"I believe that losing my hearing was one of the greatest gifts I've ever received," says Elise Roy. As a disability rights lawyer and design thinker, she knows that being Deaf gives her a unique way of experiencing and reframing the world -- a perspective that could solve some of our largest problems. As she says: "When we design for disability first, you often stumble upon solutions that are better than those when we design for the norm."

Elise Roy: When we design for disability, we all benefit

When we design for disability, we all benefit

Designing safety glasses for carpentry that visually alert to pitch changes, a solution inspired by Deafness, opens a window to innovation.

Text messaging, initially created for the Deaf community, is now ubiquitous, illustrating that designing for disability benefits everyone.

Designing with disability first uncovers universally beneficial innovations, transforming constraints into creative solutions.