Author: Jane Bringolf

Design toolkit for social inclusion

Inclusive Signs Toolkit front cover.
Front cover of the Toolkit.

Social inclusion is a complex topic mainly because it’s not something you can make and touch. It requires a new way of approaching design that avoids bias, stereotypes, and established methods. Emilio Rossi has developed a card-based toolkit to generate creative inclusive design concepts. It’s titled Inclusive Signs and is based on a visual card system. One set has a different picture or symbol, and the second set has text labels. The cards are used to stimulate creative thinking in brainstorming sessions.

A short video on the welcome page of the online version on the toolkit provides a great overview of the basic concepts. 

The first part of the handbook explains the background and how to use the the toolkit. The second part has 180 cards and a worksheet. The toolkit is useful for both design practitioners and educators. It would also be good in co-design processes. The goal is to stimulate deep reflections on social inclusion in all design processes.

Overview

Although disability is one of the topics, design for social inclusion goes further. It tackles issues of social wellbeing, rights, human values, and inequalities.  Designers often struggle to create inclusive products and services beyond access codes. Rossi says moving beyond access codes is crucial for enabling solutions.

The key is gaining insights in the design conception stage. “Otherwise designers will continue to use biased concepts in their creative practice. That is, designing what is known, rather than what may work.”

You can download the 120 MB PDF document.  The 60 descriptive cards have current keywords relating to social inclusion. The aim of the 120 visual cards is to stimulate reflection, emotion, and lateral thinking. The images provide both negative and positive representations. 

Designers should find the content of the toolkit interesting even if they don’t use it in practice or teaching. 

The online version of the Toolkit is also available in several languages. Below are three examples of the text cards.

Card reading shared visions and ideas.

Card reading yes, with, together, visible, for all.

This card reads, participation.

Roadblocks to inclusive streets

Three people rescue a mail delivery man and his electric vehicle after it rolled over after hitting an electrical distribution box which was placed too close to the pedestrian right of way. Note there is no footpath, only grass.
Mail delivery vehicle crashes into an electrical services box. Note no footpath only grass.

Streets are essential to mobility and that means pedestrians, not just motor vehicles. Dangerous intersections, pedestrian crossings, steep kerb ramps and those utility vaults make wheeling a nightmare. Steve Wright says that universal design is what we should be aiming for. That’s because there are a hundred ways a street can deny mobility to a wheelchair user. And if they deny a wheelchair user, they can deny people unsteady on their feet and make pushing a stroller difficult. Wright lists his top 8 roadblocks to inclusive streets.

8 Roadblocks to inclusive streets

Narrow footpaths: If two wheelchairs or two strollers cannot pass each other than it is too narrow. Many footpaths don’t even accommodate two people walking side by side. Even where a footpath has sufficient width, there can be other obstructions. 

Too many stakeholders: Several agencies have a stake in the footpath – hence the many access covers scattered throughout the paving. And then there is street furniture and rubbish bins. 

Crappy kerb ramp: Problems often arise where a steep ramp into the gutter meets a steep rise onto the roadway. The deep V means wheeled mobility devices get stuck half way. Then there is the kerb ramp set on a corner that means people have to roll into oncoming traffic. And of course, there are mis-matched ramps which don’t line up to create a straight line across the roadway.

Traffic calming islands and safe havens: These must be at least wide enough to take a mobility scooter and an adult pushing a stroller. And not everyone can cross a wide street quickly. Mid-way points are a must if traffic takes priority.

Cross slopes and cambers: Narrow streets also mean that driveways and kerb ramps cut into the footpath creating cross-falls that are difficult for wheeled mobility users. 

Footpath closures: Construction projects seem to be blissfully unaware of the havoc they create with their “no pedestrians” or “pedestrians this way” signs. And some of these are not just for a day – they can be for years. 

Pedestrian crossing buttons out of reach: While the button might technically be at the right height, sometimes the pole it’s on isn’t within reach. 

Transportation decision makers don’t have a disability: Transportation projects go to contractors and subcontractors with many other stakeholders involved. They would do well to embrace some co-design methods. 

Wright discusses the issues in more detail from a US perspective.  He says:

“Universal design is what we should be aiming for, but there are 100 ways that even the most well-intended complete street can deny mobility to wheelchair users due to poor design, implementation, maintenance, and even policy.”

