peo hedvall keynote at the ud2012 conference
DESCRIPTION
Abstract: The largest strengths of Universal Design (UD) are found beyond principles and standards in its mindset. This mindset acknowledges that people are diverse and that everybody has the same rights to access and participation in society. As such, UD shares many of the values found in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. One of the greatest challenges for UD is to be relevant on all levels in society and to add value for “me” while maintaining its focus on “we”. Human activity is situated both in time and place and thus dependent on a range of local factors that do not exist in design time. Understanding the individual and what goes on in his or her life is an important part of striving towards an inclusive society. Many of the core factors supporting or impeding what a person wants to do have a social origin. To demonstrate its benefits for all, UD needs an increased focus on the social processes involving humans and artefacts in concrete, lived situations. In this lecture I will present and discuss a number of episodes where social values, attitudes, norms and expectations played significant roles in defining conditions for the activity at hand. The examples are from my own life and from different projects I have been involved in.TRANSCRIPT
I have never been universal
UD2012Per-Olof Hedvall, PhD
”Accessibility” onboard X2000
Train car 6Seat 2
Certec
Certec is the division of Rehabilitation Engineering and Design Research at the Department of Design Sciences at Lund University
The X2000 train is an example of how we embed the spirit of the times in artefacts
Attitudes Norms 1
Expectations
”People with special needs”? 2
What are those ”special” needs?
Focusing on special needs is in conflict with thinking in diversity
A starting point in special needs often leads to separate thinking in special solutions
The UD Mindset
How can we design a future that includes people of all ages and ability?
UD is about how we want to live together
Enabling all people “to fully enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms” 3
Start with the motive, the ”why”*
WHY?WHY?
HOW?
WHAT?
Talk less about doors
I think of participation as:To be an ”I” within a ”we”
- To be a gamer- To be one in the family that plays
games- To be a musician
Increase focus on participation
Design for Me <-> Design for All 4
300 %…?
The Activity Diamond – Modeling and Enhanced Accessibility 5
Lived accessibility: individual accessibility in concrete situations
The Activity Diamond: a motive driven model of accessibility
UD will always be under construction
A lot of work remains…
Let’s celebrate progression!
The best sometimes become the enemy of the good.
Let’s encourage and celebrate all progression that points in a UD direction!
Celebrate NSB’s FLIRT
Celebrate UD 2012
Thank you!This presentation is available at:http://www.slideshare.net/peohedvall
E-mail: [email protected]
Twitter: @peohedvall
More information: http://www.certec.lth.se/english/staff/per_olof_hedvall/
References
1. Nordgren, C. (2008). The Art of Living with a Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury in its relation to Resources and Norms in Swedish Society. Lund: LTH Retrieved from https://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=1258744&fileOId=1259549.
2. Jönsson, B. (2006). Design Side by Side (p. 204). Studentlitteratur AB,Sweden. Retrieved from http://www.arkiv.certec.lth.se/doc/designsidebyside/designsidebyside.pdf.
3. United Nations. (2006). Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=150.
4. Anderberg, P. (2006). FACE - Disabled People, Technology and Internet. Retrieved from http://www.arkiv.certec.lth.se/doc/face/Anderberg_Peter_FACE-doctoral_thesis.pdf.
5. Hedvall, P.-O. (2009) The Activity Diamond – Modeling and Enhanced Accessibility. Retrieved fromhttp://www.certec.lth.se/fileadmin/certec/PeO_Hedvall/Hedvall_PhD_Thesis_The_Activity_Diamond_20091104.pdf.
* Inspiration: Simon Sinek’s talk at TED in 2009, see http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html, plus Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, see for instance Acting with Technology by Kaptelinin and Nardi (2006)