Streets need to be designed to consider people with disabilities, says Emerging Design Medal winner Ross Atkin. Dezeen spoke to him about four of his best tech-led works for people whose environments are "letting them down".
London-based engineer Atkin was awarded the Emerging Design Medal last week at this year's British Land Celebration of Design Awards for his tech-focused work that aims to help people with disabilities.
"Once I started doing research with disabled people, in streets but also at home and in schools, I realised that there were so many ways that their environments were letting them down," Atkin told Dezeen.
"There are things that are difficult and inconvenient for them that wouldn't be if the people who designed the environment, and the things in it, had better considered their needs." Work stems from inclusive design research
The Royal College of Art graduate was first introduced to inclusive design when he started working at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at the college ? a research institute dedicated to projects that improve people's lives.
The ideas developed there heavily influenced much of Atkin's subsequent work, which spans from roadsigns for the blind to artificially intelligent DIY robots.

Atkin often incorporates assistive technology into his work, finding an "incredible thrill" in designing products that help individuals do something they couldn't do before.
"Now is an amazing time to be workin...