DFM Adjacent Work in Other Industries Reimagining the central importance of cases that deviate from this happy path172 and placing them as the focal point from the onset is not a revolutionary concept. Many industries need to focus on “edge cases” or “extremes” for their whole system to function as a fundamental principle. There are a plethora of examples in disability justice work that has led to immense innovation and better structures for us all, from life saving curb cuts173 that were originally made for wheelchair access, to the captions we all love174 on our streaming services that were made for the Deaf/those hard of hearing. However there are many more examples in many industries. For example:
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In industrial engineering, engineers often focus on the most extreme scenarios such as the highest potential impacts of natural disasters. From a financial perspective,“every $1 invested in climate mitigation avoids $4 in future losses.”175 They go even further, specifically in resilience building176 for climate change and disaster relief, and affordable housing, where they focus on designing and improving conditions for those most impacted and for communities experiencing historical neglect and dis-investment. With a DFM frame on this, the motivations can be laid out: when a, for example, natural disaster hits affluent communities are not affected the same way as historically neglected and dis-invested communities. The decentered communities in these contexts will experience higher damage and destruction often. This inturn means higher costs and resources in rebuilding areas. In focusing on these communities not only are gaps in safety structures more
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Weaver, J., 2019. Edge Cases Are Real and They’re Hurting Your Users. [online] Medium. Available at: <https://modus.medium.com/who-pays-the-price-of-happy-path-design-36047f00c044> [Accessed 6 April 2022].
173
99% Invisible. 2021. Curb Cuts - 99% Invisible. [online] Available at: <https://99percentinvisible.org/ episode/curb-cuts/> [Accessed 29 April 2022].
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Gernsbacher, M., 2015. Video Captions Benefit Everyone. [online] Available at: <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. gov/pmc/articles/PMC5214590/> [Accessed 29 April 2022].
175
Coffee, J., 2016. Collateral Benefits — Blog: Climate Adaptation Exchange — Climate Resilience Consulting. [online] Climate Resilience Consulting. Available at: <https://www.climateresilienceconsulting.com/blog/ category/Collateral+Benefits> [Accessed 6 April 2022].
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resilienceforce.org. 2020. A People’s Framework for Disaster Response. [online] Available at: <https:// resilienceforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/report_jan_v8.pdf> [Accessed 6 April 2022].
Design From the Margins
