Some examples of "universal design" include:

Installing standard electrical receptacles higher than usual above the floor so they are in easy reach of everyone;

Selecting wider doors,

Making flat entrances

Installing handles for doors and drawers that require no gripping or twisting to operate -- such as louver or loop handles;

storage spaces within reach of both short and tall people.

"As baby boomers age, they're thinking more about the joys of a stairless home," according to a story in the June 28, 1999 issue of U.S. News and World Report ("Love those designer grab bars," p. 82). "Universal design," says the U.S. News article, "sprang from the movement to make buildings accessible to people with disabilities. The late Ron Mace, who founded the Center for Universal Design in Raleigh, NC, coined the term in the 1980s after observing that features designed for folks with disabilities often benefit everyone -- like bikers and stoller pushers who love sloped curbs made for wheelchair users." (for more on this, read The Electronic Curb Cut.)

Universal design means simply designing all products, buildings and exterior spaces to be usable by all people to the greatest extent possible. Universal design is not a design style, but an orientation to design, based on the following premises:

• Disability is not a special condition of a few;
• It is ordinary and effects most of us for some part of our lives;
• If a design works well for people with disabilities, it works better for everyone;
• Usability and aesthetics are mutually compatible.

  Adaptive Environments' statement on South Boston Waterfront redevelopment

It took me several years of struggling with the heavy door to my building, sometimes having to wait until a person stronger came along, to realize that the door was an accessibility problem, not only for me, but for others as well. And I did not notice, until one of my students pointed it out, that the lack of signs that could be read from a distance at my university forced people with mobility impairments to expend a lot of energy unnecessarily, searching for rooms and offices. Although I have encountered this difficulty myself on days when walking was exhausting to me, I interpreted it, automatically, as a problem arising from my illness (as I did with the door), rather than as a problem arising from the built environment having been created for too narrow a range of people and situations.

Susan Wendell, author of
The Rejected Body: Feminist Philosophical
Reflections on Disability
(Routledge), 1996

It is a sensible and economical way to reconcile the artistic integrity of a design with human needs in the environment. Solutions which result in no additional cost and no noticeable change in appearance can come about from knowledge about people, simple planning, and careful selection of conventional products.

Ronald Mace, Graeme Hardie, Jaine Place
Accessible Environments: Toward Universal Design, 1991

EXPERTS IN UNIVERSAL DESIGN/BUILT ENVIRONMENT:

Edward Steinfeld, Arch. D., Director, is is a Professor of Architecture an expert in accessible design, universal design, human factors research, aging, home modifications, architectural design, product research. research on accessibility and universal design in housing, usability of automobiles for frail older people, methods for measuring the usability of products and environments and the development of a prototype "Universal Bathroom." He is a frequent expert consultant on ADA compliance and building safety. He can be reached by email at arced@ap.buffalo.edu

Center for Inclusive Design & Environmental Access School of Architecture and Planning - University at Buffalo Phone : 716-829-3485 ext. 329, Fax: 716-829-3861, E-mail: idea@ap.buffalo.edu

The Center for Universal Design at
North Carolina State University
School of Design
Tel/TTY: 919-515-3082
Fax: 919-515-7330
InfoLine: 800-647-6777
E-mail: cud@ncsu.edu
Laurie Ringaert
email: laurie_ringaert@ncsu.edu
Executive Director (for general questions), or

Leslie Young
email: leslie_young@ncsu.edu
Director of Design (for housing questions)

Adaptive Environments
Valerie Fletcher, Executive Director
email:vfletcher@adaptenv.org
617/695-1225 x 26

Elaine Ostroff, Founding Director
email: elaine@ostroff.org
617/695-1225 x 30

Links

Expert sources

The Electronic Curb Cut