Elise’s talk wrapped up the first day of the IA Summit. Her keynote was only about a half hour long. It was captivating and fun, and a good way to wrap the first day.
Elise Roy became deaf at age 10. She’s been a lawyer, and now she’s a designer. #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Elise’s flesh colored hearing aid was her old one. Her new one is red. The red one makes her feel more a part of a community. #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
When she was 10 she had to explain her best friend that she’d lost her hearing. But she didn’t know how. Because she never spoke to her friend about it, she eventually lost the friendship. #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Many kids avoid difference because they’re not sure what to do with it. #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Elise didn’t want to be seen as different. She wanted to prove that with a hearing lost she was still normal. She did that by becoming an overachiever. An overachiever with a disability “seems” like a normal person. #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
She played 2 sports in college, went to an Ivy League school, became a lawyer, became a designer. Along the way she realized that “difference” is the new normal. Disability encompasses all of us. #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
If you’ve broken an arm, that’s a temporary disability. If you’ve struggled to open a door with a box in your arms, that’s a momentary disability. #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Design has the ability to shift perceptions. It’s up to us as designers to use it. #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Hearing aids now come in many colors, red, blue, green. Elise got a red one, and people have pointed out that it’s “cool” – “Love the red!” It allowed her to celebrate her difference, and others to join the celebration #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
the red hearing aid isn’t focused on limitations. #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Human centered design places the individual on the center of the process. It teaches us to look sideways, refine, experiment, combine diverse perspectives #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
As an inclusive designer:
Average is useless
Designing for disability uncovers hidden needs
People with disabilities have unique skills#Ias18— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Because design thinkers focus on the individual, designing for the average is not useful. “The End of Average” by Todd Rose talks about how fighter planes were designed for averages, but in the 1940s flying became more complex. #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Inspections of crashes – someone took 10 measurements of 4,000 pilots. None of the pilots were in the “average” range. Airplanes have to be designed around extremes. #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Manufacturers balked at the idea of designing for extremes, but under these constraints the designers developed things that were cheaper and more effective to make. #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
(There is a great 99% invisible podcast about the planes but I don’t have the link handy.) #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Well, now I do. Episode 226: On Average, by 99 Percent Invisible.
When we design for extremes, we develop better solutions. They experience the world in such a different way and there’s so much variety that they’re role models for people who think differently #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Kitchen cabinets designed for people with reach limitation move up and down with a button. I want those cabinets! (Me too!) #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
The evolutionary idea is that those who adapt, survive and those who don’t, don’t. But imagine how the first ape that stood up higher seemed to the others. “Did you see that ape? He’s so weird looking!” #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
How do we stay ahead of the game? How do we figure out where change will happen? They’re often hidden. When you have a disability you identify hidden needs. #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Elise fell in love with woodworking and metalworking. A welding helmet makes her deaf and blind. A saw whines a special way when it’s about to kick back, but she couldn’t hear it #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
When things change from “it’s annoying” to “I can’t” we are forced to recognize needs. Other people had the same challenges Elise did, but had never designed for them. #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Elise designed glasses with LEDs around the edges that alerted the user that a saw was going to kick back even before the human ear could pick it up. #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
The typewriter, remote control, ebooks, all designed for people with disabilities. #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Many of the people with the most profound disabilities come up with or strongly influence the most innovative solutions in a field #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
The audio-related tools we know best were made by or for deaf people. Designing for disability can lead to the best innovations in the field. @EliseRoy #IAS18 pic.twitter.com/DQQePTpGO4
— IAC – information architecture conference #IAC24 (@theiaconf) March 23, 2018
People with disabilities develop skills that are valuable. Hearing loss creates a rhythm to Elise’s writing that others don’t have. She illustrates what she hears with a muffled sound. #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Talking has a rhythm to it. When she started listening to the rhythm of the blurring words, coupled with lip-reading, she could often figure out what she’d heard. It developed a rhythm to her speaking. #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Elise spent all her life reading body language. As a lawyer she advocated for people with disabilities to be treated the same. But as a designer she says the heck with that. Different is new normal we should be designing for. #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
To heck with normal, we ARE different! When we design for intellectual disability, we simplify things. When we design for deafness, we make things clearer for everyone. @EliseRoy #IAS18 pic.twitter.com/BwDLmP7B1B
— IAC – information architecture conference #IAC24 (@theiaconf) March 23, 2018
When we design for arthritis, we make things more comfortable. When we design for cognitive disability, we make things simpler. What will make your company thrive is designing for disability #Ias18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018