
There's also, um, I saw there's going to be, is there a march here? Yes. And then yeah, there's marches downtown as well, if you want to participate, and a lot of service opportunities as well that you can find online if you want to help out.

2:01
Yeah, they're doing one with the MS with MSA. I'm pretty sure that you can just sign up and walk through staff or Commons. And it's like when you see that many people who are just gathering, and it helps you see how much Martin Luther King's legacy lives on even

2:24
today. Yeah, a few like sign makings were happening this week, so hopefully you all had a chance to make a sign for the march like Martin.

2:39
Oh, so we can go into some local news. One of the articles that I wrote this week was about the governor and how their powers have been stripped by the GOP legislation. It was written in a Senate bill, Senate Bill, 382 which was titled for disaster relief. And it did have some disaster relief in it, moving funds. It was $227 million I believe, wow, um. But it also had in it, how some things that the governor had powers to do, it will not be able to do anymore. So one was they can't. They can no longer appoint to the state board of elections and county board of elections, and two elected Supreme Court judges are going to be removed. And then another thing was the Highway Patrol is going to become independent now from the Department of Public Safety, and the commander cannot be removed by the governor, so they have a lawsuit going now. Roy Cooper and Josh Stein have started a lawsuit in order to try to get those powers back,

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and for people who don't know a lot of what's going on with that, could you explain why that's so important? Really,

4:12
it's because of the checks and balances to make sure that each branch has its role and that no one branch is powerful more powerful than the other, and so that's essentially what the Republicans in the legislative branch were trying to do, was gain more power over democratic offices the governor, And that's really undemocratic. Yeah, it shouldn't be that way. You

4:44
know, that reminds me of something that a friend of mine was telling me earlier, when Joe Biden stepped off his he had left a speech, and he was like, the world is turning more into an oligarchy. And. And I was like, What are your thoughts on how political systems are working right now, and how that's kind of tied to a lot of money, and people who have money having political power when they are not really in politics.

5:14
I definitely see that. I see it a lot, and especially for myself, it makes me wonder, like, how is going to be in the future for me and my family and even just everybody else around us, because we don't have money, and I feel like a lot of politics is not really what's best for the people, but

5:42
alianna are our editor in chief of the Nubian message, she actually somebody asked her, What is politics? And she said, it's basically like a system of power or based off and I thought that was so interesting, because when I think of politics, I would think people who want to be change makers, or people who see something and a system, or see like a life structure, and want to create something better, but instead, it really has become more of and has always been a bit about power and control. Mm, hmm, what do you think?

6:27
Um, I think it's interesting. Oh, just on the mic. Um, I'm curious on how it'll impact North Carolina, especially as a state, because I know a lot of people disagreed with some of Trump's policies, and the governor was kind of our installation from some of that. So I wonder how much will really change in the coming years, and what will be for the best and for the worst,

7:03
I definitely agree. I just feel like wherever, like, the trajectory we're headed on is kind of declining because of so much interest in the economy, and not really, like, the betterment of our people, which is very concerning, um, even, like, as a college student, it's kind of alarming. Like, what is the job market going to be like as someone who's like a creative like, what does that? We already know that like America doesn't care about artists or anything like that. They're more concerned about the American dollars. So just being like in this kind of new stage where it's not like a working class, it's more like you, if you're making money, or you're making you're not making money. So I don't know it's just, it's just scary. I guess that's the way I can describe it. And

7:47
then also, that ties into climate change as well. And there's a lot of things that we could do to fix it, but are not being done, which is scary, because we can see, how the climate is deteriorating, and I feel like that could be so easily fixed, like in COVID. A lot of jobs transition to online, and a lot of people say how their jobs can be done online, but they're required to work in the office, so it's just giving off more carbon emissions. But yeah,

8:21
yeah. And I think it's interesting how, also with climate change, and we see in America and in North Carolina, how the environment impacts lower income communities even more, and whenever it's bad pollution, or when the EPA was established here in Raleigh, or like in a county that's near Raleigh, it was because of toxic chemical waste I was being dumped into a majority black and minority community. And when we start seeing those types of laws being passed or taken away, like they continue to take away a lot of legislation that protects the environment, because they stop seeing value in it, and those every every law that they pass or or take away has so many layers, and That's why they're always trying to find loopholes. But when they take them away, they're taking away a lot of times, security and protection, and that's just going to lead to more and more, like vulnerable low income people, and that's going to lead to just a constant division of this, like lower income, becoming poorer, and the richer, getting even richer.

