Made For Us

Help shape the next season of Made For Us! Please answer a few quick questions and tell us how we can make this show better : https://bit.ly/madeforuspod --- In this episode, we explore the often-overlooked disability data gap in AI, and why it matters for equitable hiring. Ariana Aboulafia, who leads the Disability Rights in Technology Policy Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology (...

Could AI hiring create more barriers for people with disabilities instead of levelling the playing field? In this episode, Susan Scott-Parker, founder of business disability international, says standardised and inflexible AI hiring systems risk shutting many people with disabilities out of the workforce. She makes the case for more inclusive HR technologies that are designed for the full range of...

This week, we're taking you back to the first ever episode of Made For Us (and the most downloaded in Season 1). It’s an interview with Cliff Weitzman, the founder and CEO of Speechify, a text to speech app that has made reading more accessible for people with dyslexia, ADHD, low vision and other conditions that make reading difficult. Speechify now has 50 million users who can listen to the inter...

Help us make this podcast better for you! Please answer a few quick questions to help shape the next season: https://bit.ly/madeforuspod --- When Danish furniture craftsman Hans Jørgen Wiberg launched Be My Eyes, an app connecting people who are blind and low vision with sighted volunteers, he had no idea it would grow into a global movement. But ten years after its launch, the app now boasts 850,...

Help us make this podcast better for you! Please answer a few quick questions to help shape the next season: https://bit.ly/madeforuspod --- TB Bardlavens, Director of Product Equity at Adobe, joins us for this special edition featuring questions from Made For Us listeners.  We discuss what it really means to build technology that works for everyone and how the Product Equity team tackles thi...

Join the Made For Us community by signing up for our free newsletter: https://madeforuspodcast.beehiiv.com/ --- How does bias show up in workplace feedback, and can AI help fix it? In this episode, we speak with Mykel Rangel, VP of Engineering at Textio, a company that has built AI-driven tools that are reshaping the way managers give feedback and how recruiters craft job ads. We explore the hidde...

Transcripts for this episode are available here: https://made-for-us.captivate.fm/ --- What if you could subtitle everyday life? That question sparked the creation of XRAI, a company developing augmented reality glasses that display real-time subtitles right before your eyes.  In this episode, XRAI CEO and founder Dan Scarfe joins us to share how AI and augmented reality (AR) are making conve...

Why aren’t more tech companies prioritising inclusion in product development? Research by McKinsey & Company found that only 17% of product managers ranked inclusion among their top priorities. Yet, it can be a powerful strategic advantage. In this episode, we speak with Rikki Singh, a partner at McKinsey and founder of the McKinsey Product Academy, about the critical role of product managemen...

Your feedback is important to us - shape the future of Made For Us by taking our quick survey:  https://bit.ly/madeforuspod --- We’re kicking off Season 2 of Made for Us with Lucy Edwards, a trailblazing broadcaster, author and content creator who is redefining perceptions of disability. Lucy shares her journey of navigating life as a blind woman, from losing her vision at 17 to becoming...

Made For Us is back for another season! Subscribe now so you don't miss new episodes. --- Connect with Made for Us Show notes and transcripts: https://made-for-us.captivate.fm/   Newsletter: https://madeforuspodcast.beehiiv.com/   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/madeforuspodcast   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madeforuspodcast/  

**ANNOUNCEMENT** Made For Us won the Bronze at the 2024 Signal Awards in the 'Most Inspirational Podcast' category!! Thanks to the judges for recognising our indie podcast as one of 2024's most impactful shows. If you voted for us in the Listener's Choice Awards, we're incredibly grateful for your support. --- We have great news to share with you: Made For Us has been named a finalist in the 2024...

Over the past few months, guests on this podcast have shared some great examples of inclusive design and innovation, but these kinds of products aren’t the norm (yet).   Joining me to explore some of the reasons why is Scott Berkun, author of How Design Makes the World, a book that aims to demystify design for everyone. We discuss why it’s so hard to design well and what organisations ca...

