The goal of opening our communities to everyone has been around for decades. However, with advances in medicine affording us longer lifespans, accessibility must go even further. We must focus on building an accessible future to make our world equally available to everyone.
Universal Design (UD) is an approach to design that increases the potential for developing a better quality of life for a wide range of individuals. It is a design process that enables and empowers a diverse population by improving human performance, health and wellness, and social participation (Steinfeld and Maisel, 2012). It creates products, systems, and environments to be as usable as possible by as many people as possible regardless of age, ability or situation.
