Designing for Access, Dignity and Belonging

Welcome to the first episode of Redefine Design, the podcast from Aray Design Studio. I sit down with Darby Lee Young, founder and principal accessibility strategist at Level Playing Field, to talk about how we can move beyond minimum requirements and design spaces where people can move comfortably, participate fully and feel welcome.

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Darby brings professional expertise and lived experience with cerebral palsy to her work, along with a background as a former alpine ski racer, certification as an ADA coordinator and training in venue management. Together we explore why building to code means building to the floor and not the ceiling, what she calls the “time tax” of researching whether a space will work before she can even arrive, and why so much accessibility thinking still centres on the manual wheelchair when more people now use powered devices, and when seniors, neurodivergent people and mental health are so often left out of the conversation.

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We also get practical, from washroom sizes and the placement of automatic door buttons to what to prioritize in an older or heritage building when budgets are tight, why an accessibility consultant is most valuable when brought in at the concept stage and kept on through construction, and why wayfinding may be the one thing a designer should get right above all else. Along the way, Darby shares what it feels like to move through public spaces and why dignity so often depends on whether someone had to fight for it.

If you design, build, own or manage spaces, this conversation offers a clearer picture of what inclusive design looks like in practice, and who it is really for.