WEBVTT 00:00:00.054 --> 00:00:06.213 [applause] 00:00:07.681 --> 00:00:09.521 Hello! 00:00:10.642 --> 00:00:13.402 It's great to be here. 00:00:13.870 --> 00:00:16.594 You might be noticing that I have a female 00:00:16.594 --> 00:00:19.784 voice that's speaking for me right now. 00:00:21.174 --> 00:00:24.084 That's because my interpreter is a woman. 00:00:24.233 --> 00:00:26.079 If I could have chosen, if I could have 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:28.639 picked anyone for tonight, I think it 00:00:28.639 --> 00:00:31.059 probably would have been a British man. 00:00:31.068 --> 00:00:34.108 [laughter] 00:00:36.359 --> 00:00:39.369 Have you ever been in that situation— 00:00:39.369 --> 00:00:41.229 maybe you're in a supermarket 00:00:41.229 --> 00:00:44.049 or you're walking down a hallway— 00:00:44.049 --> 00:00:45.939 and you're walking towards a stranger 00:00:45.939 --> 00:00:47.409 coming the opposite direction, 00:00:47.409 --> 00:00:49.109 and you start that awkward dance where 00:00:49.109 --> 00:00:50.429 you're trying to pass them 00:00:50.429 --> 00:00:51.389 and you go to the right, 00:00:51.389 --> 00:00:52.009 and they go to the right, 00:00:52.009 --> 00:00:52.809 and you go to the left. 00:00:52.809 --> 00:00:54.719 You know how awkward that is? 00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:56.139 Have you ever been there? 00:00:56.139 --> 00:00:59.679 [laughter] 00:00:59.709 --> 00:01:03.229 So suppose you were deaf like I am 00:01:03.229 --> 00:01:05.889 and you're going down the hallway 00:01:05.894 --> 00:01:07.514 and the person coming towards you 00:01:07.524 --> 00:01:08.544 is completely blind 00:01:08.544 --> 00:01:10.134 and you start the awkward dance. 00:01:10.134 --> 00:01:11.574 What would you do? 00:01:12.611 --> 00:01:14.281 Have you ever thought about that? 00:01:14.281 --> 00:01:16.121 How would you communicate? 00:01:18.481 --> 00:01:20.501 This happened to my friend. 00:01:22.128 --> 00:01:23.338 He's completely deaf, 00:01:23.338 --> 00:01:25.008 and he was coming down the hallway NOTE Paragraph 00:01:25.008 --> 00:01:26.008 and there was a blind person 00:01:26.008 --> 00:01:27.018 coming towards him. 00:01:27.018 --> 00:01:28.898 And they started the awkward dance 00:01:28.919 --> 00:01:30.889 and the blind man began to talk. 00:01:31.729 --> 00:01:33.979 And my deaf friend-- 00:01:34.703 --> 00:01:36.003 what was he going to do? 00:01:36.003 --> 00:01:36.923 He couldn't hear. 00:01:36.923 --> 00:01:38.963 So his first intuition is to gesture, 00:01:38.963 --> 00:01:41.473 point to his ears, and say, you know, 00:01:41.473 --> 00:01:43.533 “I'm deaf,” but obviously 00:01:43.533 --> 00:01:45.333 the blind man's not going to see that. 00:01:45.333 --> 00:01:47.443 So his second intuition was to take out 00:01:47.443 --> 00:01:50.233 his phone and type in his notes. 00:01:50.233 --> 00:01:51.673 The blind man's not going to 00:01:51.673 --> 00:01:53.343 see that, either. 00:01:53.855 --> 00:01:55.415 So the third thing he did 00:01:55.415 --> 00:01:56.945 was a little unusual. 00:01:56.963 --> 00:02:00.613 He grabbed the blind man's hand, and he held it up to his ear 00:02:00.613 --> 00:02:02.713 and he shook his head no. 00:02:02.726 --> 00:02:07.046 And the blind man felt this and immediately understood, 00:02:07.046 --> 00:02:09.566 “oh, this guy's deaf.” 00:02:09.566 --> 00:02:11.306 That awkward dance was over. 00:02:11.306 --> 00:02:15.636 They were able to just kind of share a laugh and pass each other. 00:02:15.636 --> 00:02:19.206 So let's change the story a little bit. 00:02:19.206 --> 00:02:23.206 What if my friend was himself-- he was deaf-- but this person wasn't 00:02:23.244 --> 00:02:24.264 blind at all. 00:02:24.264 --> 00:02:25.424 He could still see. 00:02:25.424 --> 00:02:27.634 Maybe he spoke a different language. 00:02:27.634 --> 00:02:31.114 If my friend decided to do the same thing, anyway-- 00:02:31.114 --> 00:02:34.704 grab his hand, put it up to his ear, and shake his head no— 00:02:34.704 --> 00:02:36.764 would that person still understand him? 00:02:36.768 --> 00:02:39.608 Probably. 