- I've lived a long and, actually quite enjoyable life,
but the secret is, I have lived a long life
and that unfortunately has a side effect,
namely, I'm getting old.
And as you get older, well,
physical ability start to go.
Hearing starts to go.
Vision starts to go.
And for some people, the mind starts to go.
I still feel myself to be physically active,
cognitively active,
but I do know I have more trouble seeing things.
And I do know that I have more trouble hearing.
Also, I'm not quite as physically active as I used to be.
So I'm 84 years old, so I'm still young
and I have a way to go,
but as I look around me
and I see other people who are my age
or even younger having difficulties
and refusing to take devices that might help them.
I wonder why.
Well let's take, a walker.
People who have problems with arthritis or their limbs
and they have a walker that helps them and so,
they're hunched over like this
and trying to move the walker and,
and the walker sends out a signal to the world,
it's a stigma.
It sends out the signal saying,
"I'm old and crippled and can't function well."
And when you see people using walkers, you often say,
"Oh, they're slow, they're feebleminded.
"I have to speak slowly and loudly to them."
That's not true.
They're perfectly fine.
It's just that they have trouble walking.
But the walker is so badly designed.
It's designed to be something that's cheap, $29, $30.
And it's just made of tubular steel.
It looks like some engineer figured out the cheapest way
to make something like this, and they're ugly.
And I know lots of people who need them
and refuse to use them
'cause they don't wanna send out the signal.
So come on, designers of the world.
Suppose we made walkers that were,
first of all, high enough,
so that I didn't have to stoop over,
but it kept me with good posture.
And second of all,
attractive enough that I'm proud to be using it.
And it has a seat in it, I can sit when I'm tired
and it can carry stuff.
In fact, if we did the walker right,
and here's how I'd know we would be successful.
If we did it right,
it would become a status symbol,
and teenagers would want one.
Why not?
They could carry stuff with them.
They could sit on it when they got tired
or three or four wanna get together and talk,
they can sit in their walkers,
it's a portable chair, portable carrying package.
So the walker's only one sign of many problems we have
as you grow old.
And the other one is noise.
Why are restaurants so noisy?
And one thing is,
I can't go in a conversation in a restaurant
because I can't separate your voice from your voice
from your voice.
The restaurants.
Why are they so noisy?
So nowadays, when I go out to eat dinner with friends,
I don't say, "Where is the best food,"
I say, "What's the quietest restaurant with good food?"
And there are other problems, many problems.
But it's a wonderful place for designers to concentrate.
First of all, we're getting more and more elderly people.
We're gonna soon outnumber all of you.
Second of all,
we have money to spend.
Third of all, we have some real needs.
And you know what's true
when you try to take care of somebody
who has some kind of problem or needs,
it turns out that almost everybody can use it.
There's a famous case of the OXO potato peeler.
It's so common now you may not notice it.
It's so often called Good Grips.
But it used to be potato peelers were cheap
and inexpensive and really uncomfortable.
And so OXO said,
"Gee, people with arthritis can't use those."
So they designed something for people with arthritis.
Actually it was the person who invented it
and he designed it for his wife who had arthritis.
And they made one that was comfortable to hold
and that has wonderful semi-rubbery, plastic feeling.
It was comfortable and peeled better.
And they didn't sell it to arthritic patients.
'Cause they said,
"If we sell it to somebody with arthritis,
"only people with arthritis would buy it.
"We're gonna sell it for everybody and say,
"hey, this is for everyone, it's better."
And the arthritis people, well they found it.
And that has taken over the world.
So now, you may not even know what I'm talking about
because so many peelers are well-designed.
Well, that's what I wanna do with things for the elderly.
Make the thing so successful
that everybody wants it.
Okay, it's up to you.