9:46
And generally, I think it all just comes down to who's in office, old white men. So if we have all these boomers in office, we're not going to see much change, because they don't care about what's going to happen in 30 years. Because guess what, they're not going to be here. So. Yeah, it's just troubling. Yeah, speaking of an old Boomer that's going into office, why don't we have him about what's talk about what's happening today?

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Today? Oh, inauguration. Yay. Let's guide.

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How do we feel America? I think this is a very interesting, I wouldn't even say coincidence. What do you think

10:34
I have so many feelings, but because we only have 10 minutes for this portion, we're gonna keep it short, but just the fact that we have our first felon into Office is just the great trajectory that we are setting 2025 in um, so yeah, that's amazing.

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And you see the contrast between like, like he was a felon and at the same time MLK was a felon, or like he had to go to jail for a little bit. When you see the difference of like, one was fighting for justice and one was doing it for like personal gains. But aside from that, I think today we should use it as more of a way to celebrate Martin Luther King and not let something like this overtake his legacy. Because Martin Luther King Jr and what he did for spreading awareness civil rights and really empowering black people, and a lot of not just black people, but minorities and people all across the world to stand up for your own personal rights that is much more impactful and lasting, and that's what we should be focusing on for today. So we have a little poem that Liv's gonna read for us today to end our call, and after just make sure to pick up an issue of the Nubian message. They are all around campus, and if you can't, we have a website that's the Nubian message.com, and you can also follow us on Instagram. The Nubian message, all right,

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take it away. Liv, this is the funeral of Martin Luther King. By Nikki Giovanni, may she rest in peace. His heads on said, free at last, free at last. But death is a slave's freedom. We seek the freedom of free men and the construction of a world where Martin Luther King could have died and preached non violence.

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All right, thank you so much everyone. This is our first episode, and we hope you all have a fantastic day.

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Happy. Martin Luther King, day bye. Email,

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okay, thanks for listening.

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You. Hello and welcome to WKNC eye in the triangle, your source of local news, where we dive deep into the pressing issues affecting our communities. I'm your host, Emilia Rio de Nita, and today I'm here with two special guests, Dr Richard betlach, Professor of Neurology at Duke University, School of Medicine and founder of the Duke ALS clinic, and Sam Pierce, Assistant Professor of the Practice at Wilson College of textiles at NC State University. Thank you so much, both of you for being here today. How are you guys doing?

13:46
Fantastic anytime I get to talk about my two passions, fashion and ALS, it's a good day.

13:51
I agree with Dr bedla. I second

13:56
amazing. Well, today I'm also super excited, excited to have you both in the program, as we're just gonna dive in into a remarkable project. As Dr Richard, you just mentioned that kind of combines ALS and fashion as well. So just to get us started, can you tell us about the inspiration behind this project

