What is Universal Design and why it is beneficial - work in building architecture, signage (symbols), design of products that can be understood by anyone if they don't know English.
Universal Design vs Barrier Free
Seven Principles of Universal Design -
The Seven Principles of universal design
by Linda Crabtree
The St. Catharines Standard - April 24, 2004

Ever heard of universal design and Visitability? No? Well, don’t be too hard on yourself. If you’re familiar with barrier free, you’re halfway there. Universal design (UD) is just taking it many steps further and making what is designed useful for as many people as possible, disabled or not, right from the beginning. And visitability...well, if you’ve ever wanted to visit someone in their home but couldn’t because you use a wheelchair or scooter for mobility and your friend’s home’s entrance had a flight of steps that would stop a billy goat, you know what I mean.

I’ve just finished a course on universal design and it has opened my eyes to the possibilities around us that most don’t see. UD is defined as "The design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design." It is an evolving design philosophy that can apply to the creation of all environments, products and services, which challenges designers to maximize the usability and marketability of their creations through recognizing the diversity of end users... you and me. It promotes inclusion, meaning everyone all the time, and it is based on a series of seven design principles, I’ll get to later. For example: you know those wonderful large grip garden shears you love to use because they are so comfortable and your husband can use as well even though he’s left-handed? Well, that’s a good example of universal design. Its bottom line is ways of making environments and things universally accessible for everyone, of making signage understandable to everyone, of making the world easier for everyone. I love this concept because it is the way the world would be if it were perfect. I’d be able to get into restaurants and shops along with everyone else. I’d be able to make an appointment anywhere I choose, instead of only the place that is accessible to me in my wheelchair or on my scooter. I’d be able to do a lot of things I can’t do easily now if the concept of universal design had been used in the beginning. It is the way of the future...and it is beginning to be looked at seriously by good designers everywhere, for it means no steps backward to redo things that can’t be used...it saves money, time and energy right from the get-go simply by applying the right principles in the first place.

There are seven principles associated with this concept which broadly defines the user: 1) Equitable use meaning the design is useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities. Those wonderful power doors that glide open as you approach them are an example of this. I can roll through on my scooter, a person with a baby in a stroller has no worries, someone using a walker, someone loaded down with grocery bags, all the same, all get in and out. 2) Flexibility in use: the design incorporates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities: those large grip garden shears I spoke about. 3) Simple and intuitive use: easy to understand regardless of the user experience or knowledge. How about those pictures on assembly instructions from IKEA and bus stop signs. 4) Perceptible information: that communicates necessary information effectively regardless of ambient conditions or the user’s sensory abilities. Don’t know about you but my thermostatic control on my shower tells me if I’m in the cold or hot zone with a simple glance. 5) Tolerance for error: the design minimizes hazards and the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions - railings on ramps, and don’t you love the undo option on your computer. 6) Low physical effort: the design can be used efficiently and effortlessly with a minium of fatigue like lever handles on a door instead of a knob. And last, 7) Size and space for approach and use. People are getting bigger and when you drive an electric scooter like I do, you find yourself four feet long and two feet wide. You can’t suck in an electric scooter. Wider doors and halls, commuter gates and turnstiles all make so much sense.

In no way does it compromise aesthetics, cost, safety, function or gender and cultural appropriateness and...it benefits everyone. If you’d like to learn more about universal design go to

www.design.ncsu.edu/cud/univ_design/princ_overview.htm

Now to Visitability. This is a movement to change home construction practices so that virtually all new homes, whether designated for residents who currently have disabilities or not, offer a few specific features that make the home easier for people who develop mobility impairment to live in and visit. If you’ve ever driven by the lovely townhouses at 58 Glendale Ave., you’ll see that every one of them is smoothly and attractively ramped. A ramp is an easy way for everyone to get in and out of a home...it doesn’t exclude anyone. Whoever designed these townhouses was really thinking.

While some of the features of Visitability would be flexible, the three rigid Visitability features are: wide passage doors, at least a half bath on the main floor and at least one zero-step entrance. With these built into new homes many more people with disabilities would be able to age in place without moving when they become disabled and also be able to visit friends and loved ones. For more on Visitability go to www.concretechange.org.

Examples of the seven principles of Universal Design
Organizations working in Universal Design and links to them
How Universal Design and the independent living movement interconnect
How universal design works to free people with disabilities
cognition
vision
speech
hearing
body function
arm function
hand function
mobility

Do Canada's laws and policies reflect the use of Universal Design. Does America's? Does the building code reflect UD?

How do we interest architects and builders in using UD in their designs and plans?
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