The Everyday Health Struggle · Feature Interview
Designing Independence: How Adaptive Tools Restore Dignity, Function, and Quality of Life
Douglas Katz — West Point Graduate, Disabled Army Veteran, Inventor & Co-Founder of NULU
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Most everyday products are designed for a body that works perfectly. For the 150 million Americans navigating the Ability Curve™ — through aging, injury, or chronic condition — that gap between design and reality is not an inconvenience. It is a daily loss of independence. Douglas Katz, founder of NULU, is closing that gap one tool at a time.
About This Episode
Host Okoro connects with Douglas Katz — a West Point graduate, disabled Army veteran, inventor, and advocate for human-centered adaptive design — for an important conversation about disability, aging, independence, caregiving, and everyday health.
Doug shares how his own experience with physical limitations and caring for his father opened his eyes to a problem that is often overlooked: many everyday products are not designed for people whose strength, mobility, or dexterity has changed.
That realization led him to create NULU, an adaptive kitchen knife designed to make food preparation easier for people who may struggle with traditional cutting movements. His work also includes developing other configurable adaptive products designed to help people maintain function and independence.
Okoro and Doug explore how physical limitations can affect much more than the body — discussing the impact of disability and aging on confidence, emotional wellbeing, dignity, independence, and quality of life, as well as the challenges caregivers face when supporting loved ones.
The conversation also looks at why adaptive products should not make people feel limited or different, why good design can reduce unnecessary strain and frustration, and how changing our environments can sometimes be just as important as asking individuals to adapt.
Doug also reflects on resilience, military discipline, caregiving, reinvention, and what his experiences have taught him about accepting physical changes while continuing to live with purpose and independence.
This episode is a reminder that health is not only about treating illness. It is also about being able to participate in everyday life, care for yourself, maintain dignity, and continue doing the things that matter to you.
"Mother Nature and Father Time are undefeated. We're all going to face challenges that are part of the human condition. The question is whether the tools around us are ready for that moment."— Douglas Katz, Founder of NULU
Key Themes
Chapter Summaries
Chapter 1
The Gap Between Products and People
Doug opens with a fundamental observation: the world is designed for a body that works perfectly. For those navigating aging, injury, or chronic conditions, everyday tools become daily obstacles. NULU exists to close that gap — not by asking people to adapt, but by designing products that adapt to them.
Chapter 2
The NULU Solution: Force Transfer Geometry™
The NULU adaptive kitchen knife was born from Doug's own shoulder reconstruction and his background as a hobbyist knifesmith. By applying Force Transfer Geometry™, NULU bypasses painful wrist and grip movements, redistributing cutting force to the stronger muscles of the arm — restoring function without compromising dignity.
Chapter 3
The Ability Curve™: Disability Is Not Binary
Doug challenges the notion that adaptive products serve a "niche" population. The Ability Curve™ reframes disability as a fluid spectrum — one that includes seniors aging into limitation, people recovering from injury, and those managing chronic conditions. With 150 million Americans affected, this is not a niche. It is the human condition.
Chapter 4
Beyond the Physical: Dignity, Confidence, and Emotional Wellbeing
Physical limitations rarely stay physical. Doug and Okoro explore how the inability to perform simple tasks — like cutting food — erodes confidence, independence, and emotional wellbeing. Good adaptive design doesn't just restore function; it restores the sense of self that comes with doing things for yourself.
Chapter 5
The Caregiver's ROI
Drawing from his experience caring for his father, Doug articulates the "Return on Investment" of independence. Every tool that restores a person's ability to care for themselves returns time, freedom, and emotional relief to the caregiver. Independence is not just personal — it benefits the entire family unit.
Chapter 6
Changing Environments, Not Just People
A key insight from the episode: we too often ask individuals to adapt to a poorly designed world rather than redesigning the world around them. From curb cuts to touchscreens, the most transformative adaptive innovations eventually become universal. NULU is built on the same principle — design for the edge, benefit everyone.
Chapter 7
Resilience, Reinvention, and Living with Purpose
Doug closes with a reflection on military discipline, the Task-Condition-Standards framework, and what his own physical journey has taught him about resilience. Accepting adaptive tools is not a concession — it is a strategy for living longer, doing more, and continuing to show up for the people and passions that matter most.
"Health is not only about treating illness. It is about being able to participate in everyday life, care for yourself, maintain dignity, and continue doing the things that matter to you."— The Everyday Health Struggle, Episode Description