14:21
you want me to start Sam, that sounds good to me. So I've been taking care of people with ALS now for 24 years. I've seen about 5000 unique patients, and you know what I've learned is that the disease doesn't have to touch the best parts of them, like it's tough on the outside, it's a rapidly progressive disease of motor neurons, meaning that, you know, over just a few years, for most people, they become completely disabled. Many people have a drastically shortened survival. But you know, it doesn't have to touch them on the inside, I've seen a lot of people who are able to. Maintain their spirit, their hope, you know, their their sense of humor, their kindness, their joy through the disease. And so I've really, as I try to find a way to fix the motor neuron problem, I'm also trying to think about, how can I strengthen those parts of a person? And so I know for me, fashion is a huge part of who I am. You know, when I get up like I did this morning and put on a really fun jacket, it just seems to elevate me through the day. Allows me to maintain my positive energy, and it radiates off on others. And I know I've encountered some people with ALS over the years who feel the same way, and it just breaks my heart when the disease progresses to where they can't wear the clothes that bring them joy. You know, they it's too difficult for them to put them on. It's too difficult for their caregiver to put them on. And you know the type of fashion that's out there for people with disabilities, what's called adaptive fashion, you know, to be honest, it kind of looks like pajama. Like pajamas. It doesn't fit well. It tends not to be very stylish. And so you can see that a part of them is being lost, that doesn't have to be lost. And so I reached out Ben, I guess, a little over a year ago, reached out to Sam, and, you know, just let her know that I was seeing this, and asked her to brainstorm the problem with her students. And so that's how this project got started.

16:29
That's amazing. I don't know. Wait, sorry, Sam, were you, you know, say something?

16:35
I was just gonna say. Dr, bad luck reached out to me and some other professors here at NC State, and I have a background interest in adaptive fashion. I have two machines in the Sewing Studio that are adapted for a student that's in a wheelchair and another student that has arthritis. So I have adaptive I've tried to adapt the fashion studio as much as possible for people with disabilities to feel included, especially in the making of fashion. And this was such a great opportunity for me and my students, and they really enjoyed thinking and getting to learn more and taking their original project, which never really changed, a step further and had to think about adaptive design and designing for all abilities.

17:22
Yeah, I was actually going to ask you, like, what kind of like drove you to join? Because I know that you know, like, Dr Richard contacted you and like as well, and so, like, what kind of like made you set like, yes, like, I want to join this project. Like this is important. Like this needs to like happen.

17:46
My like motto in life. I like helping people. That is my I need to be helping people in some way. I feel very strongly about everyone feeling included, and the fact that some people don't feel included in the clothes that they wear every day and don't feel represented by that just kind of like made me think that I could solve this problem with my students and give them something fun to work on, and make them think even more about the things that they're designing. And one of my students actually was able to present their project to slyverts, which is the adaptive wear company that, like, they make really great clothes, great adaptive wear, but sometimes not that fashionable. So she was actually able to meet with one of the designers there and present their project. So that was like a real life return for that student, and it inspired a few of my students to stick up for adaptability in the future. So that was a real, real life like return on investment from this project, that they will be more likely to advocate for adaptability in the future after participating in this project.

18:59
That's really cool to hear. And another question that I had for both of you is, why do you think accessible fashion is such an important issue to address nowadays, like, especially now, like, why are we addressing this issue now, rather than, you know, like a year ago, or, like, a year coming from today. Why now?

19:26
Well, I certainly wish I had, you know, recognized this problem sooner, and also, you know, recognize the opportunity to collaborate with Sam and her students much sooner. But I guess a couple things for me. So one is that I currently take care of a couple of patients who are very similar to me in in terms of their love of fashion, like really eclectic fashion. And so it was, it was especially poignant to see them losing the ability to wear these amazing clothes that I. I first saw them and when they came to clinic, and then the other this is sort of something that I'm seeing happening in society. I feel like there's a lot of things going on that we cannot control, that can take away our positivity and joy right now. And so I have really, you know, tried hard in the past year, especially, to think about, well, what can I change? What can I do to bring more positivity and Joy to the world? I want to be the, you know, I want to, I want to be the change that I want to see. And so that's, that's just part of this whole, you know, introspection, reset button that I'm that I'm trying to push over the past year.

20:46
And for you, Sam, What? What? Sorry, you're gonna sorry. Oh, wait, um, so I was gonna say, like, what do you think accessible fashion is such an important issue nowadays, like, if you have anything to add to that, to a doctor, Richard mentioned, if not, that's totally goes as well.

