Understanding Disability: Focus on ‘livability’ helps everyone

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Communities with a high “livability” rating for seniors and people with disabilities don’t just benefit those groups of people, the AARP says. Rather, all residents thrive and a community prospers when it develops opportunities for 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.