Imagine what it’s like to live with a disability. If you’ve got a condition that makes it difficult for you to get around, not only do you have to cope with the difficulties associated with your condition, but to add insult to injury, you also often have to live with poorly designed equipment that you keep looking at and wondering why can’t look as nice as the rest of the stuff you buy?

Denise Stephens is one of the most inspiring people I’ve met. In 2003, when she was 24, she was diagnosed with MS, which meant that she found it increasingly difficult to get around without crutches. The crutches and other equipment she was given were a lifeline and she was so glad to get it on one hand, but on the other hand whenever friends were coming round to visit, she found herself hiding it because it was so ugly and stigmatised. She thought “Surely this can’t be just the way it is…”

She began to grow concerned that people with disabilities were missing out on the pleasure that comes with good design aesthetics. “I get the impression that people are opting out on the opportunity to use things that could be really useful to them, purely because they look a certain way,” she says. “For example, someone who uses a hearing aid may think, ‘I don’t want to wear that’, because they don’t like the look of it.”
She says she has always been interested “in the aesthetics of things”, and that looking at the limited equipment available made her wonder why something being practical meant it couldn’t also be a “fun, inspiring” design. “It’s as if it’s looked like this for 50 years and no one’s even changed it,” she says. “I think one of the ultimate experiences I had that made me take a step back was when I was in hospital and I was offered a Zimmer frame. At that time, I was 25. It probably sounds really vain, but I didn’t want that. It’s all these little different experiences that made me think, ‘I wish I could do something.”

So she did.

In 2008 she won the Social Innovation Camp award for her idea Enabled by Design, which over the last 2 years, with steely focus, she has built into a thriving online community of people passionate about fun, practical and good design solutions for people with a disability. Denise and Enabled by Design embody the empowering spirit of life hacking – people taking control of their problems and finding clever solutions on their own terms. The website has a Loves / Hates section and people share tips and ideas that have worked for them. EbD is a breath of fresh air.
Tomorrow Denise and her Team are hosting a 1 day unconference at London Design Museum. Their aim is to ‘reframe the ageing and disability debate by focusing on Design for All‘. A very ambitious goal, but they’ve proven they are intent and on their way to achieving it. Wayne Hemmingway and Charles Leadbeater are the keynote speakers at the event tomorrow, but there will also be workshops, seminars and breakout sessions bringing an incredibly diverse range of ideas and fresh perspectives. There are a few tickets still available, so grab them while you can !

We’re really excited to be hosting a HACKquarium during the lunch break tomorrow, so if you’re coming, bring along something to hack!