21:11
I think he had a really great answer. And I am reminded we had a pain points, zoom, meeting call with his patients and his team, where we got to meet them, talk to them, talk about what fashions they like to wear before ALS, and how we could adapt, like current offerings to what they would have normally wanted to wear and felt like represented them. And one of his patients said, I want people to see me. I'm still here, even though I have a disability. I want to be seen. I want to be vibrant. And that really inspired and empowered my students throughout the project. I think, like, all three groups ended up like, picking her as the inspiration of being like, I like, want to be really vibrant. And all of them were inspired by the stories of we got to talk to three patients, and all of them were so inspired by each of their stories and named their like print collections after them, or named their colors after them, or had, like a little quote that they had from the interview and their project that kind of led them through the semester. So I think people are talking about adaptive fashion now because it's important, and it's important that people bring light to it. And I don't know what else, I just want to help people feel represented by the current offerings. And some companies do that very well, and some companies don't, and I want to send my students out into the industry to be the change. And they might not have thought about that before, because it's not something that's really talked about. You know, designing for a traditional body is what they're learning. This is like one of their last classes. So I want to introduce them to maybe something they might run into, and if they are more likely to advocate for adaptive design in the future, that might be change that they can make within their company, whatever, wherever they go. One day, we'll have at least one person on their team that's been like, Oh, I did this for my senior year project. It's very important I know how to do it. I can lead and or like, we need to start offering things if they don't already. So hopefully, the more people that participate, the more change that happens. It can be less local and more global in its reach, even though this is, I mean, NC State's a huge university, but it's a small program, so I have probably about 15 students that are working on this project each semester. But still, 15 is better than one. It starts with one or two, though, and it grows,

23:41
yeah, and this is the first semester that the class is being taught here at NC State, right?

23:48
Or the class that is taught every single semester. It's a senior level course in fashion product development. It's called fdpm. It's a really great program over here at Wilson, but this is the first semester that I've taught it in the fall, and I'm teaching it again in the spring, so or again right now.

24:09
Um, so this has been ongoing for how long, like the like, the class or the course, like has been like here at NC State,

24:18
probably since the program has started. Okay, so it is one of their senior level like product development courses, and their traditional project is to they team up teams of four or five, and they have to take an idea or a theme and take it from idea conceptualization to full execution of a fashion product line, meaning that each student is responsible for one look, whether that be like I'm gonna do like a top and pants or like a dress and a vest and a jacket, like they have to make a full look that fits with their theme. It has to be inspired by Current fashion trends, so that the. They don't create anything in a vacuum, because I also think that's very important to like contextualize what they're doing to the population that they're eventually going to be designing for. I forget what the statistic was, but there are a lot of people that have varying levels of ability that we also need to think about as being part of society, because the more you exclude them, that's going to create other problems, like feeling depressed, not feeling good about themselves, which is maybe going to make their condition worse. They'll exercise less, they'll get out less, they'll be around people less. So that's going to make regress if they are feeling a part of society, feeling good about themselves, able to go out with their friends, able to go to events and wear fun things that they get complimented on. Think about, like, how empowering it is to receive a compliment from one of your friends. Be like, oh my gosh, I love your dress today. You look so cute. And like, when you don't have that, I feel like that affects the mental state, so that, like, pushes you forward when you receive a little compliment on, like what you're wearing, because it's a facet of yourself, in a way. So that was a really long answer to say that it is very important,

26:08
yeah, for sure. And I mean, kind of quoting what Dr Richard mentioned at the beginning, is kind of hard fashion. It's kind of part of who you are, for some people, like or a lot of people as well. And your answer kind of touches on my next question that was going to be like, what are some of the challenges that patients with ALS face when it comes to clothing you know you mentioned, kind of like, sometimes, if it's it doesn't fit right, like it can affect their mental health as well. So what are some of those challenges, and how is this project kind of like, more like, more so battling those challenges that

26:53
we see, well, Sam, I'll mention my perspective, and then, and then you can share yours. So what I've seen is, you know, a lot of stylish clothes are kind of tight, and if you can't move your arms and legs, you know, your caregiver who's trying to put those things on, it's very difficult to get on something tight if someone else is trying to put it on you. A lot of stylish clothes have a lot of buttons, small buttons, zippers, those kind of things become very difficult for a person with, you know, hand weakness, or even a caregiver to manipulate. And, you know, caregivers, they're super stressed with this disease. So even though it might not sound like a big deal to, you know, fasten 16 buttons on a really cool jacket. I mean, when you add that into everything else that they're doing. You can kind of see why. You know, maybe we'll just wear the pajama top today instead of the really cool jacket with the 16 button. So that's, that's what I've observed. And of course, I had no background really, in in designing fashion, which is why, you know, turning to Sam and her students has been so valuable because they understand, like how to take that description of a problem and fix it.

