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Definitely a step in the right direction. My hope for Rowan University is that as they continue to grow and expand the campus, that they design new spaces using Universal Design concepts. 

This is a picture of the one new designs of the new buildings being built on Rowan campus. These places must be made for everyone. From people with disabilities to people without disabilities. It will make them more substainable and better for everyone. Studies show that the more universal buildings are, the more success they’ll have. In order to have success with these new designs, they must be made for everyone.

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“Specific Goals for Universal Design: 

1. Body fit: Accommodating a wide range of body sizes and abilities 2. Comfort: Keeping demands within desirable limits of body function 3. Awareness: Ensuring that critical information for use is easily perceived 4. Understanding: Making methods of operation and use intuitive, clear and unambiguous 5. Wellness: Contributing to health promotion, avoidance of disease, and prevention of injury 6. Social integration: Treating all groups with dignity and respect 7. Personalization: Incorporating opportunities for choice and expression of individual preferences 8. Cultural appropriateness: Respecting and reinforcing cultural values and the social and environmental context of any design project.” 

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These clear goals should be enforced when designed using udl concepts. This article also highlights the importance of evaluating the design of a space in the early stages of the project rather then constructing an accommodation to the design of a space. For example, in class we discussed the elevator issue in the Chamberlain Student Center, as it was not accommodation; thus the space was not universally designed. This article highlighted that when in a situation like that to evaluate the design before the space is even created. Thus in this situation, the student center could have incorporated a main spiral wide ramp that could be used by everyone instead of stairs, a lift and an elevator. 

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Getting real about physical accessibility

Something I’ve noticed:

There are a lot of ramps, seating areas, lifts, and other such things that aren’t available to wheelchair users because they are constantly full of people pushing children in strollers.

Sometimes, this is because people are astonishingly inconsiderate, but often it’s the result of terrible design.

People assume that accessibility features are only useful for chair users. Then they design them to only have enough capacity for the (small) number of chair users they expect to be there. Then, everyone with a stroller uses them, and the building remains almost as inaccessible to wheelchair users as it was before.

When you are creating an accessibility feature, do not fall into this trap! Design it to have the capacity for all of the things it will be used for.

Some concrete examples:

If your building has multiple high-traffic entrances, it needs to have multiple ramps

Elevators need to have enough capacity to accommodate the number of kids in strollers, chair users, and people with luggage who will come through on a regular basis.

Family restrooms should be accessible. So should some of the stalls in the regular men’s/women’s/unisex bathrooms.

Just, generally speaking, keep in mind that in order to make an access feature usable, there has to either be enough to go around, or enforcement preventing unauthorized use. Unless you want to chase mothers and infants away from your ramp, make it big enough to accommodate traffic from both wheelchair users and strollers.

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This quote reminded be about particular sites of Rowan Universities campus. Specifically the design of Robinson Circle and the Marvin Creamer honor site. 

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Alstom Syndrom and the need to Create Public  Spaces Using Universal Design Concepts

“Alström syndrome is characterized by a progressive loss of vision and hearing, a form of heart disease that enlarges and weakens the heart muscle (dilated cardiomyopathy), obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus (the most common form of diabetes), and short stature” (NIH, 2016)

Imagine having three boys under the age of 12 with a syndrome that leaves the children blind by their fourth year of life. At the church I attend, I serve in a ministry that caters to special needs children. The family that I often see and help have 3 children that are blind. Therefore, we help the family get the boys out of the car and into the church. Boy, can I tell you how difficult that is. 

Unfortunately, our church is not designed using universal design concepts, which makes the transition for the car to the church very difficult.The boys need to come late in order to avoid the traffic and they need to walk in the street to accommodate their walking sticks and to avoid curbs. This is just one public place that this family goes. What do they encounter when they go to other places with their boys? Are they limited to the places that they can go? Are the sidewalks wide enough? Is there a high drop from the curb to the street? Are doors wide enough for their walking sticks? Is the noise level too high? Is there a quiet space? All of these questions race through my mind when I see this family. I can’t help but to try to think of ways to make an influence on public spaces to accommodate families just like these. 

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“Sustainability is inherit now with all design projects that we create, so regardless of ability or mobility we ensure that our place spaces can accommodate every individual and meet their needs.” - Amanda Balmer (WAX design director and landscape architect)

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This video represents everything I stand for. 

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Being able to combine my passion of working with children with disabilities and  expresses the importance of designing spaces with everyone is mind, is so amazing to me. This video depicts a park that is made for everyone to enjoy. This park is not just for children with disabilities, this park was made for all children. The thing that I like the most about this park in particular and UDL is the concept of meeting the needs of everyone and the inclusion of all sectors of the population; thus we can all feel like were included in society. Designing spaces for everyone is what the people need to feel that we are all accepted for who we are. 

