
As we design street improvements & prioritize pedestrian safety, it’s important to do our best to understand how people with different abilities use our sidewalks & street crossings.
As we design street improvements & prioritize pedestrian safety, it’s important to do our best to understand how people with different abilities use our sidewalks & street crossings.
At first glance, a high-tech stair climbing wheelchair might seem like a cool innovation. But for Liz Jackson, it’s another example of what she refers to as “disability dongle.”
“If I fought to change everything that wasn’t accessible to my disabled body, I would have to mold society between my warm palms, stretch it like putty, and reshape its very composition. I would have to ask, make a request.”
In recent years, the fashion industry has made attempts to address the lack of fashionable and functional products for disabled people, a traditionally under-served community, with adaptive designs such as magnetic closures and easy-to-zip pieces.
The relationship between Occupational Therapy (OT) and the wheelchair securement practice has been gaining ground as more and more OT’s are increasing their skill-set to include training mobility passengers and operators this critical element of transportation safety.
The finalists in this year’s Inclusive Design Award demonstrate the amazing quality of entries in this year’s AbilityNet Tech4Good Awards, including cutting edge tech, a groundbreaking Government team, a business and a theater company. Sponsored by Scope, the Inclusive Design Award celebrates those who are thinking about inclusion from the very start of their project and is the first time it has been part of the Tech4Good Awards.
My children’s school, restaurants, aisles and footpaths – I lose count of the times each day I think ‘that would be hard for him’
The perpetual association of current symbols with wheelchair users has been criticized for insufficiently representing individuals with other disability types.
Jane Earl was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at the age of 26, a week before her wedding. “I will continue to get weaker, I am destined to be in a wheelchair,” she said. “How do I have the best quality of life from a wheelchair?” That question led her to a concept known as universal design, which aims to create accessible, welcoming spaces for all.
Cities are difficult to navigate at the best of times, but for people with disabilities they can be like an obstacle course and a maze wrapped into one.