Recently this seems to be a FAQ on this list, though this list's scope
of interest really does not include design.
There is
1. -- "rehab design", (often tailored to a specific individual in a
rehab setting),
2. -- the old, what has been termed "handicapped design" or
"accessible design" (which in some cases included inferior +/
segregated facilities, like back-door entrances, being sent up in a
freight elevator smelling of trash, etc) and
3. -- "Universal Design" ("UD"). A term coined by an architect with
post-polio syndrome Ron Mace in the early 1970's. UD seeks to avoid
overspecialization and resulting segregation and stigma.... instead
seeking the design solution that works for everyone or the largest
number of users, both with and without disabilities. It comes from a
liberationist, disabled rights, anti-PWD-segregation political POV.. UD
will never replace rehab design, but it does seek to replace accessible
design where it was needlessly overspecialized. There is not
necessarily a UD solution to every design problem, but UD is a goal or
intent to try for.
The primary document to start with on UD, is
"The Principals of Universal Design"
Version 2.0 is dated April 1, 1997,
by the Center for Universal Design, at North Carolina State University.
Published by NCSU, 1997, Raleigh, NC.
Authorship: "Compiled by advocates of universal design, listed in
alphabetical order: Bettye Rose Connell, Mike Jones, Ron Mace, Jim
Mueller, Abir Mullick, Elaine Ostroff, Jon Sanford, Ed Steinfeld, Molly
Story & Greg Vanderheiden. This document is two pages long, and lists
seven principals.
The Center for Universal Design was founded by Ron Mace, at first under
a different name more specific to housing, in the 1970's.
The earliest co-signed or consensus edition of this set of UD
"principals" or definition, I believe was mid to late 1970's, and there
may be an older original version signed just by Ron. Ron passed away in
July of 1998, and his obituary "Sailing Into the Wind" can be viewed in
the on-line archives of "Ragged Edge" magazine in the Nov.-Dec. 1998
issue, at www.ragged-edge-mag,com Also in that issue is my Cover Story
on the first international UD conference, and the status of efforts to
teach students of both architectural and product design to recognise the
fact that people with disabilities exist.
The literature on disability studies and on universal design have nearly
no overlap, and you will find more on UD by searching databases for
"green design" (merely because the 2 areas are friendly; not related) --
than you will by searching disability studies resources. UD is reality
& problem-solving oriented, not theory-oriented.
To say that one is researching "processes to design for people with
disabilities", from outside of the design field (that is -- research by
a person who has not studied or practised design in general) is really
too broad. There are so many disabilities and impairments, and so many
things (both spaces and products) to be designed by whatever "process",
that you really have to narrow the focus a bit to write something not
totally superficial.
Generally, the "way" to design in a way that considers people with
disabilites, is to make a "design programming" decision from the start,
that this is a goal of the design. It is really not that hard, but
typically this has not been among the goals or requirements that the
designer or design team has been instructed to "solve for"; therefor
they don't. Anyting that costs an extra penny, or requires new thinking
or innovation, will be feared as hurting the eventual evaluation of the
designer's performance, UNLESS the goal of accessibiity has been stated
from the beginning by whoever is paying the designer(s), in effect,
giving the designer(s) permission to do the right thing. To some
extent, what holds back universal design is therefor not always the
difficulty of the "design problem" itself; but often the obstacle is
more of a "policy problem" within the private or public entity
commissioning the design.
If you write directly, I'll carbon copy you an outline of an
(architectural) design "process", that I just sent to another inquiring
person on this list. What universal design adds to pre-existing design
processes, is often the need for consulting with users with disabilites,
both before designing to study problems and after to evaluate design
alternatives.
On October 19th or 20th I will be presenting a paper on how this
user-consultation can take place in the design of public space, titled
"The Role Of Public Input In Universal Design, A Case Study", at a
Universal Design conference in New York City at the Fashion nstitute of
Technology / State University of New York campus in Manhattan. The
conference info should be up on FIT's web site by mid-April.
Jim Davis
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