Design without inclusion is injustice.

Written By Amy Heymans

I believe design without inclusion is injustice. Inclusive design means engaging the people who are affected by the solutions we create in the process of creating them - fostering participatory decision-making, and dismantling barriers to access.

A commitment to inclusion and equity does not promote one group over another, it looks at the realities of what drives different outcomes for different groups of people and in doing so, experiences improve for everyone. For example, black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women. In order to improve maternal mortality numbers as a whole, we need to pay specific attention to where the data shows maternal mortality is high and design interventions focused on improving in those areas. An innovation here may be a way for a mother to get a rapid second opinion if she feels her concerns or symptoms are not being paid adequate attention to. This type of system, once implemented, would improve the situation for all women and all people in a hospital, ensuring they are receiving the best care. By designing with people rather than for them, we can ensure that the solutions we design reflect the lived experiences and needs of those they serve, thereby ensuring that they will be more effective.

An excerpt from the Article "Design for Dignity"

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Amy Heymans

Amy is a humanity-centered strategist who believes purpose driven and participatory design methods can guide us to envision and enact transformational change. As the founder and CEO of Beneficent, she focuses her passion for whole health, financial wellbeing, social impact, and sustainability to help organizations to clarify their purpose, craft a bold vision, and transform their organization in the direction of that vision. Amy is a big believer in learning and the power of community and networks to drive change and so is dedicated to life-long learning, teaching, inspiring people through events, connecting people through collaborations and sharing her inspirational message of designing a better world.

Most recently, Amy served as Chief Design officer of United Healthcare, where she lead of team of 100 to help people live healthier lives and help make the health system work better for everyone. Before joining United Healthcare, she co-founded Mad*Pow in 2002 and nurtured its growth for 20 years to become a leading global strategic design consultancy focused on delivering positive social impact and business outcomes. At Mad*Pow Amy served as Chief Experience Officer, executive board member and head of growth. Her board leadership includes her contribution to An Orphan’s Dream as Vice President of the board.

Her work empowering human-centered innovation with companies across the health and finance ecosystem has helped improve the experiences they deliver both inside and outside of the organization. She founded Mad*Pow's Health Experience Design Conference in 2011 with the vision of connecting a community to discuss important topics and inspiring motivation in the direction of positive change. The Center for Health Experience Design that Amy founded in 2016 served as a continuation of that objective in forging partnerships between large organizations with shared objectives and crowdsourcing innovation in exciting possibility areas.

Amy was honored to be named one of Mass High Tech's Women to watch in 2009, BBJ and MedTechBoston “40 Under 40” in 2014, PharmaVoice Magazine's "100 Most Inspiring People" in 2018, and as an "Outstanding Woman in Business" by NHBR in 2022. As a speaker, Amy shares her vision at conferences around the world and she serves as an assistant professor in Massachusetts College of Art's Masters Program for Design and Innovation Leadership.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyheymans
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