This is perhaps not your first time hearing the word, 'minimalism'.

Back in the day, minimalism was a trend in sculpture making, where the sculpter will use only simple forms that are not detailed. Nowadays, minimalism is an aesthetic, as well as a lifestyle. Famous people who live the minimalist lifestyle includes Tammy Strobel (who owns a total of 72 things), Colin Wright (who owns a total of 51 things), Leo Babauta (who owns 50 things) and Nina Yau (who, impressively, owns only 47 things). Most of the people mentioned above appreciates the minimalistic aesthetic, where items are often less complex in design as well as colour. Minimalistic brands create goods that most likely comes in three colours: Black, White and Grey. They make things that are sustainable, ethical, and of course, simple. Please note that the minimalistic aesthetic and the minimalist lifestyle are two very different things, although they are based on the same concept. This article mainly discusses the negative impacts of the minimalistic aesthetic and aesthetic trends in general, not the lifestyle. 

Although using sustainable material is definetely a good aspect to the minimalistic trend, people have failed to notice the impacts this trend has on disabled people. More specifically, the impacts the trend has on blind people. It is time we recognise the trend's negative effects on the legally blind community. Before we continue, it's important to understand that this article is not just discussing people who are completely blind, but also those who are almost blind. As Chicago Lighthouse phrases it, although 'only 18 percent of people with significant visual impairments are actually totally blind, most can at least perceive light'. The article specifically uses the term 'legally blind' for a reason, and that reason isn't because it sounds like the brilliant movie Legally Blonde. 

Now to the impacts.

One example is in packaging. Slowly and gradually, many well-known companies are starting to adapt the minimalist trend. From Starbucks' new cups to Coca-Cola's new bottles, the designs are getting less complex and much more symmetrical. Close your eyes and feel the cup. You'd find there is no discernible texture for you to find which side is where the cap should open, and which side is stuck. Now to shampoo and shower bottles. Most brands now create completely identical bottles for their shampoo, body wash, and conditioners, it is impossible for those who are blind to figure out which is which. Even Dove, one of the body wash companies most well-known for their unique design in shampoo and conditioner bottles, now create identical bottles with only a colour difference. A colour a blind person cannot see. 

The minimalistic aesthetic is just one example of how modern trends exclude the visually impaired. Tiny things in life we enjoy are most often un-enjoyable (literally unable to enjoy) for blind people. Pushing these trends makes companies more likely to create what us non-blind people find visually pleasing, but what blind people find completely unusable. 

Popular trends exclude the visually impaired. Fashion trends in nature is wired to stop the blind from participating, because they are unable to see more than what is light and what is dark. Even health trends, a type of trend narrowed down so it is more likely to include the blind, is excluding them. According to the Business Insider the top health trends in the 20th century includes: lengthening human life, fewer mothers die giving birth, winning the race for the cancer cure, better dental care, more teeth, better hygiene and etcetra. For a list of 100 things, blindness not being included isn't just proof of how past society has been hardwired to forget the difficulties of people who cannot see, but also how invisible this issue is even today.

Even now, I know the article I write cannot be read by someone visually impaired, but it is important we know about the issues they suffer. Exclusion from society is just one part added on to their daily difficulties. Most people (me included) get extremely frustrated whenever they lose their glasses, but blind people have to live their whole lives in an even blurrier world with even less light. In a time of Instagram and TikTok, rejecting trends may be very hard, but if it's possible please try. I am sure this small action can help millions of people.