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Public toilets by universal design

We all have to go sometime. Accessible public toilets have their own Australian Standard. It spells out how to design it and what fittings go where. But an accessible toilet doesn’t solve all our toileting issues. It’s time take a universal design approach and re-think the business of public toilets. That’s what Katherine Webber will be discussing at the upcoming Universal Design Conference.

Thinking more broadly than people with limited mobility is important if we are to be inclusive. Katherine Webber’s Conference paper explains where the design of public toilets are letting some people down. She discusses the taboos, policy and legal barriers in several countries. Katherine lists the many issues people found with public toilets and they go beyond those of wheelchair accessible toilets. She proposes that a universal design approach be taken to the design and placement of public toilets.

Katherine recently visited Canberra to talk to policy makers how our public toilets should better. ABC News has written a short piece on her visit and some of the findings from her Churchill Fellowship research.

The title of Katherine’s paper is, Everyone, everywhere, everyday: A case for expanding universal design to public toilets. She will also lead a discussion group at the lunchtime Table Topics session at the conference.

You can find more peer reviewed papers from the upcoming conference in Melbourne 17-18 May 2021 on the Griffith University website

Good Design for Social Housing

Good design for social housing creates neighbourhoods where people feel they belong. The NSW Government has produced a four page brochure outlining their goals for social housing. Wellbeing, Belonging, Value and Collaboration are keywords. There is no explicit mention of universal design principles in this document, but there is in the one that links with it. This is the one on dwelling requirements for good design in social housing.

The more detailed document of dwelling requirements leads with legislation and codes. It follows with Universal Design Principles. They require all new stock to apply a minimum level of Silver as outlined in the Livable Housing Design Guidelines. Each development may require a percentage of Gold level as well.

The document goes on to provide unit and room dimensions. If the NSW Government can design Silver and even Gold into these relatively small areas then everyone else can too. There’s more detail in this 5 page document that covers siting, gardens, utilities and more.

The documents are titled, Good Design for Social Housing, and Dwelling Requirements.

The NSW Government Architect has also introduced a universal design approach into its overarching document, Better Placed. While the term “universal design” is not used explicitly, it is inherent in the way the document is written.

2023 Update

The 2022 edition of the National Construction Code includes the new Livable Housing Design Standard. The accessible features are based on the Silver Level of the Livable Housing Design Guidelines. There are two handbooks: one for the minimum requirements (silver) and enhanced features (gold).

As of May 2023 NSW and WA remain uncommitted to adopting the new standard into their building code for mainstream housing.

Accessible tourism: From charity to business

Hotels in Australia are required to have a percentage of rooms that offer accessible accommodation. Hotel managers generally refer to these rooms as “disabled rooms” and think the job of access is done and dusted. Little thought is given to other hotel facilities. This is where legislation brings compliance but not inclusion. It is still a matter of non-disabled people doing “special” things for disabled people. A charity approach is no longer good business.

A book chapter explores the issues reflecting on equity in terms of sustainable development. The aim of sustainable development is to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of future generations.

The author considers different approaches to the issue of social participation. Charities began the “special” recreational activities and social enterprises developed them further. The commercial uptake of these activities still has a way to go. The concept of “reverse integration” is introduced and discussed.

The title of the book chapter is, Accessible and equitable tourism services for travelers with disabilities: From a charitable to a commercial footing. It is free to download from ResearchGate.

Abstract

Until recently, charities and nonprofits have been the primary providers of recreational services for persons with disabilities (PwD). Increased pressure for a self-sustaining financial existence, as well as the acknowledgment of the value that the market of PwD has, have led to such services increasingly finding their way in competitive commercial environments as well. The chapter traces the development of inclusive holidays for persons with and without visual impairment based on sighted guiding from the historical changes in the understanding of the concept of disability as well as the provision of recreational and tourism services for PwD. The author argues that reverse integration – the approach that these holidays follow – is a viable and efficient way of offering equitable tourism services, particularly when businesses embrace social entrepreneurship. The chapter is built on the assumption that offering accessible and equitable tourism products for PwD is an integral element of corporate sustainability and responsibility in the tourism industry.

