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BELOW Virtualreality headset by the Wayback Project, designed to help people with dementia DESIGN / FEATURE “Students were likely to feel embarrassment and vulnerability, or a sense of helplessness” user do, for example, when the task of the day is to try out a wheelchair? In contrast, a new generation of advocates push back against simulation exercises by arguing that more exposure to disabled people themselves can replace these kinds of experiences. Disabled people have been historically under-represented in design professions. Long work hours, inaccessible buildings and facilities such as computer software that is not adaptable for users with disabilities contribute to the overall cultures of exclusion that have been long recognised in design fields. As such, spaces where disability is already common are a promising start for tapping into this expertise. At Gallaudet June 2018 University, one of the largest US universities for deaf students, a project called ‘Deafspace’ focuses on the design tactics most beneficial to deaf and hard-of-hearing users. Not unlike the design theories of universal design, Deafspace produces design approaches that may benefit a wider groups of users. For example, its attention to the overly cluttered visual environment of many city spaces also aligns with the concerns of autistic people or others with light and sound sensitivity. But as its name indicates, Deafspace maintains a focus on deafness as a spatial experience, and draws on the lived experiences of deaf people as a form of design expertise. Likewise, the architect Chris Downey, who is blind, has contributed to a number of projects that centre blind and low-vision experiences to create inclusive spaces. Downey consulted on the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind, a long-standing organisation focusing on the blind community. The Lighthouse building incorporates materials, such as a bare cement floor, designed with awareness of the sonic cues in the landscape. Gallaudet and the Lighthouse represent distinctively disability-centric spaces, but there is a need to bring disabled expertise into the larger design world as well. A new fellowship programme called WITH funds short-term internships for disabled people within design firms in New York, with 35

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BELOW Virtualreality headset by the Wayback Project, designed to help people with dementia

DESIGN / FEATURE

“Students were likely to feel embarrassment and vulnerability, or a sense of helplessness”

user do, for example, when the task of the day is to try out a wheelchair? In contrast, a new generation of advocates push back against simulation exercises by arguing that more exposure to disabled people themselves can replace these kinds of experiences. Disabled people have been historically under-represented in design professions. Long work hours, inaccessible buildings and facilities such as computer software that is not adaptable for users with disabilities contribute to the overall cultures of exclusion that have been long recognised in design fields.

As such, spaces where disability is already common are a promising start for tapping into this expertise. At Gallaudet

June 2018

University, one of the largest US universities for deaf students, a project called ‘Deafspace’ focuses on the design tactics most beneficial to deaf and hard-of-hearing users. Not unlike the design theories of universal design, Deafspace produces design approaches that may benefit a wider groups of users. For example, its attention to the overly cluttered visual environment of many city spaces also aligns with the concerns of autistic people or others with light and sound sensitivity. But as its name indicates, Deafspace maintains a focus on deafness as a spatial experience, and draws on the lived experiences of deaf people as a form of design expertise. Likewise, the architect Chris Downey, who is blind, has contributed to a number of projects that centre blind and low-vision experiences to create inclusive spaces. Downey consulted on the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind, a long-standing organisation focusing on the blind community. The Lighthouse building incorporates materials, such as a bare cement floor, designed with awareness of the sonic cues in the landscape.

Gallaudet and the Lighthouse represent distinctively disability-centric spaces, but there is a need to bring disabled expertise into the larger design world as well. A new fellowship programme called WITH funds short-term internships for disabled people within design firms in New York, with

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