28:10
There are workarounds for certain things, and that's kind of what we learned from his patients and his team. So after they kind of came up with their ideas for the class. They were able to talk with Dr bedla and his patients about pain points that they face. So their designs really didn't change any I mean, they did, but in spirit they did not. They were just like, okay, we can add magnets maybe, instead of like hard snaps and like, little, tiny zippers. And there was one student who did an amazing job, Claire, and she had a top that could open three different ways so you could fully, like, I made them, like, sit down and not move when they were putting on their clothes in class and doing prototyping. And I was like, okay, like, Lauren, you get Claire dressed and see how hard it is or how difficult it is for you to put this on. And so that led them to take their designs a step further and continue innovating. Instead of just being like, I'll put a zipper in it. It's fine. It's going to be like, oh, one girl did like a double sided wrap skirt that, literally, you could just like, come up in the chair, slide underneath and then fold it over, and then you could flip it on the other side. Another one of my students, Hannah, made a skirt that could detach and be either a long skirt or a shirt short skirt, depending on how you're sitting, Velcro, like bigger snaps, bigger zippers, just easier for motor function, and also magnets, thinking about where the magnets are as well. Like, you don't want magnets. Think about sitting in a chair. You don't want magnets, like down your spine, so you might put them on the side, or hide them in the front, or somewhere where it's not as apparent for the body to like, sit on. So I also made them think about. About sitting on them all day and the challenges of that so they were able to take their designs and take them a step further. And they at the end of class, when we were asking, like, oh, like, How'd you like this project? They all said, we're surprised at how easy it was to design for adaptive we just had to think, like, one extra step. We just had to take it and be like, Okay, I'm putting in a zipper, but they like, the zipper is really short and really small. Like, maybe we can add magnets and add, like, an overlapping placket, or maybe we can make it double sided and it can Velcro. So it's just taking that idea and taking it a step further and helping more people and people that don't need adaptive wear could still wear these designs and feel very satisfied by how fun and fashionable they are, but it also can work for people that need that extra step in adaptability. Very cool. Yeah, that was

30:59
actually one of my favorite things, Sam, what you said at the end there? You know, listening, listening to the students describe their experience with the project. I think my, my favorite of the many great quotes was we started out with the idea that we would make clothes that were cool, that we would want to wear, and then we made them adaptive and like that. That's exactly what I want people to be able to see, is that these are, these are human beings like, you know, they're not examples of a disease. These are people, you know, that have a life and style is part of it. And yeah, now they have a challenge. But it doesn't mean that we start by making something adaptive and then, you know, slap it together, just so it's easy to get on and off. We start by recognizing that these are people that want a certain style that's going to contribute to their spirit and their hope and their quality of life. And then we make it adaptive, and that's exactly what they what they recognized and embraced.

31:58
That's super cool. That's amazing. And I kind of want to know a little bit more about the, I guess, behind the scenes of, like, the collaboration between, like your patients, and then like your students as well. You mentioned there was like a Zoom meeting to kind of like, know what they wanted, and so, like, how has this like collaboration been so far, for kind of both sides?

32:28
Well, it's been one of my favorite collaborations in my entire 30 year medical career, because it really combines two things that I'm passionate about. You know, ALS, obviously, but also fashion. And it just really, it fits nicely into what I was saying earlier, which is that until the day comes when I can fix, you know, the the disease, when I can fix whatever's killing the motor neurons, you know, I want to strengthen my patients inside spiritually, bring them as much hope and joy as I can, and there's a lot of different ways to do that. Part of it is getting to know who they are and focusing on the parts of their lives that the disease may be taking away, where I can collaborate with someone to give those back. And that's exactly what's happening here for my patients who love fashion and style.