00:02:39.608 --> 00:02:44.368 Might be a little awkward, but it'd be universally understood. 00:02:44.888 --> 00:02:51.448 This is what I do every day as a creative for Amazon and a designer. 00:02:52.744 --> 00:02:59.104 I make visuals on the front page of the world's largest online storefront. 00:03:00.584 --> 00:03:06.184 I solve these problems that have to be accessible to millions and millions 00:03:06.184 --> 00:03:09.904 of different kinds of people with different backgrounds. 00:03:09.904 --> 00:03:13.384 As a deaf person, I have to innovate solutions all the time. 00:03:13.384 --> 00:03:16.904 I do this in my everyday life. 00:03:17.032 --> 00:03:21.662 My communication medium changes with every interaction I have. 00:03:24.670 --> 00:03:32.510 Everything from a pitch-- pitching an idea to a client-- 00:03:33.623 --> 00:03:37.623 to going into a bar and simply ordering a beer. 00:03:37.623 --> 00:03:41.313 My communication style has to change. 00:03:43.343 --> 00:03:45.933 I'm constantly thinking about 00:03:45.933 --> 00:03:50.193 how to make a better solution and sometimes my solutions are awkward. 00:03:50.193 --> 00:03:53.533 Like, for example, you see me signing with two hands right now, 00:03:53.533 --> 00:03:55.223 but then I have to stop to click. 00:03:55.223 --> 00:03:58.273 That's one example. 00:03:58.273 --> 00:04:01.953 But I would like to argue that everyone in this room 00:04:01.953 --> 00:04:05.953 has a disability, regardless of if it's permanent or temporary. 00:04:05.953 --> 00:04:08.373 It could be something as simple as being pregnant, 00:04:08.373 --> 00:04:12.373 having a broken arm, being older, or being a child. 00:04:16.061 --> 00:04:20.061 Everyone has to figure out a way to cope and navigate around their disability, 00:04:20.183 --> 00:04:23.053 and these solutions are worth sharing. 00:04:24.944 --> 00:04:28.104 One example would be my wife. 00:04:28.146 --> 00:04:31.916 She's hearing, and we visited Iceland a few years ago. 00:04:33.816 --> 00:04:39.036 She's an educator, and she wanted to take a tour of a school for the deaf. 00:04:39.251 --> 00:04:41.831 Now, neither of us can read or write Icelandic, 00:04:42.220 --> 00:04:44.590 and I can't speak Icelandic Sign Language. 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:49.190 But being a native signer, I could understand much better than she could, 00:04:49.942 --> 00:04:52.802 and so I ended up interpreting for her 00:04:52.835 --> 00:04:55.105 for the first time in our entire relationship. 00:04:58.204 --> 00:05:00.484 Often, I'm considered the disabled one, 00:05:00.484 --> 00:05:04.264 but in this situation she was the one with a disability. 00:05:06.064 --> 00:05:08.274 So what is Universal Design, anyway? 00:05:10.576 --> 00:05:15.576 There was a professor named Ron Mace who passed away a few years ago. 00:05:16.028 --> 00:05:20.028 He taught at the Center for Universal Design in North Carolina, 00:05:21.569 --> 00:05:24.179 and he said that Universal Design 00:05:25.732 --> 00:05:28.222 is the design of products and environments 00:05:28.222 --> 00:05:33.832 to be usable by all people to the greatest extent possible 00:05:35.779 --> 00:05:41.529 without the need for any adaptation or specialized design. 00:05:47.873 --> 00:05:51.353 So humans interact with objects every day, 00:05:51.393 --> 00:05:55.153 and all these objects fall somewhere on the spectrum of Universal Design, 00:05:55.153 --> 00:05:57.243 from very universal to not at all. 00:05:59.105 --> 00:06:02.205 So let's use a doorknob as a common example. 00:06:03.714 --> 00:06:06.414 Doorknobs are not really usable by children. 00:06:06.430 --> 00:06:13.330 They struggle. People with arthritis struggle to use doorknobs, and this guy. 00:06:14.132 --> 00:06:16.752 [laughter] 00:06:18.817 --> 00:06:21.927 So how could we improve on this design? 00:06:21.953 --> 00:06:25.243 Well, the door lever. It's a lot better. 