Category: Sport, Recreation & Arts

Universal Design at the Zoo: A case study

Arched entrance to Brookfield Zoo. It was the subject of a UD at the Zoo case study.Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo applied the principles of universal design during upgrade and extension works. Changes to the entrance, maps and information, transportation within the park, toilets, benches, tables, and exhibit design and enhancement are explained in a case study. In addition, trained staff are on hand to provide additional help to visitors where needed. Mark Trieglaff explains universal design at the Zoo in his case study.

The improvements are matched to one or more of the seven principles of universal design. The conference paper concludes: “By incorporating the Principles of Universal Design all visitors are offered equal experiences as they interact with the animal, exhibits and each other. Without even realizing barriers have been removed, everyone, regardless of their abilities, has a more enjoyable and inclusive experience.”

The title of the paper is, Universal Design in a Zoological Setting, and is free to download as PDF. It also serves as an example for urban design and place planning.

Abstract. Universal Design in planning for exhibiting animal collections for the
public has been a part of the culture of one particular zoo in the US. This paper
looks at the steps in designing a zoological park that is universally accessible to all visitors. 

The picture is of the South Gate entrance. The parking lot was made level with the kerb to provide a level entrance for all visitors during the upgrade.

Theme park rides: thrills, spills and inclusion

A brightly coloured horse on a carousel ride in a theme park. Theme park rides often have rules about who can ride based on body size, health conditions and ability. But these rules are sometimes needlessly excluding. Ride manufacturers produce a manual for the park owners with very broad references to disability. These rules are set with the idea of protecting riders. But are these needed?  With enough information most people would self select their theme park rides.

The accident rates for ride attractions and found that obesity, not usually mentioned in the rules, is responsible for more accidents than those for people with disability. The analysis found that restrictive criteria exclude people with disabilities broadly, while permitting other groups to self-determine their participation. Publicly available injury data do not provide evidence to justify the extent of mandatory exclusion.

Using information from 100 amusement ride manufacturers’ manuals, an article reports on eligibility criteria and safety for people with disability, and where disability is reported in an injury. The conclusion is that people with disability are excluded more often than is warranted. “There is no clear evidence that people with disabilities are at undue risk when permitted to self-select”. However, they will need appropriate information so they can make the right decision.

The title of the paper is, Disability and participation in amusement attractions, by Kathryn Woodcock. 

Camp Manyung is accessible for just about everyone. Check it out. Plenty of thrills there!

 

Playgrounds for all children

An empty wooden swing hangs over green grass. Playgrounds for all children.Inclusive play spaces are receiving more attention, but what equipment and design features are most suitable? Research in the US throws some light on this topic. Children, parents, teachers, landscape designers and equipment manufacturers all have a stake in the outcome. This means there are often gaps between what is required, what is available and what gets implemented.

Building Playgrounds for Children of All Abilities looks at legal requirements and provides some useful recommendations. You will need institutional access for a free read. Or you can access the paper via ResearchGate and ask for a free copy. 

Also see Everyone Can Play published by the NSW Government.

Abstract

Schools and communities typically design and build playgrounds with little knowledge that the selected playground equipment meets the needs of children, caregivers, and teachers. In this article, the various categories of playgrounds are discussed and analyzed.

The focus of this discussion includes an overview of the legal requirements and guidelines for school and community playgrounds, a description of prior research highlighting the inadequacies in currently available playgrounds, and an explanation of the trends in playground design over the years.

We relate these topics to the need for universally designed playgrounds and a deeper commitment to designing playgrounds and play equipment that is empirically tested and meets the needs of all children, their teachers, and their families.

By discussing practical examples and research findings to illustrate the gap between playground manufacturers and their play equipment and playground consumers, this paper serves as a meaningful resource for teachers and other stakeholders so they have the knowledge to advocate for their students with disabilities in playground endeavors. Taking recent research findings into account, we provide a vision for playground policy change.  

Being a Good Sport: Including Everyone

Picture of young women on a netball court. Being a good sport.Australians come together for sport no matter who they are or where they’re from. That’s why it’s important to keep sport as inclusive as possible. While there is a need for specialised sports facilities for para-athletes, community sporting groups and clubs need to adapt to providing sporting activities for everyone.

Introducing young people to sport and keeping them involved can have long term positive effects. However, young people with disability are involved to a lesser extent. While there are some specialised programs for children and young people, this may not be the way of the future.