33:21
I agree. It has been such a wonderful collaboration, and something that I'm very interested in with being able to help someone and empower them and be a hope giver, because hope is so important, especially when you're dealing with a tough time, and it's important to give them. They are such vibrant people, and it's important to give them that brightness and vibrance back. It's been such an amazing collaboration, and has really shaped how I also, in turn, think about fashion and how, like my students this semester, are also continuing this collaboration, and like how on board a lot of them were and how curious they are. Like, I have most of my almost 30 Person class coming tomorrow, even just to see like examples, see if they're interested. A lot of them are. I have like three groups that are very interested in helping. So just continuing this collaboration, and like I said, before, letting your network of two people that really care about something can reach 15 people that really care about something, and those 15 people will go out into their networks, and they will also really care about something, and that will begin to make like visible change on a like nationwide level, global level, with fashion, because fashion is everybody wears clothes. So it's been a really wonderful collaboration, and I'm very lucky to be able to work with someone as passionate and knowledgeable as Dr bedla on this project, and I hope that I'm also in my PhD program here at Wilson College of textiles for textile technology. Technology Management, and I'm hoping to kind of continue the collaboration and do something with my doctoral level project, because my students have that pain point meeting, have a Zoom meeting where they review prototypes and things, but maybe don't get to interact directly with the patients because of the vast nature of the class. It's a semester they kind of have to move very fast as soon as we get to work in the class to be able to have something because the semester started, it ends in April, so we got to get get going and get moving. But I I would be interested in continuing and doing, like a longer project where I'm doing some sort of survey, I'm seeing what exactly they like, and being able to create some sort of guidelines for pattern making, for adaptive fashion, and able to create something concrete that they can keep and wear for people with ALS. So,

35:54
yeah, that would be amazing. And actually, I was going to ask if the patients ever get to see the designs, or, like, have they ever, like, seen the designs before? What has been kind of like their response, of like, what the NC State students are doing.

36:10
They were able to attend the Zoom meeting through zoom, we broadcasted the final exam, or they were invited to come in person on Zoom, whatever was most convenient for them. And I was very touched by the level of participation. Dr bedla, his team, his patients, are amazing and very participatory. Like they were giving feedback, they were asking questions, they were telling, like, saying what they liked in the chat. They were like, Oh my gosh. I love that. I wish I had one of those. Like, they were very receptive and very open. And even the students of mine that didn't want to focus on adaptive wear, just wanted to, like, do a fashion collection or focus on sustainability or another issue that was important to them, his patients still asked them questions. And were like, okay, so what? What is this? And can I? And they were like, if you were to make this adaptive, how would you do it? And then they would walk through that process. So even with the students that focused on something else that was important to them, they were still participating and giving feedback. And he had a lady from his team that came, I think her name was, it's slipping me now, but Lily, Lily, I'm great with names, and she was even like giving feedback to the groups that weren't doing adaptive, but doing sustainability or something else. So they were amazing to work with, and they have seen the designs, and they're loving it. So I'm excited to continue and see what they create this semester.

37:43
Yeah, Amelia, I I just loved a couple of quotes from my patients. I mean, they obviously were blown away by the style. And, you know, the fact that that these things were really made based upon them. I mean, they they presented themselves to the students, what they liked, the challenges they were having, wearing what they liked, and the comments that I heard back that still gave me goose bumps. One person said I felt seen, and the other person said I felt like I mattered. And you know, that's exactly what I'm trying to do in every aspect of the lives of my patients, is to make them feel seen, and make them feel like they matter, even if they're losing motor function.

38:26
Yeah, and I know that you both kind of touch on this a little bit before. But what do you envision this project kind of inspiring changes in how textiles and design programs approach more, like accessibility in their curriculums. Like, not only here in North Carolina, but this is, like, you know, this is something so remarkable. Like, I am personally so inspired by this project, like, by the quotes that I'm hearing right now. And so, like, you know, like, do you envision this project? Kind of like inspiring that change, that it's needed, and like fashion and like to provide more accessibility.

