Green Gazette-Real Estate for the Future

"A State Taxpayer" and "Revereenddj" both have valid points. The article presents a picture that only the super rich can afford Universal Design. This, however is not the case. The principals of universal design can be used in, and in fact are more important in, the most prosaic of designs. Universal Design is not a list of features, but guiding principals based on the abilities and behavior of people. It posits that places, things, information, communication and policy must be designed so that, without special or separate features, they are usable by the widest range of people operating in the widest range of situations. Most simply, Universal Design is human-centered design of everything with everyone in mind. People are not categorized by ability and then treated differently. The following four convictions are the core philosophy behind Human-Centered Design: • Design is powerful intervention into our daily life, and capable of profoundly influencing one’s senses of confidence, comfort, and control. • Design is a tool for social equity. For a world growing more diverse in age and ability than ever before, this matters more with each passing year. • Human Centered Design is a way of thinking about the design of places, things, information, and communication so they respond to human diversity and thus enhance everyone’s experience. • Variation in human ability is ordinary, not special, and affects most of us for some part of our lives. This last principle is based on the way “ability/disability” is understood today vs. a decade ago. Formerly, “disability” was affixed as a label to characterize a particular set of largely stable limitations. Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) has promulgated a new international classification system -- the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF 2001). It emphasizes functional status over diagnoses. The new system is not just about people with traditionally acknowledged disabilities that are diagnostically categorized, but about all people. The WHO posits that ability is dynamic over time, a contextual variable that varies with circumstances. I.e., one’s ability waxes and wanes based on the interaction between that person and his/her physical, institutional, and social environments.