We don't do case studies.
Not because people's stories aren't powerful, but because they're too often used the wrong way. Inclusion work can easily slip into storytelling that centres on emotion instead of learning — where someone's experience is used to inspire rather than to inform.
At Knowable Me, we see that as a missed opportunity.
Our work is about patterns, not profiles. We bring together the experiences of many people with different disabilities, backgrounds, and ways of navigating the world, and look for the signals that help organisations design better.
When we run a project about online shopping, for example, we don't tell the story of one person who couldn't check out because the "Buy Now" button wasn't labelled for screen readers. We look at what that moment represents: a design pattern that excludes anyone who uses assistive technology, and a fix that benefits everyone who shops at speed, is distracted, or has low vision.
When we research store accessibility, we don't just highlight a single wheelchair user struggling with a counter that's too high. We analyse the implications: who else does that counter disadvantage and what is the experience and brand impression they are left with? It could be people of shorter stature, older customers, or parents with prams. And how redesigning it improves service for all.
The stories behind those insights matter deeply, but they're not ours to sell. They belong to the people who shared them, and they deserve to be treated as data with dignity.
That's why you'll never see us publish "meet Sarah" or "John's story" pieces. We don't extract or polish someone's experience to make a company look inclusive. Instead, we draw out the lessons that help that company become inclusive through better systems, clearer information, or more human design.
A case study makes you remember one person. An insight helps you recognise the next hundred like them.
Every pattern we share has been shaped by diverse contributors who participate as equals, not subjects. We combine survey data, interviews, and contextual observations to understand what's working, what's not, and where friction hides.
Our clients value our work because it gives them something they can act on: a map of issues, opportunities, and design decisions that make inclusion real — not performative.
When inclusion becomes about evidence, not emotion, it gets harder to ignore and easier to implement.
So we don't do case studies. We do something far more powerful.
We listen, we analyse, and we turn lived experience into insight that drives change.
Kelly is the Managing Director of [Knowable.Me](http://knowable.me/), driving value creation and providing data and insights into the needs and preferences of people with disabilities.
Throughout her career, Kelly has held senior corporate roles in Complaints, Accessibility & Inclusion, Customer Experience, and Brand & Communications. Her blend of strategic thinking and human-centred design methodologies brings alignment of disparate groups to influence positive momentum and drive growth.
Kelly holds Chair and non-executive board roles and is a member of the Technology, Innovation & Value Creation Committee of Swinburne University. She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Kelly identifies as “blind, with just enough vision to be dangerous” and is ably assisted by her guide dog, Zali.
This article is written by one of our brilliant community members. Their experiences, opinions and perspectives are uniquely their own — and that’s exactly why they matter. They don’t necessarily reflect the views of Knowable Me or our partners, but they do reflect real life. And we think sharing real life is how things change.
Knowable Me acknowledges that Australia contains hundreds of nations, spanning more than 65,000 years, and we live and work on land unceded by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.Their wisdom, story telling, and deep listening is a history we pay respect to in the way we conduct business.
