Designing for the Exceptional

Rebecca W. Boren, Ph.D.IEE 437/547Arizona State UniversityNovember 16, 2011

OXO Good Grips line of ergonomic kitchen tools. These sleek, user-friendly gadgets were created adhering to the concept of universal design, meaning the products are usable by all people, from children to seniors.

Universal Design

Designing for the Exceptional

According to the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990), disability is defined as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities (i.e., seeing, hearing, speaking, walking, breathing, learning, or caring for oneself).

Disabled or Differently Abled?

• Persons with a disability want to be treated just like a person without a disability.

• We refer to a “person with a disability” not a “disabled person.”

Why design for the disabled?

• Gregg Vanderheiden argues that all design should be inclusive.

• Designs for the disabled are not separate from designs for the “temporarily able-bodied.”

• Good design for the disabled benefits all of us.

Why design for the disabled?

• The incidence of disabilities is increasing because the population as a whole is getting older. The Baby Boomer generation is changing the demographics.

• Most of us will acquire disabilities if we live long enough.

Limitations

• Ability for a particular skill is a continuum along a normal distribution. We can be functionally limited in one area but not in another.

• The difference between impairment and functional limitations.

• With good design, those with impairments can be functional.

Accessibility

• The term accessibility refers to designing so that almost everyone can use it, even those who have a disability.

• Examples are – Adding ramps next to stairs in front of a building– Putting Braille next to text on the elevators and

room numbers – Providing large print copy of a test for a visually

impaired student

Americans with Disabilities Act

• ADA is a law passed in 1990 that prohibits discrimination on the basis of a physical or mental impairment in employment, public accommodations, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications.

• Employers must provide equal employment opportunities and reasonable accommodation as appropriate.

Americans with Disabilities Act

• Reasonable accommodation is a change or modification to job duties, work environment, educational, learning, and residential environment that enables an individual with a disability to perform a job or have access to programs and activities.

Discussion:What might some of those

accommodations be?

Universal Design

Universal design is 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.

Anything designed to be better for a personwith a disability will probably be betterfor a person without that disability.

Questions?