| When Lexi told me—over drinks, many months ago—that she wanted to profile a woman named Patricia Moore for, ahem, another magazine, I swooped then and there: Write it for us! I demanded. Moore struck me as a very WIRED kind of character: an industrial designer who, back in the '80s, pretended to be an old lady so she could school her colleagues in all the ways the world neglected the needs of the elderly. The stunt made her famous—but only among designers. Now that Moore is old herself, Lexi thought the time was right to tell her story. A great idea! And fortunately, Lexi agreed to write it for WIRED. Then, mere days into the reporting process, she got into a horrible accident. I won't spoil the specifics, but suffice it to say that Lexi, ever the professional, realized almost immediately that, as she put it to me in a text from the back of an ambulance, Everything is copy. The accident personalized Moore's work in a way little else could. And what work it is. If we've made any progress toward a more "universal design"—the idea that products should be made for everyone, of whatever ability or age—it's thanks to Moore. You'll be amazed by this woman's lifelong commitment to her cause, and bothered, too, by the resistance she's met along the way. Lexi told me she hopes readers will finish the piece with a new way of looking at the world. I think they—you—certainly will. —Jason Kehe | Features Editor |
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