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How Designing with Disability in Mind Sparks Innovation

February 9, 2026
Jayme Burrows/Stocksy

In 2003, when plumbing fixtures industry veteran Rob Buete first encountered the “walk-in tub” made by a startup called Safety Tub, he burst out laughing. A bathtub with a door? It seemed like a joke, or at best a clunky contraption for frail seniors who couldn’t step over a regular tub.

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