Emerging Trends in Disability & Accessibility May 2009 Most common reasons for functional limitation of adults in the US... * Arthritis * Back problems * Heart disease * Respiratory disease NOTE: 3.3 M Americans use wheelchairs or scooters out of 54.4 M with a disability [Source: Centers for Disease Control & Census Bureau 1 09 ] Most common reasons for functional limitation of adults in the US... * Arthritis * Back problems * Heart disease * Respiratory disease NOTE: 3.3 M Americans use wheelchairs or scooters out of 54.4 M with a disability [Source: Centers for Disease Control & Census Bureau 1 09 ] United States in 2008 • ‘mainstreams’ the experience of disability and recognizes it as a universal human experience • Equalizes mental and physical reasons for disability Defined disability as a contextual variable. A person with a functional limitation is more or less disabled based upon the intersection with the environment: • Physical environment • Communication environment • Information environment • Social & Policy environments Called for an international effort to identify facilitators that would go beyond barrier removal to enhance everyone’s experience. ==> promoted universal design as a framework for identifying facilitators • EC mandates design-for-all as a requirement in government purchasing • EC requires strategies demonstrating design-for-all as a requirement for local planning • Frequent models of green + inclusive design in urban & residential developments • The International Association for Universal Design (IAUD) – 150 corporations who focus on research and marketing of products • ‘User-experts’ in research and public planning processes • Increasingly common pairing of ‘Eco’ + UD • 68% of Japanese recognize the term Universal Design (Fall 2007, Dentsu study) • Both Latvia & Cuba hosted their first conferences on universal design in the Fall of 2008 • The UN has adopted universal design as a standard for post-conflict reconstruction • Policy innovation being born at the municipal level. Contrast