When we design for disability, we all benefit | Elise Roy | TEDxMidAtlantic
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0:21 - 0:23I'll never forget the sound
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0:23 - 0:25of laughing with my friends.
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0:26 - 0:28I'll never forget the sound
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0:28 - 0:31of my mother's voice
right before I fell asleep. -
0:34 - 0:38And I'll never forget
the comforting sound of water -
0:38 - 0:40trickling down a stream.
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0:42 - 0:46Imagine my fear, pure fear,
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0:46 - 0:48when, at the age of 10,
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0:49 - 0:51I was told I was going to lose my hearing.
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0:53 - 0:55And over the next five years,
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0:55 - 1:00it progressed until I was classified
as profoundly deaf. -
1:02 - 1:05But I believe that losing my hearing
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1:05 - 1:09was one of the greatest gifts
I've ever received. -
1:10 - 1:14You see, I get to experience
the world in a unique way. -
1:15 - 1:19And I believe that
these unique experiences -
1:19 - 1:21that people with disabilities have
-
1:21 - 1:26is what's going to help us
make and design a better world -
1:26 - 1:31for everyone -- both for people
with and without disabilities. -
1:34 - 1:36I used to be a disability rights lawyer,
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1:36 - 1:39and I spent a lot of my time
focused on enforcing the law, -
1:39 - 1:41ensuring that accommodations were made.
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1:42 - 1:47And then I had to quickly
learn international policy, -
1:47 - 1:50because I was asked to work
on the UN Convention -
1:50 - 1:53that protects people with disabilities.
-
1:54 - 1:57As the leader of the NGO there,
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1:57 - 2:02I spent most of my energy
trying to convince people -
2:02 - 2:05about the capabilities
of people with disabilities. -
2:07 - 2:09But somewhere along the way,
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2:10 - 2:12and after many career transitions
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2:12 - 2:14that my parents weren't so happy about --
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2:14 - 2:16(Laughter)
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2:16 - 2:19I stumbled upon a solution
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2:19 - 2:24that I believe may be
an even more powerful tool -
2:24 - 2:28to solve some of the world's
greatest problems, -
2:28 - 2:29disability or not.
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2:31 - 2:35And that tool is called design thinking.
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2:37 - 2:42Design thinking is a process
for innovation and problem solving. -
2:43 - 2:44There are five steps.
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2:44 - 2:47The first is defining the problem
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2:48 - 2:50and understanding its constraints.
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2:50 - 2:55The second is observing people
in real-life situations -
2:55 - 2:58and empathizing with them.
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2:58 - 3:02Third, throwing out hundreds of ideas --
the more the better, -
3:02 - 3:03the wilder the better.
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3:04 - 3:09Fourth, prototyping:
gathering whatever you can, -
3:09 - 3:11to mimic your solution, to test it
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3:11 - 3:13and to refine it.
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3:13 - 3:16And finally, implementation:
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3:16 - 3:21ensuring that the solution
you came up with is sustainable. -
3:22 - 3:29Warren Berger says that design thinking
teaches us to look sideways, -
3:29 - 3:33to reframe, to refine, to experiment
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3:34 - 3:36and, probably most importantly,
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3:36 - 3:38ask those stupid questions.
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3:40 - 3:43Design thinkers believe
that everyone is creative. -
3:45 - 3:49They believe in bringing people
from multiple disciplines together, -
3:49 - 3:53because they want to share
multiple perspectives -
3:53 - 3:55and bring them together
and ultimately merge them -
3:55 - 3:57to form something new.
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4:00 - 4:04Design thinking is such a successful
and versatile tool -
4:04 - 4:07that it has been applied
in almost every industry. -
4:08 - 4:13I saw the potential that it had
for the issues I faced, -
4:13 - 4:16so I decided to go back to school
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4:16 - 4:19and get my master's in social design.
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4:20 - 4:25This looks at how to use design
to create positive change in the world. -
4:26 - 4:28While I was there,
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4:28 - 4:29I fell in love with woodworking.
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4:30 - 4:33But what I quickly realized
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4:33 - 4:35was that I was missing out on something.
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4:38 - 4:41As you're working with a tool,
-
4:41 - 4:43right before it's about
to kick back at you -- -
4:43 - 4:47which means the piece or the tool
jumps back at you -- -
4:47 - 4:48it makes a sound.
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4:49 - 4:50And I couldn't hear this sound.
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4:51 - 4:53So I decided,
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4:54 - 4:55why not try and solve it?
