Denise Stephens is the co-founder of Enabled by Design, a social business and community of people who are passionate about Design for All. She believes that good design can support people to live as independently as possible, by helping to make day-to-day tasks that little bit easier and in turn more manageable
Enabled by Design was inspired by Denise’s experiences following her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2003. Having suffered a series of disabling relapses and hospital admissions, Denise was assessed by an occupational therapist (OT) and given a range of assistive equipment to help her to be as independent as possible. Although this equipment made a huge difference to her life, she became frustrated as her home started to look more and more like a hospital.
Denise is a passionate advocate of inclusive design and has supported DFF since its beginning, acting as a judge and supporting us via social media. She also pioneered the influential Enabled by Designathon which partnered designers and engineers with end users to come up with useful, innovative designs over the course of an intensive weekend.