Why is this definition important? As Kat puts it in her book it clearly indicates that disability does not equate to personal health conditions (or even the person I might add). It's also easier to built inclusively from the start than try to retrofit later on.ģ) The WHO defines disability as a complex phenomenon, reflecting the interaction between features of a person's body and features of the society in which they life. Inclusive design, as shown in the email example, more often then not is used by everyone. Imagine a product that is built for one of those personas, it will have use and functionality to all of them. Situational can be a new parent who is caring their new born in one arm so doesn't have use of that limb in that moment in time. Temporary disability is somebody who has an arm injury so temporary has use of only one arm Permanent disability can be someone who has one arm The example in the book to illustrate this is: How many people use emails nowadays? Based on 2021 projections, 319.6 billion email are sent each day!Ģ) Disability can be permanent, temporary or situational. Why? His wife is deaf and Vint himself is hard of hearing, so they needed a way to communicate with a phone clearly not working for them. He was also the one to create the earliest protocols for email.

Vint Cerf is known as the father of the internet. If you don't know who Vint Cerf is, you certainly heard of the internet or the email. These are the ones that made me pause and reflect:ġ) We ALL benefit from inclusive design (even when it's set up to solve another person's need). Please read the book in full, irrespective of what you do, there will be one element to provoke thought. These mismatches are the building blocks of exclusion'. The description on the back of the book says 'Sometimes designed objects reject their users: a computer mouse that doesn't work for left-handed people, for example, or a touchscreen payment system that only works for people who read English phrases, have 20/20 vision, and use a credit card. Disappointment levels? Major.Ī friend did recommend 'Mismatch' by Kat Holmes, and no thanks to the Design Museum I ordered it online. The answer? They didn't have one book on inclusive or accessible design.

Ok, I certainly must have been missing them. Not to worry, certainly there must be something. I prompted myself at the beginning of the first row and started browsing one book at a time. I was SO excited to browse their book selection and discover some interesting ones on inclusive or accessible design. This last weekend I went and visited the Design Museum in London.

Mismatch kat holmes