Universal Design
Making life more equitable and safe for people with disabilities is an essential goal of any ethical culture. Most of us believe improving accessibility benefits society as a whole. Naturally, we want all people to feel safe and comfortable navigating their surroundings. What we may not realize is that nearly all of us experience disability ourselves at some point. This can happen temporarily during illness, pregnancy, injury, or surgery, or it can be permanent. That’s why universal design—the process of creating products accessible to people with a wide range of abilities—benefits everyone. Universal design overlaps with accessible design, which specifically considers the needs of people with disabilities. However, universal design is different. It’s meant to provide practical benefits to all, regardless of ability. Let’s consider ways in which universal design might benefit you.
Why Is Universal Design’s Popularity Growing?
The number of seniors is climbing
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), one quarter of all U.S. adults have disabilities that impact major life activities. Impeded mobility is the most common type of disability. By the time we reach 65, 40% of adults in the U.S. can’t climb stairs without serious difficulty, if at all. As of 2019, 16% of the population was age 65 or older. As birthrates trend downward in the U.S. and the large Baby Boomer cohort is now mostly over 60, the average age is climbing. That’s expected to climb to nearly 22% by 2040. The need for accessible adaptations is growing significantly. The market for universally designed products and homes is strong, and getting stronger.
There are more multigenerational households
Even young people in their forties are looking to have greater comfort and mobility, both now and well into their future. Multigenerational households have grown steadily in popularity for the past 50 years. Recent sharp rises in both rental and home purchase costs led many people in their 20s and 30s to move back home or delay moving out. Even more went home to quarantine with family during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Some never left. As a result, making home updates that will work for a variety of needs and generations is now a priority for millions.
Instead of living in homes with obvious adaptive tools, people now expect their surroundings to feel beautiful and stylish. This is true for people of all ages. Universal design experts have followed suit. They’re bridging the gaps between people of differing ages by providing benefits accessible to all.
Improve Now, Reap the Benefits Later
The American Association of Retired People (AARP) says 87% of adults over 65 want to stay in their homes as they age. Sadly, physical challenges can make staying in a house impossible if it’s not accessible. Retrofitting a home to make it accessible can be expensive and time-consuming. It may not be an option for people on fixed incomes. Illnesses or accidents also bring sudden mobility limitations.
Add universal design updates incrementally
Folding in universally accessible elements as you go spreads out the cost. It lets you make changes incrementally. During off-seasons the costs may be lower. Such updates give you the benefit of improved design now that will still be useful later.
For example, as you renovate you might add wider doorways as you update each room. This will improve navigation if you need walkers or wheelchairs later. It also makes it easier for parents to visit or move in now. And instead of replacing flooring one room at a time, consider installing a single type of flooring throughout. Uneven floors create impediments that trip people or interfere with wheelchair or walker movement. Hard flooring like wood or luxury vinyl makes navigating easier. (Beware of slippery tiles, though. If you choose tile, look for non-slip, even-textured surfaces.) Removing carpeting and area rugs also improves accessibility.
Updating to universal design elements a little at a time makes future adaptations easier and less expensive later. For example, consider adding plywood behind the drywall in your bathroom during a remodel. Then you can safely and inexpensively add grab bars for stability in the future.
Sometimes we need help to make our homes safe and accessible. If your home is damaged, unsafe, or at least partly inaccessible, check out my article Repairing a Damaged Home to find a list of organizations and programs that can provide assistance.
Examples of Universal Design
We all benefit from universal design. Sometimes it comes in the form of standards, such as building codes. Many popular electronic universal design products make life easier for millions already. Consider smart lighting, window blind controls, or thermostatic controls. These are accessible from a smartphone or a voice-controlled virtual home assistant. Products like these are as accessible to people with loss of vision or limited mobility as they are to everyone else.
Many universally designed inventions were created to benefit people with disabilities, but now help everyone.
Universal designs we all love
- Curb cuts at corners of sidewalks. These allow people in wheelchairs or who use scooters or crutches to enter crosswalks without bumping into or off a curb. They help people with vision loss who navigate using canes. They’re also popular with people who push strollers, and with city-dwellers who use their own carts to carry purchases home.
