european conference protecting and promoting the rights of persons with disabilities in europe:...

European Conference Protecting and promoting the rights of persons with disabilities in Europe:

towards full participation, inclusion and empowerment

Design for All Changing the World by Design

Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 30 October 2008

Pete Kercher – EIDD Ambassador

History is a series of paradigm shifts

Before 1914-18: disability was hidden.

After the war: a source of patriotic pride.

So: the first political case for social inclusion.

Pete Kercher – Strasbourg – 30 October 2008

So let’s start at the beginning:

What is disability?

Who is disabled?


Moral:

Everyone is disabled at some time in life.


We are all born disabled…

We all have “personal assistants” as children…

We call them “parents”.


All the rest is inherited social prejudice.

There are many responses to social prejudice.

Our response is Social Inclusion…

achieved through Design.


How can Design lead to Social Inclusion?


Design for Disability:

Better design for Technical Aids

More friendly, less “institutional” look


“Design for All is design for human diversity, social inclusion and equality.”

Source: EIDD Stockholm Declaration©

www.designforalleurope.org


Two more paradigm shifts


1. The design paradigm

in the industrial age: - designing and producing for a predetermined arithmetic

“average user”,

- the experts “know what is good for you”,

- designs are created for uses and users identified in advance.


Who is the “average person” here?


The new Design for All paradigm:

- shaping the design brief to ensure the result caters for a wide diversity of users,

- different users and their experience are actively included in the design process,

- users are recognised as potential ‘experts’,

… but above all:


We know that unexpected use will be made of every design, by unexpected people, in unexpected situations:

Design for All is design for the unpredictable…

because humans are unpredictable!


Who are “users”?

everyone who is involved in the product lifecycle and the decision-making processes:

at the stages of the idea, formulation, creation, engineering, programming, production, evaluation, modification and return

to origin


2. The human society paradigm: from the caveman…


…to the modern city.


"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to

himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

George Bernard Shaw


What is design?


“A plan or scheme conceived in the mind and intended for subsequent execution”

Source: Oxford English Dictionary


“The outward appearance of a product or partof it which results from the lines,

contours, colour, shape, texture, materialsand its ornamentation.”

Source: European Directive 98-71-EC, OAMI website: www.oami.europe.eu/en/design/pdf/leaflet1.pdf


…but for the design community itself:

“Form follows Function”

Louis Sullivan


…and for EIDD Design for All Europe:

“Form follows Function by means of Process”


Design is a creative process based on iterative sequences of logical analysis, multilateral dialogue and involvement,

development, conscience and consciousness, whose purpose is to generate innovative proposals in response to

societal challenges…

…of all kinds.


Descriptions:

Design is a recipe and a method for economic stability and development: the case of Finland

Design is also a vector for social change:

Socially responsive design is design that responds to social issues and context in pursuit of social change

Source: Design Against Crime Research Centre, London


Design for All

is a fundamental part of sustainable development:

- environmental- economic

- social


“Design for All applies to all fields:

the built environment, everyday objects, services, culture and information…


… everything that is designed and made by people to be used by people must be accessible, convenient for

everyone in society to use and responsive to evolving human diversity.”

Source: EIDD Stockholm Declaration©


Of course we need legislation and standards.

But (a rather big but):

Legislation alone does not change the world:

legislation takes place when sufficient socio-political pressures are brought to bear upon the governing classes

to make them react to changes that are already taking place in society.


Legislation is reactive, not proactive.

However, legislation can fulfil a crucial function:

when correctly drafted and interpreted, it can provide the equality framework that ensures a level playing field for

all.


But (another big but)

This effect must never be taken for granted:

society is as unpredictable as human beings and the study of the sociology of law informs about the discrepancies in

practice between legislation and its effects.

This study and its findings must always be factored into all the preparation of equality legislation.


Standards also have an important purpose:

- power plugs must fit into sockets

- mobile phones must function everywhere (even in the USA!)

- buildings must not fall down


But (a third big but)

People are not plugs, mobile phones or buildings:

people are diverse!


Design for All is the design approach based on human diversity.

Instead of making “reasonable provision” for “special categories” of people (the usual shameful get-out clauses inserted by

legislators), it assumes human diversity as its basic precept.


“To move from ‘Special Interest’ to ‘Public Interest’ is fundamental for a far-sighted approach to accessibility. The concept of Design

for All is an example.”

Source: Swedish Government Budget Proposal for the 2009 Fiscal Year, September 2008


So if legislation and standards do not change the world…


…how can Design for All change the world?

- by applying the analytical tools typical of a good design process to achieve a profound understanding of the world

as it is today and its potential for change

- by involving all kinds of users in the process of designing a better world for everyone

- by factoring upwards towards an innovative win-win situation for everyone, rather than downwards towards political and legislative lowest common denominators.


…and the world (also outside Europe) is increasingly aware of Design for All.


The winner of the EIDD - Design for All Europe

international poster, video and guerrilla marketing

competition,Torino World Design Capital,

16 October 2008,

…from New Zealand.


Second and third prizes


Two more finalists I particularly liked


Acting as the framework:

Founded in Dublin in 1993

as the European Institute for Design and Disability


EIDD – DESIGN FOR ALL EUROPE

ENHANCING THE QUALITY OF LIFE THROUGH DESIGN FOR ALL

EIDD – Design for All Europe

- Member Organisations in 20 European countries (+13 in 3 years)

- Recognised Partner of the European Commission

- Co-founder of the European Disability Forum


EIDD- Constitutes the bridge between the Design for All and other communities

- Acts as pathfinder, establishing innovative new applications of DfA in different areas

- Organises major conferences to study and disseminate DfA in different sectors


EIDD Conferences

2002: Design for All and Higher Education, Royal Academy, Bruxelles2003: Design for All and Equality, Dublin Castle2004: Design for All and Public Transport, Stockholm County Building2005: Culture for All, German Federal Government Press and Visitor Centre, Berlin2006: Work for All, Waterford, Ireland2007: Tourism for All, Milan Triennale, Italy2008: Housing for All, St. Etienne, France (22 November 2008)2009: Culture for All, Linz European Capital of Culture (May)


Some closing thoughts


Latvia is expected to have Europe’s highest estimated population decline in the period 2004-2050:

19.2%

(Source: Eurostat, 2005)

Design for All can help Latvia keep its younger generations from emigrating and encourage them to have more children, by

contributing to generating confidence in the Latvian economy.


The two most frequent barriers are prejudicial responses:

“It cannot be done” and “It is too expensive”.

Also:

By practising selective inclusion, well-intentioned but blinkered philanthropists (and governments) build new social barriers faster

than we can demolish them.

Each selection and each case of positive discrimination builds new barriers for those who are left out.


Good design enables, bad design disables

Paul Hogan President Emeritus – EIDD


Design for All is design for human diversity, social inclusion and equality.

The EIDD Stockholm Declaration© – 2004

Design for All “insists on the vital importance of a seamless rather than a sectoral approach to social

inclusion”.The Waterford Convention© - 2006


Thank you for your attention

www.design-for-all.orgwww.designforalleurope.org


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