Just a quick note on one of Ken's points:
"One is that the goals of universal design are socially admirable but
perpetuate in
the nicest possible way the idea that one product fits all - a mass
market bias. Many of the things that have resulted from "universal
design"are in fact useful in ways that serve many people. For
example, curb cuts that facilitate the movement of wheelchairs at
street corners also serve mothers with baby carriages, people with
grocery carts, bicyclers and skateboarders equally well."
Curb cuts are undoubtedly a good thing, but they are not "universally" so.
My father, who was blind, always bemoaned how curb cuts removed the cues he
needed to find the edge of a sidewalk with taps of his cane, often plunging
him out into traffic before he realized he was in the street. I think this
example underscores Ken's main point here -- there are probably very few,
if any, examples of truly universal design.
Al
(by way of introduction, I am a director of a web design and elearning
group at Verizon Communications, and a doctoral student at the Knowledge
Media Institute, Open University, UK)
|