What is Universal Design?

The notion of the Universal Design first emerged and was coined by an American Architect, Ronald Mace who was an advocate for people with disabilities. He was a lifelong sufferer of polio, and was confined to a wheelchair.

The term Universal Design is a design development process of creating a built environment or product that is universally accessible to people of all abilities, including people with disabilities.

Universal design in the built environment often has an emphasis on accommodating people with permanent or temporary physical limitations.  For example, a kerb ramp on a pedestrian accessway is designed to make the raised sidewalks and streets accessible to people using wheelchairs, parents with baby prams and delivery staff with rolling carts. Similarly, an automatic sliding door within a public space, such as a shopping centre is more accessible to everyone, including small children, workers whose arms are full, and people using walking frames, crutches or wheelchairs. The automatic sliding door often compensates the need for extended latch side clearance requirements, should spatial limitation prevail.

For educational purposes, please refer to the video section of  Amoeba blog for a YouTube link “Meet The Normals – Adventures in Universal Design”, created by The Centre for Excellence in Universal Design.