On the day makeup artist Terri Bryant learned she had Parkinson's, she returned home and raided her makeup kit and her husband's toolbox. She quickly pinpointed what was lacking in the tools she’d been using for years: grip and stability. This sparked the creation of Guide Beauty, a brand dedicated to reimagining makeup artistry and proving it can be accessible to all, regardless of skill, ability...

Want to be the first to hear when Season 2 lands? Sign up for the Made For Us newsletter for the latest updates and exclusive content. This week's episode: In the heart of South London, a bustling barbershop served as the birthplace for Aaron Wallace, the pioneering grooming brand dedicated to black men. Co-founders Aaron Wallace and Lina Barker share how everyday barbershop conversations about ha...

Can't wait for the next season of Made For Us? Sign up for our newsletter for the latest updates and exclusive content. --- This week's guest: In 2018, brown and bronze pointe shoes, tailored for dancers of colour, made their commercial debut in the UK — nearly two centuries after the introduction of pink ones. The delay begs the questions: Why? Who paved the way? What were dancers of colour doing...

Paying with a card has become incredibly easy and safe, but for the 43 million people worldwide who are blind, that's not the case. Not only are blind and visually impaired people unable to see the payment terminal when making a transaction, they also have no way of confirming whether the amount they're paying is accurate. Blind notches, braille and contrasting colors are all tools integrated in f...

The struggle to find a bicycle helmet that fits is more common than you might think. People with long hair, big hair, dreadlocks, cochlear implants, turbans…the list goes on. How are helmet manufacturers addressing the needs of diverse communities and what could the latest innovations in helmet technology mean for inclusivity? Randy Swart, executive director of the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute,...

Want to be the first to hear when Season 2 lands? Subscribe to the Made For Us  newsletter  for the latest updates and exclusive content. This week's episode: What do you do when traditional bike helmets just don’t work for you? Forgo a helmet altogether or choose a different sport? Tina Singh chose a third option - designing a helmet for Sikh kids who, like her three sons, keep their ha...

Want to be the first to hear about the new season of Made For Us? Subscribe to our  newsletter  for the latest updates and exclusive content. This week's episode: For decades, dancers of colour at classical ballet companies have used makeup to dye their pink pointe shoes a darker shade to match their skin tone. My guest this week, award-winning ballerina Cira Robinson, tells me about the...

As a gamer living with a disability, Vivek Gohil has strong opinions about the accessibility of video games. Diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy at the age of nine, his muscles have become weaker over the years but that hasn’t deterred him from gaming. He now uses his experience to advise game developers and console makers on improving gaming for people like himself with severe motor disabi...

When it comes to improving the accessibility of video games, it’s often simple things that can make a big difference, says this week's guest, Mick Donegan. Since 2007, the charity he founded, SpecialEffect, has helped thousands of people with severe physical disabilities play video games by creating bespoke setups suited to their abilities. In today’s interview, Mick shares how SpecialEffect has b...

When pitching their inclusive eyewear brand to investors, Reframd ’s co-founders Shariff Vreugd and Ackeem Ngwenya often faced doubts about whether a market existed for their product. But if you look beyond the West, says Shariff, the opportunity is massive. In the second of a two-part series on inclusive brands disrupting the eyewear industry, we talk about how Reframd is reimagining eyewear fram...

After struggling for years to find glasses that fit comfortably, Athina Wang and Florence Shin realised that it was the eyewear industry that needed to change and not them. That was the inspiration for launching Covry, an inclusive eyewear brand that came to life through an oversubscribed Kickstarter campaign.  In the interview, we discuss: Why having zero eyewear industry experience proved t...

“Where are the plus size male models?” It’s a question the Internet seemed to be asking just a few years ago. Now, a six-pack is no longer a prerequisite to grace the pages of the top fashion magazines. It’s proof, says my guest, Raul Samuel, that there's demand for more realistic-looking models. Still, as we discuss in the interview, not everyone in the fashion industry is convinced. Some of the...

Want to be the first to hear when Season 2 lands? Subscribe to the Made For Us  newsletter  for the latest updates and exclusive content. This week's episode: Sam Latif, P&G's first Company Accessibility Leader, joins me this week to share how she is driving innovation to make the company’s 65+ brands inclusive and accessible for the 15% of people around the globe who experience some...