Dear Mr. Davis,
Thank you for your reply.
I must admit I was intrigued by the title of the conference and I thought
that I was missing out on theories that apply to UD. Thank you for clearing
up that misunderstanding. I am merely trying to inform myself with all
aspects relevant to UD so that when I am ready to conduct my dissertation
research it will be well informed.
I must agree with you regarding one issue, that is, the importance of a
participatory design process with persons with disabilities. The
organization I work for, City Design Center, is currently in the process of
conducting participatory design workshops with families who have members
with disabilities and individuals with disabilities. The purpose of these
workshops is to address concerns and issues that people with disabilities
have with their home environment and create a better overall design that
will hopefully be built. I am an advocate for participatory approaches and
I hope to conduct many more participatory design workshops in the future.
I am very much a hands-on person and have never been theory-driven.
However, my graduate program does require a theoretical basis for my
research. Your point on how UD is "undertheorized" and should remain so is
an important one, and I will keep that in mind as I develop my research
topic. I will most definitely take a look at the readings you recommended.
Thank you again for your assistance. I hope that you won't mind if I call
upon you again for further questions or inquiries.
Regards,
Elizabeth
(P.S. - I tried to respond to your email address but it kept returning the
email to me. Please let me know the best way to reach you for future
inquiries.)
Elizabeth A. Kocs
Design Research Associate
City Design Center, UIC
312-996-2551
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