Do’s and Don’ts of Downsizing

Brightly coloured graphic of little houses clustered together. Do's and Don'ts of Downsizing.COTA NSW ran a webinar on the Do’s and Don’ts of Downsizing. The first speaker talked about downsizing ‘stuff’ and getting organised whether moving or not.  The second speaker (23 minute mark) gives sound advice about choosing a new home or adapting an existing home. The third speaker (36 minute mark) tells her experience of moving house and provides first hand advice.

The webinar concludes with a panel discussion. One important point raised was how to manage conflict when one partner wants to move and the other doesn’t.  Rather than enter a win-lose situation, start a discussion on “what life do you want to have?”

This approach could also apply to discussing living arrangements with an ageing parent, whether it’s adaptations or moving. Many older people don’t want change and then matters are taken out of their hands when a health crisis occurs. Better to have a home that you can go back to rather than go into care. 

The speakers are Peter Walsh, Margaret Ward, and Christy Owen. It’s chaired by COTA NSW President Joan Hughes. The webinar is one and half hours in total. 

You can also find the video on YouTube. 

Hospital design for healing

A hospital waiting area with just three people.Hospital design is incorporating features that reflect the concept of healing rather than sickness. Older people make up a significant proportion of patients, and that means we need more age-friendly approaches to care. Physical environments are getting slip resistant floors, indirect lighting and large print wall clocks and calendars. Some hospitals are replacing harsh florescent lighting with systems similar to day – night cycles. An article on the AARP website discusses this and how hospital design is about healing.

Other ideas are a piano at registration, walking paths and gardens – making the place feel more hospitable rather than hospital. It’s about customer convenience and comfort. And this must help when people are in pain and feeling stressed. Many visitors feel stressed and anxious in hospitals and they aren’t even sick.

As for coffee bars in waiting areas – the sound of grinding beans in coffee bars adds to noise levels and the smell can be nauseating. Small things can make a difference to comfort and reducing stress levels.

Other changes involve telehealth services which can be delivered to patients at home. For more on this see the AARP article.

Making Accessible PowerPoint Slides

People are gradually getting the hang of putting alt text for their images in Powerpoint slides, but there is more to do. Sheri Byrne-Haber provides advice on making accessible PowerPoint slides by using the inbuilt accessibility checker. Some of her advice is reproduced below the screenshot of the accessibility checker. 

The screenshot below shows an example of the Accessibility checker tab in PPT

Screenshot of PPT slide showing accessibility tab for making accessible powerpoint slides.
Alt text is really important if the slide deck is being shared either in PowerPoint or saved as a PDF. It allows screen readers to access the picture descriptions. PowerPoint has a handy accessibility checker within the Review tab. It picks up any images without descriptions and a few other things.

Some presenters use only picture slides and in this case it’s essential to provide alt text descriptions. Providing the text of the speech in the notes section increases accessibility. The notes section is also the best place to put long descriptions rather than in alt-text. 

Use the master template for repeated images such as company logos. This hides the information from the screen reader so it doesn’t have to swipe through every time.  Graphics marked as decorative in the alt text box will allow screen readers will ignore them. 

Captioning is essential for videos, but people need to have choice in whether to use it or not. Not all videos need described audio, but first running the video with eyes closed will give an indication. Byrne-Haber’s article has many other useful tips. 

A Market Place for Everyone

A crowded public market place.Getting people out and about relies on having places that are accessible and provide safety and comfort for everyone. Markets are one way to activate space and encourage people to get out and about. But they don’t happen by accident. The secret of a market place for everyone is that there is plenty to do and is accessible and inclusive for all.

Creating sociability in public space is often the most difficult aspect of placemaking. Markets are gathering places that can help the socialisation process. Research indicates that socialising is one of the main reasons people visit markets. 

Public markets provide economic opportunity, bring diverse groups together, promote public health, and activate space. More importantly, they encourage people to get out and about. 

 

Wheel shaped graphic showing six elements of public markets: Activates Space, Brings people together, promotes public health, renews neighbouroods, economic opportunity, links urban rural communities.

 

Placemaking Europe’s Project for Public Spaces has seven principles for a successful market city. They are briefly listed below. 