Susanna Geidne and Kajsa Jerlinder tackle this issue in the Sport Science Review journal.  After a systematic search of peer-reviewed articles, they conclude,

“We must go from adapting physical activity for disabled persons to adapting physical activity for all people, because the diversity of people’s reasons for doing sports, their differing backgrounds and their uniqueness all demand it. Such an approach will result in more people doing sports for longer in life, which will benefit everyone, both individually and at the societal level.”

The title of the article is, “How sports clubs include children and adolescents with disabilities in their activities. A systematic search of peer-reviewed articles”.

Sport and Recreation Victoria are doing great work on inclusion and have produced a useful handbook, Design for Everyone Guide. 

Game changers for sports events?

An action shot of two women grappling for the football. One is wearing yellow, the other white. Game changers for sports events.What will it take to make major sports events and associated tourism services more accessible? An Australian study seeks the answer to this question. Researchers used the 2015 FIFA Womens World Cup event in Canada as a case study to analyse the situation and to see what needs to be done. We need game changers.

The article is titled, “Inclusive by design: transformative services and sport-event accessibility”.  Access via Tandfonline or you can request a copy from the lead researcher Tracey Dixon on ResearchGate. You can find other posts on sport and recreation on this website.

Abstract

This paper examines the service dimensions required to be inclusive of people with access needs within a major-sport event context. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities seeks to counter disability discrimination and enable citizenship rights of people with disabilities, including access to goods and services, across all dimensions of social participation including major-sport events (e.g. Olympic and Paralympic Games, world cups in football, cricket and rugby union).

Providing for people with disability and access needs is also an emerging tourism focus with initiatives addressing accessible tourism included in the World Tourism Organizations mission and recent strategic destination plans. To enhance the understanding of service delivery for an accessible tourism market in a major-sport event context, a case study of the Vancouver Fan Zone for the FIFA Womens World Cup Canada, 2015 TM is analyzed through the lens of transformative services. From this analysis future research directions are identified to benefit those with access needs who wish to participate in major-sport events.

Just what is a hearing loop?

International symbol for a hearing loopThere is a lot of confusion about hearing loops and assistive listening devices. Although public venues should have the loop switched on at the same time as the microphone (because that’s how it works), there are some places that think it should only be switched on if someone asks for it. And then, sadly, all too often, that’s when they find it doesn’t work. But just what is a hearing loop?

Hearing augmentation is not old technology. Technology has improved but the systems remain the same. Andrew Stewart explains the myths in a factsheet, Is Hearing Augmentation Old Technology? The factsheet also includes information about what consumers think about loop systems. The loop system is much preferred as it is discrete. Other systems require patrons to request a device to be worn around the neck, which is stigmatising. 

There are more fact sheets on the Hearing Connections website on the three types of hearing augmentation systems:

      1. Hearing Loop System
      2. FM System
      3. Infrared System

The fact sheets also cover schools and universities, live performance spaces, aged care facilities, installation and signage guides.

Hearing loops are not just about compliance and human rights – they are good customer service. 

Hearing loops are good customer service

Two women are on stage. One is lying down and looks dead. The other leans over her with grief.When theatre patrons can’t make out the dialogue they stop going. There’s no point. But a hearing loop can bring them back. A hearing loop works with a special switch on a hearing aid. It sends the sound from the speaker directly to the aid. Yes, there are other types of hearing augmentation. But who wants to go to ask for a special device to hang round your neck? Older people generally shun assistive technology because of the perceived stigma. Hearing loops are far more discrete. See this video of a case study that surprised a theatre manager. 

 

Physical Access and Sport

Front cover of the guide, Access for all about physical access and sport.An accessible and inclusive sports club sometimes requires a few physical adjustments to buildings. More than anything it needs some forward planning and continuing commitment. Access for All: Opening Doors is a guide aimed at anyone involved in running or working in a sports club. However, this guide for physical access and sport is useful for any organisation. 

For example, there is information on paths of travel and ramps, signage and colour contrast, and types of doors. Other information is specific to entertainment venues such as spectator viewing areas and acoustics. Doors receive detailed information and the difficulties with revolving doors. 

The resource covers the main areas of physical access and leads on to other information. It’s down to the detail such as approaches to the building, information and signage, and getting around the facilities. 

The Centre for Accessible Environments website has more  free publications.

Kicking goals for sport

Two young men each with one leg and using crutches, compete for the football on the football field. Kicking UD Goals in Sport. Playing and watching sport is a major cultural activity in Australia. Joining a sports club or being part of the fan group brings a sense of belonging. Participating in sport has physical and mental health benefits. Kate Anderson and Susan Balandin write about this important topic in “Kicking a Goal for Inclusion in Sports Clubs and Stadia”. The authors take a universal design approach to solutions. 

