The author proposes that within us all is a set of skills, strategies and modes of thinking commonly found in designers that, if recognized, understood and enabled, could potentially be practiced by non-design individuals to assist in improving everyday situations. Inclusive, participative and co-design approaches have tended to include non-design individuals either as part of the consultation process at one end of the ‘inclusive’ spectrum of design processes, or as an integral member of the design team at the other. The proximity of designers to non-designers in team or workshop situations helps create designerly ways of doing things. This is not only an issue of recognizing and practicing these skills and approaches, but also recognizing the conditions under which designing can occur and indeed flourish. Using a research study to explore the tacit use of ‘design’ skills by spinal cord injuries (SCI) survivors as part of a larger project intended to help enhance their own self-reliance and resourcefulness, the author discusses the kinds of skills, thinking and strategies used by SCI survivors to approach a particular set of problems and asks, if ultimately left to their own devices, could non-design individuals design without designers being present.

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