39:08
I'll let you take that one. Sam, since you're in the fashion business,

39:12
I think it was kind of like what I was saying earlier, when two people really care about something, they can reach that network of the 15 people that do those 15 people will also go and have careers and jobs, and one of them may become a professor at another institution and then be inspired to teach about adaptive wear, or have a project with adaptive wear. Or one of them may go work for a company and start advocating for more adaptive fashion for that company and fight for that I think it just needs people to fight for it to be seen to matter. And I feel like as that network grows, it will grow and more people will get involved. I am unsure whether it is taught at other institutions. I don't believe that it. This is as much as part of, like a curriculum, but I do think it would be useful, especially in 3d design classes. So there's a software that a lot of the students learn called clo and it is, it's like, basically, you can have, like an avatar. You can make an avatar with any type of measurements. You could be like, bus 34, waste 40, like, whatever measurements that they have. And I would be interested to see how someone could be maybe body scanned that has ALS and clothing made for them based upon that body scan with their exact measurements in a chair wherever they're at, we meet them where they are, and be able to go from there and create patterns that work with what they want. So I'd be interested to see how that even could be integrated into our curriculum at State. Maybe not for a semester long project, but maybe, like, for like, a little month project where they learn about it and it's just exposure, because a lot of the the Students don't learn about like adaptability, or like ALS, and that's not common over here, because we're just doing fashion, so we're kind of in the fashion bubble, but we need to pop the fashion bubble and get outside and see that everybody is different, and everybody is so beautiful.

41:18
It definitely seems to be a niche, I think, for this in the fashion world, like, although I don't know the business, I certainly have, you know, loved fashion since I was a kid, and been watching fashion shows and been to Men's Fashion Week, and you just never see anybody with disabilities featured in any of these shows, there doesn't seem to be any recognition of this, you know, market share. I mean, when you see ad campaigns and magazines like tesquire and GQ, it's, it's always, you know, this super fit, apparently perfectly healthy, beautiful model wearing these clothes, but, but I would actually venture to say there's probably a lot more people in the United States living with disabilities than people who look like these models. And so I think hopefully, you know, what Sam and I are doing is setting off a spark here. And you know, as as these students get, get impressed with how easy this is, and go to work for these companies. Maybe someday we'll actually see as part of fashion shows, you know, a segment of disabled models wearing adaptive fashion and in these magazines and ad campaigns. Because I just think there's 10s of millions of people. I mean, ALS is a rare disease. There's only 30,000 people in the US with it, but there's 10s of millions of people with disabilities, and I don't think there's any designer out there that recognizes this part of the market and is trying to design clothes that are stylish, hand adaptive for them, yeah. Um,

42:55
well, that would be pretty cool, actually. I mean, to see, to see that that happening, that would be amazing. And just kind of to wrap up our conversation. Is there anything else would you like to add?

43:12
No, I would just say this is one of the really cool things about living here in North Carolina, is that I feel like we have an incredibly diverse state, not only geographically, but in terms of, you know, the the interests of people here, with all the different universities and the different Fauci it's been awesome. I've lived here for 30 years, and it's been awesome to just be able to reach out across the Duke campus to someone who works on something completely different, and to have that, you know, turn into a research study and and now even reaching across institutions to, I doubt there's ever been a neurologist and a professor at a fashion school who I don't think they've there's ever been a collaboration between two people like this. So it's just really cool to build those new bridges, especially because ultimately, it improves the lives of people with these disabilities,

44:08
yeah, for sure.

But yeah, thank you so much again for being in the program. This was amazing. So yeah, thank you both so much. Thank you, Amelia, you

this has been your host, Emilia rebelleda, thanks for listening to Eye on the Triangle for back episodes of the show. Go to wknc.or/podcasts Music In today's episode is Krakatoa by Noah Stark, licensed under creative commons. You

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