- Automatic doors. These are a boon to people in walkers or scooters, or with canes or crutches. They also help anyone whose arms are full, who pushes carts into parking lots, or who avoids touching door handles that can spread infection.
- Closed captions on TV shows and computer videos. These help people with hearing loss. They also benefit anyone who needs to keep volume down to avoid waking sleepers. These also help when watching shows featuring people who speak in unfamiliar languages or accents.
- Door and faucet lever handles. Levers let people without manual dexterity open doors or get water. These are basic actions vital to independent living. Round doorknobs and twist-handle faucets are hard to grasp and turn for people with mobility limitations. But with an outstretched hand, an elbow, a prosthetic limb, or an adaptive doorknob extender, most people can open a door or turn on a faucet with a handle. This design also benefits people of average mobility when their hands are dirty or full. Automatic faucets that sense movement or turn on when touched make life even easier.
These kinds of products involve designs that are accessible, but also universal—anyone can benefit from them.
Groundbreaking Universal Design Guidelines
In 1997, architect Ronald Mace and his team at North Carolina State University’s (NCSU’s) Center for Accessible Housing, which Mace founded, established the Seven Principles of Universal Design. These principles still guide the universal design process. Mace, who contracted polio as a child, spent most of his life in a wheelchair. His experiences and insights into the importance of accessible design led him to help develop the first accessible building code in the U.S. in 1973. His groundbreaking work was foundational to the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
Seven Principles of Universal Design
Here are the seven universal design principles Mace helped to develop:
- Equitable use: A design should be accessible to everyone in the same way. If the means of use can’t be identical for all, alternative means of use must be equitable and provide equivalent convenience.
- Flexibility in use: Designs must allow for individual preferences and abilities.
- Simple and intuitive: Designs should be obvious to all, regardless of prior knowledge, experience, or language skills.
- Perceptible information: Instructions for design features should be accessible to everyone, regardless of sensory abilities.
- Tolerance for error: Designs should minimize potential hazards, accidents, or inconveniences. Necessary hazard warnings should be available in multiple sensory modes to notify anyone who might be affected.
- Low physical effort: Everyone should be able to use the design features. Any need for extraneous tasks or movements should be minimized if not eliminated completely.
- Size and space for approach and use: There should be plenty of space to access, use, or move around designed items, whether the user requires assistance or not.
People with Disabilities Are Often Ignored
Like everyone else, people with disabilities care about style as well as function. Sadly, their desires for both beauty and accessibility are often ignored. Requests for necessary products, tools, or other accommodations have been regularly rebuffed. Happily, the growing popularity of universal design is pushing back against this kind of ableist thinking.
Pre-Internet communication between communities of disabled people was difficult. It was tougher to find community, assistance, and tools for independent living. But people with unmet needs can be quite persistent! People with disabilities often build their own alternatives to get needs met. If they can’t do something themselves, they reach out for help. Frustratingly, they’ve often been told their needs are too difficult or expensive to accommodate. But often their needs can be met when a designer considers how everyone benefits from a more equitable, easy-to-use design.
Good for me, good for you
Societies often marginalize or hide people who don’t fit some arbitrary standard. People who don’t fit narrow categories may find it hard to find employment and fair pay. That’s unfair to them, of course. But it also harms the rest of us who could benefit from their talents, wisdom, and experience. They may have greater medical needs and expenses as well. This means they frequently have little disposable income to use on alternatives to make-do accommodations. Making equitable design universal means improving access to more functional, beautiful, and affordable furnishings and homes for people with disabilities—and everyone else.
Sometimes we need help to make our homes safe and accessible. If your home is damaged, unsafe, or at least partly inaccessible, check out my article Repairing a Damaged Home to find a list of organizations or programs that can provide assistance.
At top:
The kitchen at top follows universal design principles that make it functional and comfortable—smooth bare floors and plenty of low storage in pull-out drawers instead of cabinets ease navigation, and make storage convenient and accessible | Marcus Aurelius for Pexels
