Nearly 20 years ago two architects, one in the US and one in the UK, who’d both acquired functional limitations due to polio, developed an idea about people at the center of the design process. Ron Mace and Selwyn Goldsmith were clear. Universal/inclusive design was not baseline accessibility about people with disabilities but rather a transformational and dynamic design strategy for our time that built on a floor of access. They saw human diversity of ability, age, and culture as definitive of life today and called for concerted leadership to invest in design that makes this new reality work. The demographic facts have only gotten starker. The concepts are more familiar but sustainable visionary practice, at best, scattered. Valerie Fletcher will offer a strategy to spur holistic action for inclusive design that’s practical but energizing, that demands engagement by clients, designers, and users. And she will illustrate success with global examples of methods and results.
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