.future · Microsoft / Gimlet Creative

Design For All

August 2, 2017·19 min·1 clip

Why does a simple apple peeler with a rubber handle represent a revolutionary design choice for the future?

Host Christina Quinn opens the episode by peeling an apple with the OXO Good Grips Swivel Peeler, one of the best-selling kitchen tools in the world. She reveals the peeler was not designed for the general public but was inspired by Betsy Farber, whose arthritis made standard metal peelers painful to use. Designer Dan Formosa explains that his team created a product for Betsy that turned out to be better for everyone — a principle he calls inclusive design. Formosa pushes back against the idea that products for people with disabilities are niche, noting that expert chefs can have arthritis too. The episode then shifts to the history of curb cuts, beginning with a failed 1945 installation in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Angela Glover-Blackwell, founder of PolicyLink, describes how wheelchair-using students at UC Berkeley — calling themselves the Rolling Quads and led by activist Michael Pachovas — illegally poured concrete at a street corner in the late 1960s or early 1970s to create a crude ramp. She calls this act 'the slab that was heard around the world.' Within years, curb cuts spread nationally, and Glover-Blackwell documents that they benefited not just wheelchair users but also people pushing strollers, pulling carts, cycling, and skateboarding. She names this phenomenon the 'curb cut effect' and argues that inclusion is not zero-sum — solving problems for vulnerable people enhances possibilities for everyone. Glover-Blackwell also introduces the disability rights rallying cry: 'Nothing about me without me.' The episode then turns to Microsoft's chief accessibility officer Jenny Lay-Flurry, who is deaf. Early in her career, she was offered a promotion to manage employees across Europe but felt unable to take it because she relied on lip-reading and couldn't do that remotely. Rather than disclose her situation to her boss, she went to a grocery store and picked up a cashier application. Her boss intervened and she kept her career. Jenny describes how even now she encounters exclusionary situations, such as a training session that required back-to-back communication in a noisy room — impossible for someone who lip-reads. She frames these moments as reminders of why her work matters. Jenny's central mission is reducing the disability employment gap: roughly 20% of disabled Americans participate in the labor force compared to 69% of non-disabled Americans. She argues that hiring people with disabilities is not just ethical but strategically essential, because those employees catch design failures before products ship. The episode then visits a triage meeting at Microsoft's Disability Answer Desk, a tech support team that fields accessibility complaints and escalates them to product teams. Crystal Jones, who is blind, describes a persistent bug in Microsoft Outlook where the zoom level resets to 100% every time a new email is opened, forcing users to manually adjust it each time. The team debates return on investment as a barrier to getting fixes prioritized. Sean Merrihew, who has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair, reflects on arriving at work that morning and being referred to as 'a wheelchair' rather than a person by a stranger on the sidewalk. He argues that people with disabilities are inherently skilled problem-solvers because they troubleshoot daily life constantly. Jenny closes by reaffirming her goal: to change the unemployment rate for people with disabilities and make Microsoft a model for inclusive hiring.

As heard by us

A clear, practical introduction to inclusive design, moving from the OXO peeler to Microsoft's accessibility work.

Design For All opens with the OXO Good Grips peeler, a familiar kitchen tool with a thick rubber handle and swiveling blade, then uses it as an accessible way into inclusive design.

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Why you'd press play

A kitchen peeler opens into a sharper story about access.

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