At first glance, Australia’s All Things Equal looks like a typical Melbourne café. It is a light-filled space, with a cheery, spacious interior accented by plant life and the inviting aroma of fresh-ground coffee. The only difference is that the cooks and wait staff all have intellectual disabilities.

Bianca Stern, the general manager of All Things Equal, explains that their mission is to employ people with disability and provide them with paid employment and work readiness. “We have about 25 employees with intellectual disability. There are 50 more on the waitlist, which shows that they want to work in this space,” she says. There is no data on the number of people with visible or non-visible disabilities working in commercial kitchens in Australia, although — anecdotally at least — it is the exception rather than the rule. In this regard, design can incur an added barrier — or an opportunity to create a more inclusive industry.