Patricia Moore is an American industrial designer and pioneer of universal design. She promotes designing products, environments and systems so they are usable by as many people as possible regardless of their age or ability.
https://youtu.be/ZvIuymFVn5A?si=6sAUrErbDf3WTZ6_
In 1979-1982, she conducted an experiment where she disguised herself as an elderly woman using prosthetics, mobility limitations, impaired hearing and vision and then traveled through over 100 cities in the U.S. and Canada, navigating normal daily activities such as transportation, shopping, and social interaction.
Putting herself into the shoes of the elderly allowed her to firsthand experience the challenges they face in day to day life from physical barriers to how others treat them. She found that people treated her very differently with some providing kindness while others were sometimes impatient or even hostility. During her experiment she got beaten up multiple times, one of which was by a gang in Harlem, New York. She also experienced the physical barriers they face such as difficulty reaching shelves, reading small print and moving comfortably
https://wdo.org/programmes/world-design-medal/patricia-moore/
Her immersive experiment helped her understand the real challenges older people encounter daily and informed her work in designing more inclusive, accessible products and environments for people of all ages and abilities. This also helped shift the mindsets of other designers from focusing on an average user to understanding human diversity, making designs more accessible, usable and respectful for everyone from children to elderly people.
If something works for older adults, people with disabilities, children or tired people, it will work better for everyone. For example: Curb cuts help wheelchair users and strollers, luggage, bikes.
Tiny design choices can create huge daily barriers. Things such as small text, low contrast, heavy doors, awkward handles, confusing signage can be made easier to use by changing it to bigger fonts, high-contrast labels, lever handles, clearer way finding.
Accessibility shouldn’t feel medical or stigmatising. People want accessible options to look and feel normal, stylish and built-in to their day to day lives
Moore learned things no checklist could reveal such as impatience from strangers, unsafe sidewalks, confusing layouts and social invisibility. By experiencing and observing people in the wild, they learn so much more than a fake scenario ever would.
Cognitive load increases with age, stress, fatigue and disability. By designing with clarity it means there is fewer steps, clearer choices and obvious feedback