Universal Design

Universal Design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design. When one considers the safety and convenience of his/her guests in the home, Universal Design becomes an undistinguishable central theme for living. It certainly embraces safety, but more from a convenience standpoint than from a “warning” posture.

Ron Mace, founder of The Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University, coined the term “universal design” to describe the concept of designing products and environments to be attractive and usable by everyone to the greatest extent possible – regardless of age or ability.

James Joseph Pirkl, FIDSA, professor emeritus at Syracuse University and founding director or Transgenerational Design Matters, Inc., points to the universality of the approach: “Transgenerational design accommodates, and appeals to, people of all ages and abilities: the young, the old, the able, the disabled – without penalty to any group. A transgenerational house is a human-centered house. It’s not about building specialized ‘elderly’ housing or just providing ‘adaptive’ products like grab bars, lever door handles, and toilet seat raisers. It is about designing residential environments and household products that accommodate and benefit the widest market segments without penalty to any group.

Universal design doesn’t just make a home livable for wheelchair users or the elderly. It makes life easier for everyone, from the moment they enter your home until they leave. Even if members of your family are perfectly healthy and agile now, a future injury or a more permanent disability can leave them struggling to get around the house. This type of design helps people with temporary or long-term disabilities- from an injured hand to a bad back – enjoy life in their homes.

Healthy, able individuals can also benefit from universal design. Sure, the single-lever faucets recommended for use in kitchens and baths make it easier for people who have limited hand strength or an injury to turn the faucet on and off. But they also help you to easily turn on the water when your hands are dirty and you don’t want to grasp the faucet. Widened doorways allow people who use wheelchairs to travel through the house, but they also make it easier for parents carrying young children around or homeowners loaded down with groceries to enter and move around. You may even have universal design elements in your home right now and not realize it. That’s the key. Good universal design should be virtually invisible.

As life expectancy rises and modern medicine has increased the survival rate of those with significant injuries, illnesses and birth defects, there is a growing interest in universal design. There are many industries in which universal design is having strong market penetration but there are many others in which it has not yet been adopted to any great extent.

Universal design is a part of everyday living and is all around us. Color-contrast dishware with steep sides that assist those with visual problems as well as those with dexterity problems is a good example. Additional examples include cabinets with pull-out shelves, kitchen counters at several heights to accommodate different tasks and postures and low-floor buses that kneel and are equipped with ramps rather that lifts.

The Seven Principles of Universal Design

1. Equitable use
2. Flexibility in use
3. Simple and intuitive
4. Perceptible information
5. Tolerance for error
6. Low physical effort
7. Size and space for approach and us