[Transcript]

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Have you heard of the curb cut effect?

A lot of people think we should only design for 80th percentile - basically focus on designing for the majority, rather than minority groups of people.

The curb cut effect shows what can happen when you do the opposite.

Curb cuts are these ramps and dips in pavements that were first made in the 1960s in Berkley, California for wheelchair users.

Without these, it can be almost impossible to get a wheelchair from one side of the road to the other, and no one had thought to design for this group of people.

But now these are universally built into curbs all over the world, benefitting everyone from parents with prams, cyclists, delivery workers, everyone.

This phenomenon, known the curb cut effect, is where a feature originally intended for accessibility ends up benefitting society as a whole.

Electric toothbrushes were designed in 1957 for people with limited dexterity.

Audiobooks were created through the American foundation for the blind in 1931.

Captions or subtitles, originally for people like me with hearing loss are being used by 85% of Netflix users.

Designing for accessibility has the potential to improve everyones’ lives.

This is how I’m thinking with Overtone - follow for more.

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