What Can a Body Do? review: notice design

Our June 2025 read, What Can a Body Do? How We Meet the Built World by Sara Hendren, is truly in a category all its own. I gave it a strong 9 out of 10.

A book that changes how you see everything

Hendren writes about something rarely examined: the countless ways we inhabit, and could inhabit, our bodies and the material world around us. After reading it, nothing looks quite the same. Not a chair. Not a crosswalk. Not the assumed "neutral" pace or structure of everyday life. Explore more of her work at Sara Hendren's website (opens in a new tab), and see the book details on our What Can a Body Do? book page.

Design that deserves to be noticed

As a designer, I am always thinking about how to make things useful, from websites to web tools to workflows that "just work." We often treat good design as something you shouldn't have to notice.

This book challenges that assumption with grace. Hendren shows how some design should be seen. It should make us stop and think, and it should honor complexity, difference, and care.

Questions I am carrying into my own work

• Who does this layout assume the user is?
• What pace does this flow expect, and who gets left behind?
• Where should the design make its care visible?

Those questions line up with the WCAG 2.2 success criteria on timing and input. See Understanding Timing Adjustable (opens in a new tab) for one example.

Why not a 10?

I took off one point because a few chapters felt a bit long. Not long-winded, just a little more expansive than necessary. The richness of the ideas and the uniqueness of her lens more than made up for it.

If this book speaks to you, our Mismatch review covers another great read about how design includes or excludes.

Join the conversation

Have you read What Can a Body Do? yet? What stuck with you most? Share your thoughts in the Accessibility Book Club LinkedIn group (opens in a new tab).