DELAYED: Accessibility activism through design as satire
Jose Inclan
This project examines systemic ableism in airports, using design activism and satire to expose barriers faced by people
with physical disabilities. Through interviews and co-design, it reveals how physical obstacles—broken elevators,
inaccessible restrooms—create deeper emotional and social challenges.
Humor becomes the engine for change. Not just to communicate, but to spark reflection—and action.
Change must start from the ground up. That’s why the project speaks to able-bodied audiences, raising awareness before
demanding systemic shifts.
Visual explorations include EASY-O, an unwinnable board game simulating travel barriers, and Delayed, a fictional
in-flight magazine with a satirical safety card confronting air travel inaccessibility.
Accessibility isn’t an afterthought. It’s the foundation design must be built on.
EASY-O Board Game
EASY-O is a board game that simulates the barriers wheelchair users face in airports. It looks easy—just a few spaces to win—but every chance card reveals real obstacles drawn from lived experiences. Designed to be unwinnable, the game uses humor and satire to turn frustrating realities into an eye-opening experience.
EASY-O Commercial
EASY-O Chance Cards
Delayed In-flight Magazine
Delayed is a satirical in-flight magazine for a fictional airline. Through articles, ads, and a safety card parody, it exposes the systemic inaccessibility and ableism embedded in air travel—using humor to spark awareness and challenge the status quo.
Satirical Safety Card
The Normalair Safety Card parodies standard airline safety instructions to highlight the inaccessibility faced by travelers with physical disabilities. What should be reassuring becomes a satire of neglect, prompting viewers to question industry standards and ableist design norms.Satirical Safety Video
This video mimics standard airline safety briefings, but everything in it is real. Every scene is based on lived experiences shared by people with physical disabilities. What should be a comforting guide turns into a darkly comic reflection of the inaccessibility, negligence, and systemic ableism embedded in air travel today. It’s not fiction—it’s what actually happens.