ABOUT INFORMATION ...
This section focuses on practical, how-to information for you and your home. It has articles, check-lists, reading lists and video clips. INFORMATION tends to be complete by itself whereas RESOURCES page has links that take you to other websites and resources.
INFORMATION is a good starting point when first learning about universal design.
Use links in the gray box on the left to navigate further into the Information page.
About Universal Design Resource
My mom had a friend reluctantly move into a home that was previously owned by a person who uses a wheelchair. The reluctance was primarily due to unfamiliarity with this different mode of home design. She gave her new home a few personal touches and moved in. To this day she can’t keep quiet about how much she loves her new home and the greater ease it offers with wider doors, hallways and aisles, no steps or thresholds, easily reached storage spaces, and spacious rooms and bathrooms. That is the user experience of universal design.
At Universal Design Resource we have one mission: to advocate, educate and support the widespread awareness of universal design. We don’t have to pass any laws or legislation to force it to happen. It’s just a better way to live. Once you know about it, you’ll demand it. Once you demand it, it will happen.
You’ll want it in your home, in your appliances and products, your towns and cities, your workplace and place of worship, your entertainment centers, everywhere! You don’t like struggling to read poorly designed signs while you find your way in a busy subway station. You don’t like hurting yourself on a poorly designed tool. You don’t want to fall in a hallway that is dark and full of obstructions. You want to get on with the life you love, not be hindered by it. Universal design makes that possible, knowing about it is the hurdle that must be overcome.
Universal Design Resource seeks to make universal design known first by providing what will become the best universal design website on the internet. As this site grows, you will find everything you need: links to education, products, services and information, discussion forums, networking, travel, builders, architects, etc. Universal Design Resource will be your one-stop link for everything universal design and more, it will be better than any search engine. Within one minute, you will be looking at the links you need, not sifting through hundreds of slightly to completely unrelated sites.
Next, Universal Design Resource is publishing the first user-friendly book on universal design. This is the kind of workbook you tuck under your arm as you go from room to room and begin to make changes. It’s the same one you show your architect or contractor. It’s the one you’ll keep next to your favorite cookbooks. It guides you through improvements you can make right now to the major considerations that come with renovation or relocation.
With the publication of the book, comes greater exposure for Universal Design Resource in the form of public speaking, panel discussions, TV and radio appearances and increased partnerships with businesses and governments striving to adopt universal design.
Universal Design Resource has several longer term projects. The first is our seal of approval which goes on products that meet enough criteria to be considered universal design. Imagine walking down the aisle at Home Depot and being able to easily distinguish a universal design product by its blue Universal Design Resource seal of approval.
Once Universal Design Resource succeeds, we will be able to close our doors and put our attention elsewhere. When the world knows about universal design, it will demand it and our job is over. Universal design makes sense, makes life easier, saves resources and provides independence, joy, security and comfort.
Konrad Kaletsch, President
November 2010 ©
Articles by Konrad Kaletsch
Advocate and author Konrad Kaletsch wants you to be inspired by this new way of approaching design. These essays cover a range of considerations when considering the value of universal design. When making any home modifications, make sure to buy his forthcoming book, "I've Fallen and My House Picked Me up."
Articles, Reports & News
Articles by a wide variety of authors and institutions.
Blogs --- focus on aging & caregiving
Many people are contributing to the promotion, education, growth and development of elder care and related areas. Find the work of other blog contributors here.
Blogs --- focus on disability / assistive technology
Many people are contributing to the promotion, education, growth and development of disability issues and assistive technology. Find the work of other blog contributors here.
Blogs --- focus on universal design
Many people are contributing to the promotion, education, growth and development of universal design and related areas. Find the work of other blog contributors here.
Book List: Consumer
Although universal design is over thirty years old, there are few books on the topic. This list will direct you to user-friendly books about all applications of universal design in your life.
Book List: Professional
As universal design is increasingly practiced, professionals from builders to web designers need guidelines and specs. This list has those more technical books.
Fun Facts Compendium
Here are bits of information related to universal design sometimes only by a tiny bit.
History / Museums
Links here direct you to different histories, sometimes strictly universal design and sometimes related areas.
How This Website is Organized
Find out where and how to find the information you need (if you didn't find it easily, we haven't done our job right). However, for frequent users, the information here will help you navigate more successfully.
The descriptions will often be in quotations. This is to inducate that the description was not mine but instead came from the source itself, often the words come from an introduction or mission statement of the website or business itself.
INFORMATION:
RESOURCES:
SHOP:
GALLERY:
BLOG
CONTACT:
How-To - Safety - Checklists
Links and files to help you understand and bring universal design into your home.