Their book chapter explains how sports providers can promote inclusion for people with disability. Taking a universal design approach they discuss three key areas: spectatorship, membership and employment. You can get institutional access via Springerlink, or you can access through ResearchGate. 

From the abstract

Sports participation and fandom play an important role in the lives of many Australians, including people with disability. Participating in sport offers valuable benefits for physical and mental well-being and can enhance a person’s sense of belonging. 

In addition to playing sport, people with disability have a right to be included in mainstream spectatorship and fandom activities. Despite this, many sports clubs fall short and give little thought to the inclusion of people with disability as staff or volunteers.

This chapter covers some of the ways in which sports providers can promote engaging and meaningful community inclusion for people with disability. We adopt a universal design perspective to showcase practical inclusion opportunities for people with disability across three key participation domains in the sporting arena: spectatorship, membership, and employment. 

Designing parks that people use

A young woman and man are walking their dog in an urban park.Public parks can work their magic only if they give what people they need. People use green spaces in cities in different ways depending on their community’s historical experience and cultural standards. Access to parks is strongly linked with better health outcomes so it is important to design them in context. But the mere existence of a park does not ensure a community benefits from it. We need to be designing parks that people use.

In an article for The Conversation, Thaisa Way covers the history of parks, importance of easy access and cultural relevance.  Lots of links to research papers within the article titled: “Parks work for cities, but only if people use them”. And that is a question of design. 

Danish study

A study from Denmark shows that children like to be surrounded by green. The study used satellite data to show a link between growing up near green space and issues with mental health in adulthood. They found that children under 10 years who had greater access to green space may grow up to be happier adults. The article goes on to say that data was correlated between the child’s proximity to green space during childhood and that same person’s mental health later in life. The more green space they had access to, the less likely they were to have mental health issues later.

The title of this interesting article is “Kids surrounded by greenery may grow up to be happier adults“.  The study was conducted by researchers at Aarhus University. 

Playgrounds and mental health

Four children are in an open space with buildings in the background. They are jumping in the air and holding hands .Access to play spaces can improve mental well-being as children grow up according to an article by Alice Covatta. She argues that there is a connection between lack of play and the rise of mental health conditions.

The way we design our urban areas has an impact on play in outdoor locations and this in turn either encourages or discourages play. The article expands on these concepts and uses case studies to highlight the issues and the solutions and introduce play as sustainable design. The article comes from the latest edition of Urban Design and Mental Health, which has several interesting articles.

NSW Government has published a guide to taking a universal design approach to play spaces, Everyone Can Play. 

“Let’s go to the park”

An older woman walks on a bitumen path in a park. Two older men are sitting on a seat along the pathway.The design of parks and playgrounds are often considered from the perspective of children and younger adults. But what about older adults? An Australian study by Stephen Gibson looked at this issue and found that the motivations to visit parks differed between older and younger adults.

Natural environment, and park amenity was the strongest predictor of encouraging older adults to visit parks. The recommendation is that park design must be specific to older adults to entice and encourage them to visit. The title of the article in Landscape and Urban Planning is,” “Let’s go to the park.” An investigation of older adults in Australia and their motivations for park visitation”.  You will need institutional access for a free read, or find a free read on ResearchGate.

Of course, taking the perspective of older adults does not exclude other age groups. Toilets, seating, shade, level footways, and wayfinding are good for everyone. 

Abstract

What motivates older adults to visit and use parks? Do older adults access parks for different reasons than younger adults? Prior studies determine age influences park visitation, but we know little about why. Older adults are particularly disadvantaged if their specific needs, preferences, or constraints in frequenting parks are not considered as lack of visitation and potential health decline result.

Referencing self-determination theory from the social psychology literature, this study focuses on fulfillment of autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs in older adults as a precursor to motivation for park visitation. To build deeper understanding of older adult motivation to visit and use parks, the study develops and tests a theoretical model of motivation for park visitation using quantitative methods to investigate psychological needs in the motivation to visit parks and elements of parks required to satisfy these needs.

Providing support for hypothesized relationships in the model, findings indicate that older adults differ from younger adults in the level and type of motivation to visit parks. Specifically, older adults are motivated to revisit parks that fulfill their autonomy needs. Natural environment, a common park amenity, was the strongest predictor of autonomy need fulfillment in older adults, followed by location elements of convenience and community. Finally, results indicated that when older adult autonomy needs are fulfilled, park revisitation is likely. Results confirm that park design must be specific to older adults to entice visitation.

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