00:06:25.435 --> 00:06:27.245 This guy can use it now. 00:06:27.245 --> 00:06:31.925 But think about people with wheelchairs. 00:06:31.925 --> 00:06:37.615 Have you ever seen them try to go through a door? It' horrible. 00:06:38.551 --> 00:06:40.101 It's really tough for them. 00:06:40.149 --> 00:06:43.149 Or parents with baby strollers. 00:06:44.865 --> 00:06:48.025 It's really difficult, not fully accessible. 00:06:49.725 --> 00:06:52.955 So to even improve upon the door design further, 00:06:54.637 --> 00:06:57.777 the automatic sliding door was invented. 00:06:57.777 --> 00:06:59.607 This is such a Universal Design. 00:06:59.607 --> 00:07:02.787 It doesn't leave anyone out; even animals can use it. 00:07:11.761 --> 00:07:16.161 One of my projects recently was to work on something 00:07:16.360 --> 00:07:18.860 to make it more universally accessible. 00:07:18.860 --> 00:07:21.060 Remember when Google glass came out-- 00:07:21.060 --> 00:07:22.960 It was so exciting a few years ago? 00:07:23.469 --> 00:07:25.719 Now, may it rest in peace. [laughter] 00:07:30.757 --> 00:07:33.857 But I started thinking about how could I use that-- 00:07:33.857 --> 00:07:37.857 how could I make that really awesome new technology beneficial-- 00:07:37.863 --> 00:07:39.163 for people like me? 00:07:39.676 --> 00:07:41.946 So I thought of my mother immediately. 00:07:41.946 --> 00:07:45.946 My mother is deaf, and she loves going to movies. 00:07:47.542 --> 00:07:52.892 Often, movie theaters would release a movie with subtitles 00:07:53.750 --> 00:07:57.120 that were imposed on the screen, and that was a really exciting event. 00:07:57.562 --> 00:08:01.562 I don't know if you know this but deaf options in a movie theater 00:08:01.562 --> 00:08:05.562 are really bleak, and you usually have to wear something like this. 00:08:06.121 --> 00:08:10.121 Can you imagine going on your first date looking like this? 00:08:10.774 --> 00:08:14.774 [laughter] Yeah. 00:08:15.912 --> 00:08:18.342 So I thought, how can I make this better? 00:08:21.992 --> 00:08:25.992 I decided to get a file for a movie script and put it in an app 00:08:26.148 --> 00:08:30.108 so that you could have a timed app where you could press play 00:08:30.124 --> 00:08:34.454 and go into any movie theatre and see the script on your Google Glass. 00:08:35.377 --> 00:08:39.437 No one had done that before and I had to move pretty fast on that. 00:08:42.046 --> 00:08:46.046 And the biggest reward was seeing -- 00:08:51.002 --> 00:08:55.002 was not only realizing that it helps people like my mom or people like me, 00:08:57.027 --> 00:08:59.777 but also anyone can use it. 00:08:59.875 --> 00:09:03.875 Imagine if you go to a different country and you go into a movie theatre-- 00:09:03.886 --> 00:09:07.506 you want to watch a movie-- you can watch it in your own language. 00:09:07.532 --> 00:09:10.532 Or you could even have an app 00:09:10.550 --> 00:09:14.460 become your own personal karaoke machine and have it play lyrics. 00:09:16.620 --> 00:09:19.450 That is the genius of Universal Design. 00:09:19.929 --> 00:09:23.929 When you achieve Universal Design, 00:09:24.228 --> 00:09:28.528 it snowballs to the point where people-- 00:09:28.528 --> 00:09:30.948 even if you don't share the same disability-- 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:34.960 everyone benefits from it. 00:09:36.199 --> 00:09:39.029 Disability drives innovation. 00:09:39.741 --> 00:09:44.721 The existence of disability forces you to come up with new solutions. 00:09:44.789 --> 00:09:47.419 It does not impair you. 00:09:47.461 --> 00:09:49.361 All of us have a disability, 00:09:49.377 --> 00:09:55.267 regardless of if it's physical or cognitive, emotional or even temporary. 00:09:56.032 --> 00:09:57.452 What is your solution? 00:09:57.473 --> 00:10:01.253 Share it with us. It's what unifies us as humans. 00:10:02.163 --> 00:10:07.993 Let's stop making that awkward dance so awkward. Thank you. 00:10:08.091 --> 00:10:25.321 [applause]