Jun 8, 2026 · 45 min · 12 segments
In this insightful interview, Dr. Matteo Zalio, Assistant Professor at the University of Cambridge, discusses the intersection of inclusive design, AI, and emerging technologies. He reflects on his…
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Matteo ZaglioGuest
Rosie ElvinHost
Well, this is a very important question because actually one of the biggest misunderstandings that we can talk about when we talk about inclusive design is that inclusive design is mostly about accessibility.
And when that realization came to me, particularly when I started to look during my PhD at what exclusion and what inclusion means in the realm of architecture or product design or experience design, I realized that often inclusion is comparable to the concept of accessibility.
And furthermore, I even had a chance to understand more about what exclusion means.
And exclusion seems often to be built into environments, systems, and products long before people even notice it.
So I really became increasingly aware that many spaces and technologies are designed around narrower assumptions of who some of their users are, what they can do, how they think, how they move through the world and spaces.
And this really can affect people with visible disabilities, of course, but it also affects people with invisible conditions, neurodivergent individuals, older adults, people under stress, or simply anyone whose needs don't really fit certain assumed norms.
And as we often design according to norms, right, standards, regulations, sometimes we miss really the opportunity of broadening the thinking onto how and who we design for.
And really what sparked the interest here was literally how do we move from an approach where we design according to the norms to really designing according to actual evidence of how many users, how many people, what is the diversity of people who are designing for? And that is mostly what I started looking during my PhD.
And that's what really made me passionate to try to address this weak problem of how do we design for everybody, knowing that it's challenging to input design requirements into a process where it's hard to create tailored solutions for everyone.
And do you find that neurodiversity and particularly those who are neurodivergent, designing for that group of people is often neglected?
Well, this is a very important question because actually one of the biggest misunderstandings that we can talk about when we talk about inclusive design is that inclusive design is mostly about accessibility.
And when that realization came to me, particularly when I started to look during my PhD at what exclusion and what inclusion means in the realm of architecture or product design or experience design, I realized that often inclusion is comparable to the concept of accessibility.
And furthermore, I even had a chance to understand more about what exclusion means.
And exclusion seems often to be built into environments, systems, and products long before people even notice it.
So I really became increasingly aware that many spaces and technologies are designed around narrower assumptions of who some of their users are, what they can do, how they think, how they move through the world and spaces.
And this really can affect people with visible disabilities, of course, but it also affects people with invisible conditions, neurodivergent individuals, older adults, people under stress, or simply anyone whose needs don't really fit certain assumed norms.
And as we often design according to norms, right, standards, regulations, sometimes we miss really the opportunity of broadening the thinking onto how and who we design for.
And really what sparked the interest here was literally how do we move from an approach where we design according to the norms to really designing according to actual evidence of how many users, how many people, what is the diversity of people who are designing for? And that is mostly what I started looking during my PhD.
And that's what really made me passionate to try to address this weak problem of how do we design for everybody, knowing that it's challenging to input design requirements into a process where it's hard to create tailored solutions for everyone.
And do you find that neurodiversity and particularly those who are neurodivergent, designing for that group of people is often neglected?
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