Magazines: Print & Online
Find magazines about universal design and related topics here, both online and print.
New To Universal Design? Start Here
So you just heard about universal design? Great! Like any good idea, universal design makes things simpler, speaks to your humanity, and appeals to your common sense. If design can marginalize people and push them to the wayside, it can also unite people and bring them together. Universal design is an approach to design that strives to have our products and environments be as usable as possible for the greatest number of people regardless of age or physical ability.
Small example: the typical free standing home has a few steps up to the main entrance door. At one time, this was a construction necessity; it helped keep surface water from spilling into your basement. It became the most common construction solution. Designers spruced up this necessity and we soon had the typical American home entrance.
Unfortunately, these few steps become a barrier to someone who uses a wheelchair, and is also an inconvenience for many other day-to-day uses such as strollers, wheeled luggage, temporary injuries needing crutches, walkers or wheelchairs and for deliveries and movers. In fact, the front door soon became strictly ornamental as inhabitants favored easier access entrances from around back or from the garage.
Technology has provided many new solutions to preventing surface water from damaging a home. These entrance steps are no longer necessary yet we still build our homes with them. Why? We are so accustomed to this typical design that a home looks and feels strange when it doesn’t have them. And, we are also ignorant to just how much these few steps can make life difficult once our physical abilities are compromised by age or disability.
This ignorance is what Universal Design Resource wishes to displace with informed knowledge. It is my belief that once you understand universal design, you will choose to apply it in your home and be eternally thankful as you can appreciate the much added ease of living and confidence that a universally designed home provides.
So what is universal design? It is a set of design principles that guide a designer to consider how easily the product or environment can be used for the widest spectrum of users, people of differing ages and abilities. The front steps go and in their place is a contoured landscape with a zero-step entrance. The usefulness of the home expands from able-bodied adult to include moms with strollers, grandparents with scooters and neighbors in wheelchairs. Want to know what kind of a difference this makes? Ask a child who uses a wheelchair about visiting their friend’s home?
The seven principles of universal design are: Equitable Use; Flexibility in Use; Simple and Intuitive; Perceptible Information; Tolerance for Error; Low Physical Effort; and, Size and, Space for Approach and Use. Ron Mace led to their creation over 40 years ago and they are copyrighted by NC State University, The Center for Universal Design.
Having just heard about universal design, you might be asking, should I bother; is it for me? Yes, for a multitude of reasons. Lets assume you are an able bodied adult (you probably wouldn’t ask those questions if you weren’t). Top of your concerns are getting by and having a little money left over for fun. Imagining getting old or disabled seems far away, to far to bother. So let’s start with cost: universal design costs little when applied at the beginning of any construction, renovation or relocation – typically around 2% added cost. Should retrofitting become necessary for any reason, even temporary recovery needs, you just spent more than that 2%. Appearances: universal design is in sync with contemporary design, which favors spacious, open layouts. Convenience: you have no idea just how convenient universal design is until you experience it. Want an example? Go to your kitchen drawer, chances are that you have a few GoodGrips products by Oxo. Why? Because they are easier to hold and use. And, peace of mind: imagine parents getting older and having universal design. With it they can still visit your home and live independently longer in theirs. This alone produces great happiness and ease.
Finally, there is social sustainability. A typical home becomes obsolete when it is no longer usable. With an aging boomer population and a disabled population, it soon won’t be affordable or even possible to support a population that represents one third of our country. It becomes a necessity to build in a way that allows people to continue to live independently with joy, security and comfort. Universal design allows them to live the lives they love and not become a burden on others. It saves planet resources that are increasingly costly and less available. It expands the usefulness of our homes.
In brief, that’s what universal design is. It’s terrific that you have learned of its existence and are beginning to ask if it’s for you. Now explore the rest of this site. Read some articles, look at some videos, find out if there are contractors near you that you can include when bidding out projects.
One extra word. Universal design is the über umbrella terminology – the most encompassing one. It is the one that speaks to us all and to a society that is inclusive. There are other terms that you will see used that although they are more specific, they will provide many of the same benefits. They are: independent living specialist, aging in place, inclusive design, ADA compliant, life span design, design for life, visitability, barrier free, adaptive technology and accessibility. As you set out, stick to these: universal design, age in place and visitability.
Bookmark this site. Come back here as I have done the work for you and organized what you are looking for better than any search engine. Look for my book soon as we move toward its release. Enjoy and good luck – you have discovered a wonderful way to live!
Konrad Kaletsch, ©2010
Television & Film
This page has television and programming links to website where you can view or purchase the content. Please notify UDR if a link is dead as this happens with programming that changes frequently.