Seven principles of market cities

1. Variety: A market city includes both food and non-food markets across a city-wide market system.

2. Collaboration: A market city collaborates with diverse partners and stakeholders. They include advocates for health, community services, not-for-profits as well as government agencies. 

3. Measurement: A market city measures the value of its markets especially for vulnerable neighbourhoods. The quality of physical access and facilities and the health impact. Analysing all aspects of social and economic outcomes helps to develop a city-wide market system. 

4. Resilience: A market city has facilities for storage, processing and distribution of food and goods produced in the region.

5. Excellence: A market city invests regularly in its facilities which includes maintaining existing structures. It also invests in well trained staff to operate the market system. 

6. Opportunity: A market city supports vendors to start a new business or expand an existing one.

7. Place: A Market City recognizes that its markets are public spaces that celebrate cultural heritage. Public spaces in and around markets are safe, accessible, attractive and inclusive.

The picture above shows a very crowed market place which some people find uncomfortable. Not everyone enjoys being with so many people being close together. To be inclusive, markets also need quiet spaces for resting, and facilities that support people with physical and sensory disabilities. 

The best way to achieve an inclusive market place is to begin with community consultation – the first step in all placemaking. 

Placemaking Europe has an extensive toolbox of placemaking guides and manuals and is worth browsing. The toolbox begins with three key elements; know your community is the first step.

 

Human centred design is for humans

A man in a blue shirt is wearing virtual reality goggles and is holding a controller in his hand. This is part of exploring Human centred design Almost all designing is done for human use. Even designs for animals and plants link back to human use or human benefit in one way or another. So based on that premise, all design is human centred design. Well, that is one way to define it. 

In the world of technology the key question for human centred design approach is, what are people doing? Not, what can the technology do? Dr Peter Schumacher reminds us in a video below that humans were creating things for themselves in the Stone Age. However, digital technology isn’t crafted by hand like a stone axe where the maker is often the user. With artificial intelligence, technology can do amazing things. But are they the things that humans want?

Based on the Stone Age definition, Schumacher says human centred design is something we’ve been doing forever. From the moment we could, we’ve been making things we could use. We were creating technology for a purpose, for something we wanted to do. But technology, and the way we interact with it, is getting more complicated.

We are at a point where technology and the environment we live in is creating problems. Schumacher says that finding out what’s going on with humans and their relationship to technology is the key focus. It’s putting human back into the centre of the technology rather than saying what the technology can do.

So, you start with the question, “what are people doing?” This is followed by “what does the technology need to do in that context?” Then there is the question of what’s the right technology?

Human Centred Design Group

The Human Centred Design Lab at University of South Australia is focused on developing methods for the design of objects, environments, and systems for human use. They take a collaborative and trans-disciplinary approach to create products for human use. The Human Centred Design Group is a research centre for interactive and virtual environments. The video below explains a bit more and they invite other collaborators.

Also see their Design Clinic brings together researchers, industry and end users for co-design in healthcare. The Design Clinic can capture ideas and designs for new products, systems and services vital to the health and wellbeing sectors. 

 

Future of tourism should be accessible

While the tourism industry thinks “accessible tourism” is for a separate type of customer, the concept of equity and inclusion will remain elusive. Assumptions and biases show up in our language, and those who are on the wrong end of these biases are the ones to call it out. Ryan Smith called out this bias when he saw a Tourism Australia infographic depicting the future of tourism and made his own infographic. 

The Tourism Australia infographic depicts six strands, adventure, wellness, youth, agritourism, accessible, and events. The bias is in the assumption that the five other strands aren’t going to be accessible. However, the graphic shows sustainability and Indigenous culture across all six of the strands.

Tourism Australia's infographic showing accessible tourism as a separate entity.
Tourism Australia’s view of the Future of Tourism

Ryan Smith reproduced the infographic to bring the concepts into the 21st Century. The five strands are depicted as resting on three key elements: Accessible, Indigenous, Sustainable. He also replaced the photographs with icons for an easier read.

Ryan Smith's version showing Accessible as part of all other types of tourism.
Ryan Smith’s version showing Accessible as part of all other types of tourism.

