There’s a concept in design and urban planning known as the curb cut effect.
Curb cuts—those small ramps built into sidewalks—were originally designed to support wheelchair users. Their purpose was clear and specific: create access where none existed. But something unexpected happened.
Parents pushing strollers benefited.
Travelers pulling luggage benefited.
Cyclists benefited.
Delivery workers benefited.
Anyone who has ever navigated a city with something heavy, wheeled, or awkward benefited.
What started as an accommodation became an upgrade.
Inclusion Is Rarely Just for One Group
The curb cut effect reminds us of something we often forget: inclusive design doesn’t narrow an experience—it improves it.
When accessibility is treated as an edge case or an afterthought, it limits who can participate. But when it’s built into the foundation, the result is environments that are easier, safer, and more humane for everyone.
This isn’t accidental. It’s what happens when designers consider human diversity from the beginning instead of designing for a fictional “average” user.
What This Has to Do With Events (and Everything Else)
Events are temporary by nature, but the systems behind them are not.
Every decision—platforms, venues, layouts, schedules, formats—either removes friction or introduces it. And too often, accessibility is addressed only after something doesn’t work for someone.
Inclusive design asks different questions earlier:
- Who might struggle here?
- Who is being unintentionally excluded?
- What assumptions are we making about bodies, schedules, attention, technology, language?
Just like curb cuts, the solutions that emerge from these questions tend to benefit far more people than initially anticipated.
Clear signage helps first‑time attendees and those with cognitive disabilities.
Captioning supports Deaf participants and anyone joining from a noisy space.
Flexible session formats serve neurodiverse audiences and overscheduled professionals alike.
Accessibility improves the whole experience—not just compliance.
When Accessibility Is Added vs. When It’s Embedded
There is a difference between adding accessibility and designing inclusively.
Adding accessibility often looks like:
- Last‑minute fixes
- Separate solutions
- Special exceptions
Inclusive design looks like:
- Thoughtful defaults
- Shared benefits
- Fewer barriers overall
Curb cuts work because they are part of the sidewalk—not a separate entrance hidden around the corner.
The same principle applies wherever people gather.
Responsibility Lives Upstream
The curb cut effect also teaches a lesson about responsibility. Inclusive outcomes don’t happen by accident. They result from early, intentional choices made by people willing to design beyond themselves.
When accessibility is considered from the beginning:
- Fewer people are left navigating workarounds
- Less energy is spent apologizing or reacting
- More trust is built into the experience
Responsibility, in this sense, isn’t about perfection. It’s about foresight.
Designing for Reality, Not Ideals
Inclusive design acknowledges something simple and radical: people are not interchangeable.
Bodies vary.
Energy levels fluctuate.
Life circumstances change.
Good design doesn’t demand that people adapt to it. It adapts to people.
Curb cuts work because someone recognized that a city built only for able‑bodied pedestrians wasn’t actually serving the public—it was serving a narrow slice of it.
A Question Worth Asking More Often
Before designing anything—an event, a system, a process—it’s worth asking:
Who does this make easier? And who does it make harder?
If the answer consistently points to the same groups benefitting while others are left to adjust, that’s not neutral design. It’s exclusion by default.
The curb cut effect shows us there’s another way.
Inclusion as an Act of Leadership
Inclusive design is not just a technical skill. It’s a leadership choice.
It requires:
- Empathy
- Humility
- A willingness to imagine experiences beyond your own
But the payoff is significant. When environments are designed to include more people from the start, everyone moves through them with less friction.
Just like a sidewalk with a curb cut.
What’s one small design choice you could rethink—not as an accommodation, but as an improvement for everyone?