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Made by Design · Chapter 5

Design for Everyone

From a curb cut to the right to repair

A curb cut built for wheelchairs turns out to help almost everyone. Rio and Milo follow that idea into broken gadgets, glued-in batteries, and the right to repair, then close the book together.

12 panels · ~6 min read

A designer crouches and points at a curb ramp on a sunny city sidewalk while a curious kid looks down at it in surprise.

Panel 1

A flashback mural shows disabled activists in wheelchairs gathered at a 1970s Berkeley street corner, determined to win safe curb ramps.

Panel 2

Several different people, a parent with a stroller, a traveler with luggage, and a delivery worker with a cart, use the same curb ramp one after another on a city sidewalk.

Panel 3

A designer taps a pinned sketch of a fat-handled peeler on a corkboard while a kid looks back and forth, connecting the idea to universal design.

Panel 4

A cafe window shows a captioned television, a customer listening to an audiobook, and an automatic door swinging open, while a designer and a kid walk past.

Panel 5

A designer opens a cluttered drawer full of broken gadgets, a cracked phone and an old toy, while a kid peers in with curiosity.

Panel 6

A designer holds up a cracked phone pointing to its glued-shut battery while a kid studies it closely, starting to understand planned obsolescence.

Panel 7

A designer spreads a repair manual, screwdrivers, and spare parts on a workbench while an eager kid picks up a screwdriver to try fixing an old toy.

Panel 8

A kid carefully disassembles an old toy on a workbench, its screws letting each part come free cleanly, while a designer watches, pleased.

Panel 9

A designer gestures to a shelf of her own worn but working tools beside a small pile of cheap broken plastic gadgets, while a kid compares the two.

Panel 10

A designer and a kid sit together on stools surrounded by old sketches, the kid grinning with a wide look of understanding.

Panel 11

A designer hands her worn, dog-eared sketchbook to a delighted kid at golden hour, both smiling as the moment closes the story.

Panel 12

Cover