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4:56 - 5:00My solution was a pair of safety glasses
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5:00 - 5:04that were engineered
to visually alert the user -
5:04 - 5:06to pitch changes in the tool,
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5:06 - 5:09before the human ear could pick it up.
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5:10 - 5:14Why hadn't tool designers
thought of this before? -
5:14 - 5:16(Laughter)
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5:16 - 5:20Two reasons: one, I was a beginner.
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5:20 - 5:25I wasn't weighed down by expertise
or conventional wisdom. -
5:26 - 5:28The second is: I was Deaf.
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5:29 - 5:34My unique experience of the world
helped inform my solution. -
5:35 - 5:39And as I went on, I kept running into
more and more solutions -
5:39 - 5:43that were originally made
for people with disabilities, -
5:43 - 5:46and that ended up being picked up,
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5:46 - 5:49embraced and loved by the mainstream,
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5:49 - 5:51disability or not.
-
5:51 - 5:53This is an OXO potato peeler.
-
5:53 - 5:57It was originally designed
for people with arthritis, -
5:57 - 6:00but it was so comfortable,
everybody loved it. -
6:01 - 6:06Text messaging: that was originally
designed for people who are Deaf. -
6:07 - 6:10And as you know,
everybody loves that, too. -
6:10 - 6:12(Laughter)
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6:13 - 6:14I started thinking:
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6:15 - 6:19What if we changed our mindset?
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6:19 - 6:25What if we started designing
for disability first -- -
6:25 - 6:26not the norm?
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6:27 - 6:30As you see, when we design
for disability first, -
6:30 - 6:35we often stumble upon
solutions that are not only inclusive, -
6:36 - 6:41but also are often better
than when we design for the norm. -
6:42 - 6:44And this excites me,
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6:44 - 6:50because this means that the energy
it takes to accommodate someone -
6:50 - 6:52with a disability
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6:52 - 6:57can be leveraged, molded and played with
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6:57 - 7:01as a force for creativity and innovation.
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7:02 - 7:07This moves us from the mindset
of trying to change the hearts -
7:07 - 7:10and the deficiency mindset of tolerance,
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7:10 - 7:13to becoming an alchemist,
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7:13 - 7:17the type of magician that this world
so desperately needs -
7:17 - 7:19to solve some of its greatest problems.
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7:22 - 7:24Now, I also believe
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7:24 - 7:28that people with disabilities
have great potential to be designers -
7:28 - 7:31within this design-thinking process.
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7:32 - 7:35Without knowing it, from a very early age,
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7:36 - 7:39I've been a design thinker,
fine-tuning my skills -
7:40 - 7:41and making them better.
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7:43 - 7:48Design thinkers are, by nature,
problem solvers. -
7:49 - 7:53So imagine listening to a conversation
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7:53 - 7:57and only understanding
50 percent of what is said. -
7:59 - 8:02You can't ask them to repeat
every single word. -
8:02 - 8:05They would just get frustrated with you.
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8:06 - 8:09So without even realizing it,
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8:09 - 8:13my solution was to take
the muffled sound I heard, -
8:14 - 8:15that was the beat,
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8:15 - 8:19and turn it into a rhythm
and place it with the lips I read. -
8:20 - 8:26Years later, someone commented
that my writing had a rhythm to it. -
8:26 - 8:31Well, this is because I experience
conversations as rhythms. -
8:33 - 8:38I also became really,
really good at failing. -
8:38 - 8:39(Laughter)
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8:39 - 8:41Quite literally.
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8:42 - 8:45My first semester in Spanish, I got a D.
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8:45 - 8:49But what I learned
was that when I picked myself up -
8:49 - 8:51and changed a few things around,
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8:51 - 8:54eventually, I succeeded.
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8:56 - 9:01Similarly, design thinking
encourages people to fail -
9:01 - 9:02and fail often,
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9:02 - 9:05because eventually, you will succeed.
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9:06 - 9:10Very few great innovations in this world
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9:10 - 9:14have come from someone succeeding
on the first try. -
9:16 - 9:18I also experienced this lesson in sports.
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9:20 - 9:23I'll never forget my coach
saying to my mom, -
9:25 - 9:28"If she just didn't have her hearing loss,
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9:28 - 9:29she would be on the national team."
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9:32 - 9:36But what my coach, and what I
didn't even know at the time, -
9:36 - 9:41was that my hearing loss
actually helped me excel at sports. -
9:42 - 9:47You see, when you lose your hearing,
not only do you adapt your behavior, -
9:47 - 9:50but you also adapt your physical senses.