Citation: Tomej, K. (2019). Accessible and equitable tourism services for travelers with disabilities: From a charitable to a commercial footing. In D. Lund-Durlacher, V. Dinica, D. Reiser, & M. Fifka (Eds.), Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility in Tourism: A Transformative Concept (pp. 65-78). Springer Nature

UD, UDL, Accessibility and Ableism

Access to information during the COVID-19 pandemic became even more problematic for some users as everything went online. So what can UD, UDL and Accessibility do to help to combat ableism?

An article by John L. O’Neill discusses Universal Design, Universal Design for Learning and Inclusive Design. In this context, the concept of Inclusive Design has a focus on the digital world. He covers the history of each, much of which will be known to UD followers. O’Neill argues that all three can be combined in innovative ways to ensure access to information. This is logical because each has the same goal – inclusion. He uses a case study where he merges the UD principle of perceptible information, the tenet of multiple means of representation from UDL, and adaptive systems from Inclusive Design. This perspective is given the title of “Abilities Design”.

O’Neill claims ableism underpins barriers and that undoing ableism is not a form of charity. Legislation that requires access and accessibility does little to change ableist attitudes.

The title of the article is, Accessibility for All Abilities: How Universal Design, Universal Design for Learning, and Inclusive Design Combat Inaccessibility and Ableism.

Editor’s Note: I am not sure that inventing another design category based on inclusion takes us any further forward. However, it is an example of how designers new to inclusive concepts can use existing frameworks to help their design process.

From the Abstract

Discussions about accessibility surged at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as people became more dependent on accessing information from the web. This article will explore different disability models to understand the oppression of people with disabilities. It will examine how the different principles and methods of Universal Design, Universal Design for Learning, and Inclusive Design can be combined in innovative ways to ensure that all citizens have access to information without barriers.

The kerbside and mobility

A streetscape of the future with street plantings, outdoor eating and a driverless car in a 30 kph zone. — Image from the whitepaper depicting a future street

The idea of smart cities, driverless cars, and artificial intelligence is propelling us into the unknown. But there are some things we can predict. Everyday things will be seen in a new light. The kerbside for example. Other than kerb ramps most of us don’t think about the kerbside and mobility. But somebody else has.

The Future of Place webpage has a link to a report that looks at the Future Ready Kerbside. The publication by Uber and WSP explores what the future might hold in the context of shared mobility and liveable cities.

The kerb is the intersection between the pedestrian area and the road. How space is allocated each side of the kerb dictates who can access these spaces. The kerbside is not passive infrastructure so we need to prepare for its future use. It needs careful management by city leaders.

There are ten recommendations in the Executive Summary of the report and they include:

- Co-design the vision for places in partnership with the community, businesses and governments.
- Move from general parking to pick-up/drop-off for people and goods to improve kerbside productivity and access to local places.
- Take a people-and-place first approach so that new mobility is an enabler and not a detractor to realising the co-designed vision.
- Street design guidelines must get ahead of new mobility and proactively focus on the best possible outcomes for people and places.
- Prioritise walking to access local places, along with transit and
  micro-mobility, supported by funding for local infrastructure.

The full report is titled, Place and Mobility: Future Ready Kerbside and has more technical detail. Both the full report and the executive summary have interesting infographics and images depicting how the future might look.

The right to participate and co-design

How do you include people in decisions that will affect them when it’s not easy for them to participate? It’s a chicken and egg situation. So, asking people with disability to contribute takes more than a survey or a community meeting. It needs a much more thoughtful process. Janice Rieger has some thoughts on the right to participate and co-design polices and processes.

Janice Rieger discusses the issues in relation to the next National Disability Strategy. Her briefing paper is titled, Right to Participate: Co-designing Disability Policies in Australia. Focusing on process rather than the end product sets the framework to reach a shared understanding. Her three recommendations for co-designing in practice are:

1. 1. Focus on abilities not disabilities
  2. Employ expertise to help
  3. Value the importance of creative practice

Public sector co-designing is an emerging field of practice. It provides the opportunity for creativity and innovative ideas. Reframing participatory engagement through a social justice lens takes us towards a co-designing process.

