The panel at UltiMaker, with Lugo, Van Varick, Richard Whitehall of Smart Design, Kaycee Marshall at Victoria’s Secret & Co. and Anders Berggreen of byACRE.
Is designing for the disabled a barrier – or an opportunity to innovate? A recent presentation during NYCxDesign explored why the industry should focus on Universal Design.
“Disabilities are a catalyst for innovation,” said moderator Estela Lugo, director of program development at Hereditary Neuropathy Foundation, during the panel “Unseen potential: How inclusive design is reshaping industries” at UltiMaker in downtown Manhattan.
A quarter of the U.S. population has a disability, with spending power of $544 billion, making it a group worth targeting, added Lugo. It’s also a demographic anyone can join at any time, she said.
Innovation has led to features that benefit the able-bodied as well, such as electric toothbrushes, voice-to-text technology or curb cuts on sidewalks. Lugo asked audience members wearing glasses to take them off for a few minutes so they could appreciate how a simple product solves so many problems. “We don’t think of it as a disability because a solution has been created for it,” she said.
A key element of Universal Design is having an open mind. “For so long, products for disabilities were seen as this ‘other’ and if you need that, you’ll need this [product] over here,” said panelist Rob Van Varick, chief design officer, Michael Graves Design. “You don’t get what everyone else gets.”
Pottery Barn’s approach to Universal Design
When Pottery Barn tapped the firm to develop its accessible design collection, it didn’t want it to create a new collection, he said, but rather conceive products based on its three bestselling collections that were already loved by its fans. “That was the brilliance of Pottery Barn.”
Van Varick said the design of the product was not as challenging as the marketing of it — for example, “explaining why this dresser improves your experience.” To help with that, they brought in users and influencers to talk about why these enhancements are meaningful to them. “It’s really important to bring the community into the storytelling,” said Van Varick.
A disability often triggers a reactive purchase, Van Varick noted. “You don’t get it until you need it, and then it’s urgent,” he said. The aim with the Pottery Barn collection is that it will be with you for many years, and “as you age, you’re going to find these features really useful.”
Michael Graves, who was paralyzed from a sinus infection later in life, had always wanted products and environments to be understandable and easy to use, even before he became disabled. But Graves’ paralysis opened his eyes, said Van Varick. Instead of seeing ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) regulations as a nuisance for design, it became “ADA is not going far enough to make spaces accessible.”
But Universal Design requires many perspectives. “You can’t just look at one use case, because a diagnosis will affect people in different ways,” said Van Varick.
Van Varick added that you can’t just listen to what people say, but see what they do and how they do it, because sometimes the perception of what we do is different from reality. “We’re so used to compensating, we don’t even know how we do things sometimes,” added Lugo, who has Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease, which affects the nerves.
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