Built for Adults, Adapted for Children: The Hidden Bias in Healthcare Design
Neave Smith
Walk into any hospital, and the bias is immediately apparent. Healthcare is designed around the adult body. From architecture and waiting rooms to clinical trials and treatment protocols, adulthood is treated as the default. Children, who make up nearly a quarter of the global population, are expected to adapt to systems built for adults.
Childhood is not a smaller version of adulthood, particularly in the brain. The paediatric brain is a rapidly developing organ, undergoing structural,...