This is a good example of exposing biases. It also shows why we should involve all stakeholders in publicity and promotion. That’s what makes co-design a good thing for everyone and for business. 

Sports facilities for whole communities

Artist impression of new home for Matildas and also the whole community..
Photo courtesy Football Victoria

Sports facilities are moving beyond a changing room and narrow benches for spectators. Larger sports facilities are being designed for whole communities, not just sports teams. It has to be a social, economic and environmental investment. Belinda Goh from Populous provides some insights into the design processes behind two case studies. They cover cultural diversity, connection to country and including women in the design of sports facilities. 

The focus of Belinda Goh’s presentation for the NSW Office of Sport webinar was two case studies. The designs were underpinned with a universal design approach using extensive community engagement strategies. Co-creation and co-design were essential to the success of the designs. 

Goh explained that sports facilities should integrate community and grassroots activities with these projects. She uses examples of major professional sports teams bringing women into elite sports. So she is talking beyond standard design thinking to deliberately designing women into these facilities. But this made for more inclusive facilities overall. 

Goh discusses how beginning with a focus on including women has matured into an approach for all Populous’ designs. It is about being more inclusive, equitable and universal in their approach. She says it also about going beyond access codes to making people feel like they belong. 

Considering culture

In a second case study she discusses the new multi-use sports facility on the mid north coast of NSW. This project posed some additional challenges. It involved delving into the “why” of the project and significant community engagement. The area has a high Indigenous population as well as the largest Sikh population outside India. 

Apart from consulting with sports organisations, they talked with people from arts, youth, and the nearby high school among others. In considering the culture of the spaces they also included the concepts of universal design and access to all spaces. 

Belinda Goh’s presentation is engaging and worth a look in the video below. 

There is more on the ABC news website about the Matilda’s new home. Well, not so much a new home but a first home. The facility will also house a sports science centre, a gym and recovery rooms. 

Gym equipment designed for disability

A team of industrial designers have used a universal design approach to creating gym equipment. Their paper explains their process, but more importantly, there are images of various designs for aerobic equipment. A great addition to any gym but essential for disability sports organisations. 

The title of the paper is, Development of Aerobic Exercise Equipment Using Universal Design: Treadmill and Arm Ergometer. 

 

Inclusive Victoria – the plan

Front cover of the Inclusive Victoria state plan. The Victorian State Disability Plan has a great introduction that includes language and terminology. It acknowledges there is no one right, or universal way to conceptualise disability. That’s because people perceive disability in culturally specific ways. Some people are proud to identify themselves as disabled, whereas others don’t want their disability to define them. Similarly, many autistic and neurodiverse people don’t see autism as a disability. They just see autism at a different way of interacting with the world. The State Disability Plan 2022-2026 is titled, Inclusive Victoria. 

From the introduction

Here is a nicely worded section from the introduction on language:

“Language is a powerful tool for changing community attitudes,
promoting inclusion and fostering disability pride. Throughout
history, people with disability have fought for changes to
language that reflect their human rights. We know language
is always changing, and we recognise that words are powerful
and have different meaning for different people. We recognise
that people with disability have different preferences regarding
how they describe their disability.”

This introduction explains how language is used throughout the document. It highlights the real importance language plays in community attitudes towards people with disability. A good example for other government documents and policies that are based on a marginalised group. 

The plan contains facts and figures about the prevalence of disability and other statistics. The international, national, state and local government obligations are laid out in a straightforward table format. The key elements of the plan are:

      1. Inclusive communities: Changing attitudes, transport, digital inclusion, sport and tourism.
      2. Health, housing and wellbeing: Health, mental health housing, NDIS, children and families.
      3. Fairness and Safety: Emergencies, advocacy, abuse and neglect, justice system, and gender identity.
      4. Opportunity and pride: Education, employment, voice and leadership, pride and recognition. 

Systemic reform

Most disability plans are action plans. This document includes systemic reform which should underpin actions and outcomes. The six systemic reforms are listed as:

      1. Co-design with people with disability
      2. Aboriginal self-determination
      3. Intersectional approaches
      4. Accessible communications and universal design
      5. Disability confident and inclusive workforces’
      6. Effective data and outcomes reporting

Inclusive Victoria is nicely presented with relatively plain language throughout. 

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