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9:51 - 9:53One example of this
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9:53 - 9:57is that my visual
attention span increased. -
9:59 - 10:03Imagine a soccer player,
coming down the left flank. -
10:03 - 10:06Imagine being goalkeeper, like I was,
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10:06 - 10:08and the ball is coming
down the left flank. -
10:08 - 10:13A person with normal hearing
would have the visual perspective of this. -
10:14 - 10:18I had the benefit of a spectrum this wide.
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10:18 - 10:21So I picked up the players over here,
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10:21 - 10:23that were moving about
and coming down the field. -
10:23 - 10:27And I picked them up quicker,
so that if the ball was passed, -
10:27 - 10:30I could reposition myself
and be ready for that shot. -
10:32 - 10:34So as you can see,
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10:34 - 10:36I've been a design thinker
for nearly all my life. -
10:38 - 10:43My observation skills have been honed
so that I pick up on things -
10:43 - 10:45that others would never pick up on.
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10:46 - 10:50My constant need to adapt
has made me a great ideator -
10:50 - 10:52and problem solver.
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10:53 - 10:57And I've often had to do this
within limitations and constraints. -
10:57 - 11:02This is something that designers
also have to deal with frequently. -
11:04 - 11:07My work most recently took me to Haiti.
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11:08 - 11:12Design thinkers often seek out
extreme situations, -
11:13 - 11:17because that often informs
some of their best designs. -
11:17 - 11:20And Haiti -- it was like a perfect storm.
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11:22 - 11:26I lived and worked
with 300 Deaf individuals -
11:28 - 11:32that were relocated
after the 2010 earthquake. -
11:33 - 11:36But five and a half years later,
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11:37 - 11:39there still was no electricity;
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11:39 - 11:42there still was no safe drinking water;
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11:42 - 11:44there were still no job opportunities;
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11:45 - 11:48there was still rampant crime,
and it went unpunished. -
11:48 - 11:52International aid organizations
came one by one. -
11:53 - 11:54But they came
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11:54 - 11:56with pre-determined solutions.
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11:56 - 12:01They didn't come ready
to observe and to adapt -
12:02 - 12:05based on the community's needs.
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12:06 - 12:10One organization gave them
goats and chickens. -
12:11 - 12:12But they didn't realize
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12:12 - 12:16that there was so much hunger
in that community, -
12:16 - 12:20that when the Deaf went to sleep
at night and couldn't hear, -
12:20 - 12:23people broke into their yards
and their homes -
12:23 - 12:26and stole these chickens and goats,
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12:26 - 12:29and eventually they were all gone.
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12:30 - 12:35Now, if that organization
had taken the time -
12:35 - 12:40to observe Deaf people,
to observe the community, -
12:40 - 12:43they would have realized their problem
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12:43 - 12:47and perhaps they would have
come up with a solution, -
12:47 - 12:50something like a solar light,
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12:50 - 12:54lighting up a secure pen
to put them in at night -
12:54 - 12:56to ensure their safety.
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12:57 - 13:01You don't have to be a design thinker
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13:01 - 13:05to insert the ideas
I've shared with you today. -
13:07 - 13:10You are creative.
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13:10 - 13:13You are a designer --
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13:13 - 13:14everyone is.
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13:16 - 13:19Let people like me help you.
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13:20 - 13:25Let people with disabilities
help you look sideways, -
13:25 - 13:26and in the process,
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13:26 - 13:29solve some of the greatest problems.
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13:29 - 13:30Thank you.
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13:30 - 13:36(Applause)
- Title:
- When we design for disability, we all benefit | Elise Roy | TEDxMidAtlantic
- Description:
-
"I believe that losing my hearing was one of the greatest gifts I've ever received," says Elise Roy. As a disability rights lawyer and design thinker, she knows that being Deaf gives her a unique way of experiencing and reframing the world -- a perspective that could solve some of our largest problems. As she says: "When we design for disability first, you often stumble upon solutions that are better than those when we design for the norm."
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 13:38
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Elise Roy edited English subtitles for When we design for disability, we all benefit | Elise Roy | TEDxMidAtlantic | ||
Elise Roy edited English subtitles for When we design for disability, we all benefit | Elise Roy | TEDxMidAtlantic | ||
Elise Roy edited English subtitles for When we design for disability, we all benefit | Elise Roy | TEDxMidAtlantic |