Research Guides: What Can a Body Do? (First Year Read, 2024): CHAIR: Accessible Product Design

Library Hours	1pm – 2am Special Event

Chair

Image: Chair by Agus Hartanto from Noun Project (CC BY 3.0)

Project

OLIN COLLEGE ADAPTATION + ABILITY GROUP

Low Tech Engineering with Adaptive Design Association (Olin College, 2014)
The Adaptation + Ability Group's work with Adaptive Design Association to learn cardboard carpentry and the value in engineering items with the materials at hand.
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Image: "This coat rack, tree-style, was a favorite in fall 2015."

Adaptive Design Association (ADA)

“The workshop wants the message to be one of accessibility in the broadest sense: a reminder that the built environment and all its structures are the products of human decisions.”
(What Can a Body Do?, p 71)

Alex Truesdell, founder:

“Build for one and change everything.” (quoted p. 73)

Adaptive Design Association
Manhattan, NY

Universal Design & Accessible Consumer Products

Phrase coined by Ronald Mace, 1985.

“Universal design is design that’s usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design.”

(Mace, quoted in What is Universal Design?)

From the perspective of the designer, the Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics (5th ed.) notes:

“A general characteristic of good universal design is that it benefits many more people without disabilities than those with disabilities. This, of course, follows from the design benefiting everyone and the fact that there are more people without disabilities than with disabilities.”
(p. 1219)

Universal Design: What is Universal Design?
The Universal Design website defines the term and shows how Ronald Mace's inspiration led to the UD Project, which maintains the Standards for Universally Accessible Homes building code and provides trainings to homeowners and home builders.