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The Philadelphia Zoo has been working to design a more accessible space for  children of all abilities, age, gender, and background at this KidZooU. This Zoo has been redesigned using Universal Design concepts. As an overview the zoo has quiet spaces, braille signs, sign language, a code access for other languages, and wheel chair accessibility. This space also provides diversity for children's learning preferences. 

“Every child—no matter their age, gender, background, ability—can make the world a better place for animals.”

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I am SO excited about this zoo. It is the first place designed for kids that I have come in contact with in our area and has been designed for all types of kids! This will allow for a better learning experience for all children including those with a physical or mental impairment. 

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James Hall,  Rowan University

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While I admire Rowan’s efforts in creating accessible routes for pedestrians, I am unsure the significance of this enormous sign. As Rowan continues to improve and create new spaces for students, should’t it just be implied that all routes (especially in the middle of campus) be accessible? Now that the concept of universal design is gaining more awareness and attraction among the population, I feel like a sign that is aiming to promote the campuses accessibility, is putting the entire concept to shame. The whole idea of universal design is to create a space that can be used by all people; young, old, babies, the blind, the physically impaired, the mentally impaired, pregnant women, etc. I feel that this sign is not a reflection of the 21st centuries ideals. This sign is just for one sector of the population, and it just screams, “physically disabled come this way, don’t go any other way or you will have difficulties”, which is alienating the population. Overall, this sign is doing more harm than good and Rowan should either 1) remove the sign 2) add more sectors of the population that could benefit for this particular route. 

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In 2016, Rowan University  should be creating spaces for every sector of the population.  

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 The new design of Robinson circle at Rowan University exemplifies bad practices of universal design. To start, the mixture of stone pieces and sand create an uneven platform to walk along. Thus any population with a physical disability that requires the use of assistive technology to walk such as a walker, a wheel chair, or even crutches would be unable to use this space. Next, the inability to move the concrete block seats and the fixed spacing of the seats create a difficult environment to interact in. Thus, the space was only intended for people to be sitting individually while working on school work. However that limits the function of the space as well as the population that could use the space. Finally, the fixed spacing between the blocks as pictured above, would not accommodate a wheelchair to fit comfortably. Therefore a handicapped person is limited to only sitting in certain areas. Thus, this space was not intended for all populations and is a bad representation of universal design. One would like to think that as Rowan creates new spaces for the increasing number of students, that they would create more functional spaces that would be designed with all people in mind.  

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7 Principles of Universal Design

1. Equitable use

The design is useful to a wide range of people with varying abilities.

2. Flexibility in use The design can accommodate a wide range of preferences and abilities

3.Simple and intuitive use The design is easy to understand regardless of experience, knowledge, language or ability to concentrate.

4. Perceptible information The design communicates information effectively, regardless of ambient conditions or sensory abilities.

5. Tolerance for error The design minimizes hazards and negative consequences of untended actions.

6. Low physical effort The design can be used efficiently and comfortably with minimal fatigue.

7. Size and space for approach and use Size and space is provided for approach, reach, manipulation and use regardless of user’s size, posture or mobility.

Source: 

Universal Design and Designing with Tile by Kate Spencer

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Universal Design

According to the Center for Universal Design (CUD) at North Carolina State University, universal design is the “design of products and environments to be used by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaption or specialized design”. 

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This article discusses how cities around the United States are designing public spaces to be accessible. The author Steve Wright, emphasizes the importance of universal design and accessible features in prominent parks. 

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The world will be a much better place when WE start designing the world to meet the needs for everyone. 

It would be great if more abled people started actively thinking about disabled people and our accessibility needs. 

Think of us complexly, not just on the surface level. There are so many of us, with pretty much every type of disability that you can imagine (and more). 

We need more than ramps and closed captioning on movies, and maybe life would be easier for us if more people realized that.

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It is important to highlight the evolution of public spaces, as it pertains to the accommodations of people with special needs. Is there work to be done? YES. Is there research that needs to be conducted? YES. Is there more we can do? OF COURSE.  However city planners across the world are beginning to make small adjustments in public space design to make them more ACCESSIBLE, which in turn positively impacts those with disabilities. 

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ACCESSIBILITY:

adjective 

1. easy to approach, read, enter, speak with or use. 

2. that can be used entered or reached. 

3. obtainable or attainable 

4. open to the influence of ( usually followed by to) 

Credits: Dictionary.com 

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What does Wikipedia say about this? 

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Accessibility refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers).