How do we build age tech that truly serves older adults without infantilizing or leaving them behind?
In this episode of Designing for Dignity, Erin Young speaks with Kunal Parikh, a physician-trained AgeTech consultant who spent five years at Trualta helping founders bring thoughtful solutions to market.
Kunal shares how coordinating his grandmother's care from Canada during COVID revealed the gap between logistical and emotional labor in caregiving. The conversation covers why people fail to identify as caregivers, how infantilizing design reflects deeper societal biases, and what sophisticated gamification actually looks like.
Kunal emphasizes that the best AgeTech builds self-management skills and is designed to make itself redundant. He also offers guidance on consent decay, shadow workflows, and why partnering with a gerontologist sets products up for success.
What you’ll learn
Why people fail to identify as caregivers and why that identity gap matters for product adoption
How infantilizing design reflects societal bias and what the four patterns look like in practice
What engagement load units are and how to use them to protect caregiver attention
Why the best AgeTech is designed to make itself redundant over time
How consent becomes more complex and more important as cognition declines
What separates founders who are ready to build from those who are not yet there
Key themes
AgeTech • Caregiving • Ethics • Equity • Gamification • Caregiver Identity • Consent • User Research • Gerontology • Designing for Dignity
About the Designing for Dignity podcast
Designing for Dignity is a podcast from Slide UX that explores how thoughtful design can enhance autonomy, connection, and quality of life for people navigating aging or brain change. Each conversation spotlights innovators, caregivers, researchers, and individuals with lived experience, offering insights that bridge technology, empathy, and impact.