A Conversation with a Disability Advocate

 

A photo of Jason Hartsfield smiling while wearing a dark suit, blue shirt, and tie with a city street and brick building in the background.

Designing with EmpathY: Creating Inclusive Spaces and Dismantling Disability Stigmas  

For Jason Hartsfield, advocating for empathy in design is a passion. And it’s personal. Hartsfield is a Disability Inclusion Consultant for the Starkloff Disability Institute, working with companies that want to improve their empathy and inclusion for people with disabilities. He also has personal experience living with visual impairment and chronic mental health condition. We talked with Hartsfield about empathy in design, how it works in practice, and why it’s critical. 

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Empathy in the design process allows authentic, representative, and inclusive designs. It enables us to look at inequity, see how those factors might impact our guests, and discover if they feel welcome. 

Hartsfield, who also has a master’s degree in social work, explains his view of empathy, “There are two sides of empathy I often consider. First is the intellectual understanding of viewpoints and situations. It’s understanding that 61 million adults in the United States have a disability, and the majority of those are unseen. To connect emotionally, you first must understand the facts.” 

People of every race, gender, sexual orientation, age, and income live with disabilities.

In the U.S., 12% of people have serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs, 12% of people have cognition difficulties, 6% have hearing difficulties, and nearly 5% have serious vision impairments.  

A graphical representation illustrating the prevalence of various disabilities among adults in the United States, sourced from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In the United States, 12.1% of adults have serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs, 12.8% have serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions, 7.2% have difficulty doing errands alone, 6.1% have deafness or serious difficulty hearing, 4.8% have blindness or serious difficulty seeing, and 3.6% have difficulty dressing or bathing.

Hartsfield continues, “When we exclude people with disabilities from conversations and decision-making, we miss valuable insights and perspectives.

“If we don’t include people with various disabilities, the design can break down when someone outside our usual perspective attempts to use it. Engage the individuals who will use the design; you might be pleasantly surprised by the ingenious ideas they bring.” At Starkloff Disability Institute’s office, they’ve implemented an innovative, simple idea to benefit a range of people. Kickplates positioned four feet high allow a wheelchair user to run into the kickplate and open the door, avoiding the need to reach a door handle or press a higher-mounted plate. This minor design adjustment significantly impacted usability and inclusivity at the office. 

Remember, accessibility is just the starting point. Inclusion should be the ultimate goal. Hartsfield underscores the significance of universal design and empathetic design. “Disabilities can affect anyone at any time, whether apparent or not. Failing to consider these factors can inadvertently marginalize individuals. It’s imperative to think comprehensively and approach design with empathy to ensure no one is left behind. When I feel welcomed and included, I enthusiastically spread the word about the place or experience. I bring friends and family, spend my money there, and encourage others to go.” 

An illustrative map of the United States adorned with icons, visually conveying the statistic that one in four adults in the United States, which equates to 25%, are living with a disability.

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Dawn Jasper