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What Can a Body Do? (First Year Read, 2024)

A guide to the First Year Reading Program selection for 2024: What Can a Body Do?: How We Meet the Built World, by Sara Hendren.

Epilogue

Image: Accessible Icon, designed by Sara Hendren, Brian Glenney and Tim Ferguson-Sauder

The Accessible Icon Project

The Accessible Icon Project
The homepage for the redesigned icon, including public domain images and more information about how it came to be.
Diagram of Design Elements of Accessible Icon (Cooper Hewitt)
The element breakdown of the redesigned icon, now a part of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum collection.
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Image credit: Tim Ferguson-Sauder
Accessible Icon and variations (T. Ferguson-Sauder, ASmallPercent)
Icon codesigner Ferguson-Sauder's website about the icon discusses his part in its creation and other variations he's designed for taxis and accessible hiking trails.
Accessible Icon Project, Parking Sign (MOMA)
The Accessible Icon in MOMA, on a parking sign.
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Image credit: Tim Ferguson Sauder, Brian Glenney, Sara Hendren Accessible Icon Project, parking sign 2009-2011

FURTHER READING

The Accessible Icon Project Revamps Famous Isotype (B. Poole, Print, 2013)
An interview with Sara Hendren about the project, more about isotypes, and an initial draft of the icon.
The Controversial Process of Redesigning the Wheelchair Symbol (N. Frost, Atlas Obscura, 2018)
A history of the original wheelchair icon and the guerilla emergence of the new one.
A Symbolic Salute to Progress (B. Baker, Boston Globe, Dec. 2013)
In 2013, the Accessible Icon Project was three years old and the new icon was gaining momentum. This 2013 article from the Boston Globe discusses the project's progress but also the speedbumps on the path to wider use and institutional adoption.

Accessible Icons in the Wild

We've seen it in both the physical and digital worlds!

Accessible Icons in the Wild: A Crowd-Sourced Gallery

Hood of Uber in Flatbush, Brooklyn (June, 2024)

Image source: Courtney Walsh

Accessible icon on hood of Uber

Accessible Icons in the Wild: A Crowd-Sourced Gallery

Rear of Access-a-ride vehicle in lower Manhattan, NYC (June, 2024)

Image source: Courtney Walsh

Accessible Icons in the Wild: A Crowd-Sourced Gallery

Accessible van, suburban NJ (July, 2024)

Image source: Vicky Ludas Orlofsky

window of an accessible van, with a small sticker and the Accessible Icon reading

♿ Google Belonging: Accessibility Features and Products
Google uses the Accessible Icon to show accessibility features in its products, such as Chrome keyboard shortcuts or voice typing in the Google Drive suite, as well as what the products are describing, like Google Maps' lists of "Accessible Places."