Hi Dave,
I thought for definition, it has to be broad and not specific statement.
The illaboration can then be in detail to specific details as you have
mentioned.

Is there a need to have a feel of barriers encountered in the UD
definition? The principles of Universal Design already said it all isn't
it?  Thanks.

Best regards,
Rahmah





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                      25/06/04 22:53





Hi All

sure Rita, we must consider the whole, but in my experience I find that
people ,outside the access/ disability field, tend to narrow 'access' down
to it's bare minim, i.e. access for wheelchairs.
As you are aware what makes for good  physical access for a wheelchair
rider can be a major physical barrier for an ambulant person or a
perception barrier for a person with low vision or learning difficulties,.
This narrowing is (to me) focused by the use of the wheelchair symbol to
equate with accessibility.
Access also tends to be an adult matter, children and small or low strength
people tend to be omitted.
so for the novice to access I try to break the subject down to help them
understand that access is not just a ramp but involves many other factors.
Equipment to me must be slightly divorced from physical as it includes
design, use & handling; perception of hazard; audio, visual & tactile
controls and labelling; spatial awareness, training, manuals and other
factors. Plus equipment accessibility is location dependent and a physical
access matter.

when looking at employment and physical access in your study, where would
the employment take place? would it look at an office, a shop, an
electronics production line, a chemical plant, a power station or
construction site? each has it's own individual character and constraints,
and probably the biggest barrier it attitudes and the tendency to classify
others in perceived groupings.

Going by the recruitment personnel I have had working for me over time,
they have little appreciation of what a particular job entails viewed from
the sharp end. Example;
A few years ago a man with bad arthritis and using a walking cane was
refused a job on a construction project for a chemical plant by the
personnel dept. He managed to get through to me on site and complained,
that saying it was possible for him to work on the site. I met with him and
agreed, while he was unable to climb on structures safely or lift heavy
items, he was an electronics technician so he was able to be assigned work
on control systems and swithchgear in a control centre which was designed
to be fully accessible when finished. There was no problem during his
employment.
On the same site we even employed a wheelchair rider as a bricklayer and
mason, the pathways and concrete slabs were laid, there were personnel
lifts to higher floors, so where was the problem?.
It is a matter of perception and knowing the actual work requirements and
the persons individual capabilities. How to define this for, e.g. an
eighteen year old personnel officer straight from school, without a
technical background is the barrier.
Another example along similar lines I was involved with - a man with
disabilities went to the Job Centre and met with the 'disabilities advisor'
as he felt need of assistance in changing his work field. Due to his
disabilities it had become unsafe for him to carry on with the type of work
he had always done. He walked out at the end of the interview feeling worse
than when he went in, reason, the 'adviser', was only interested in what
school he had attended and what GCSE's he had. the advisor was totally
disinterested in what experience of knowledge he had, nor was she
interested in his professional qualifications.  She never asked what
limitations his disability placed on his ability to do certain types of
work nor what he believed he might be capable of doing or be interested in.
This is someone specially employed to help people with disabilities find
work, the attitude and lack of interest in the person made him question how
much help he could expect.
Ageism poses similar problems in many fields, once a person is 50 they are
generalised as physically incapable of work or are likely to want too many
days off sick. Sure some people loose physical strength or tend to greater
sickness but, there are others who can run a twenty year old into the
ground and are never sick. So again this is an attitudinal and educational
barrier.
Sorry I've digressed a little as these are problems which I am interested
in as they are all too common.

Communication needs to be slightly divorced from physical as it is in
itself many layered this is mainly sensory and cognitive, although it
includes some physical attributes especially in wayfinding.
But if you lump it with physical it would tend to be narrowed down to
signage and landmarks. While it needs to include factors such as printed
literature, computer screens, websites and so on. Then there are the
format, content, presentation considerations. The use of floor textures,
sound and smell clues etc. fall into the physical but are also sensory and
cognitive matters.

so while 'access' needs to be considered as a whole, to me and to explain
to novices, it also needs to be broken down so that important factors are
not missed or do all variations are not taken into account.

where you ask about walkways they are physical also environmental, sensory
and often social access issues. So while being dealt with in particular
they would be physical, when it comes to feeling can I get there? it is
environmental.

Rahmah's comment re- universal design definition,  is good, to the point
and includes people. But does not give the novice the underlying factors
which make up the whole nor does it give a feel for the barriers
encountered.

Dave
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