Editorial Introduction

“We are entering a new era in Australia as we envision a new disability strategy to replace the current national disability strategy (2010–2020). During this transition, we can reflect on and recognise the changing disability landscape in Australia and ensure that we create a just and inclusive Australian society. Recent consultations and reports have called for people with a disability to directly engage in designing the new disability strategy in Australia, but what does that entail, and how will the rights of people with disabilities be upheld throughout this process? This brief describes public sector co-designing practice—an emerging practice aiming to open up new trajectories for policy development through a co-design process and to provide best practice recommendations for the next disability strategy in Australia.”

Evolving inclusive design is about desirability

Inclusive design is about desirability. Accessibility is part of it – useability for everyone. The concept of inclusive design in UK had a focus on product design, but it has moved on – evolved. A short film, Evolving Inclusive Design explains how the concept has evolved from product design to web design, to service design and then to system design.

In the video Hua Dong emphasizes that inclusive design is important for everyone. She says: “As designers, we can design with people for people, design with disability for ability, design with old people for young people and design with diversity for unity.”

Hua Dong explains the concepts in a straightforward way in the film. In the earlier years the focus was on user capabilities. It then moved to an interactive focus and design became about the process of using things. User diversity introduces concepts of user experience. The video is 14 minutes but worth the watch.

Although there is a particular focus on product and service design, many points can be transferred to the work with architecture.

The video is a great resource for design students and people new to the concepts.

Inclusive design and universal design the same goals. However, there are some who would argue nuanced differences because they come from different histories. Regardless, we need to get on with the job rather than debating terminology. Besides, if universal/inclusive/design-for-all is also about diversity, we can have diverse ways of expressing the concept. The key is to design for the diversity of the population.

Why do we need UD features in housing?

To answer the question: because it will benefit all Australians. Universal design features are easy to implement, and largely cost neutral. The two Royal Commissions related to aged care and disability care found that inaccessible housing prevented people from remaining at home and living independently. That’s why we need UD features in housing. However, there are a lot of myths and misconceptions in this space.

Universal design is about creating resilient, flexible and sustainable housing. These features will increase general amenity and allow people to age in place. For people with a disability, it will allow them to live independently.

It has to be regulated across the housing building system so that the process stays efficient. There are too many stakeholders to consider in one-off exceptions. Basic access features are now included in the 2022 edition of the National Construction Code. To date, not all states have adopted these features.

Jane Bringolf addresses some of the common myths and misunderstandings in her article, Why do we need universal design features in all new housing? Myths and comments include:

- - only a few people need it
  - I’ll worry about it when the time comes
  - it costs too much
  - it will look like a hospital

Why homebuyers don’t get universal design

“We will build it if they ask for it” say the builders. But do they want home buyers to ask for it? And would they build it? The new home selling process relies on capturing the client’s personal and emotional commitment to the home before they sign the contract. And how do they do that? By getting them to choose the colours and styles of fixtures and fittings first. Once that happens the client becomes emotionally committed. The sale is made. Too late to consider universal design features – even if customers knew what they were.

This insight comes from an article in Sourceable by Darren Love. The title of the article is, Responsibility before Profit. It critiques the selling methods that builders use in this highly competitive market where cost cutting is part of the process. The article clearly explains why we cannot rely on the mass market housing industry to offer anything more than a choice of colour and upgrades to fixtures and fittings.

Better Apartment Design Standards

The Victorian Government has updated the Better Apartment Design Standards. The aim is to make surrounding neighbourhoods better as well as the dwellings. There is also a section on accessibility at the end. The policy’s main aims are:

1. 1. More green space
  2. Designing for families
  3. More durable and better quality materials
  4. Attractive and safe street frontages

A buyer and renter guide gives a good overview. The information on accessibility is on the last pages and reflects the following:

• A clear opening width of at least 850mm at the entrance to the dwelling and main bedroom.
• A clear path with a minimum width of 1.2 metres that connects the dwelling entrance to the main bedroom, an adaptable bathroom and the living area.
• A main bedroom with access to an adaptable bathroom.
• At least one adaptable bathroom.

Some of the floor plans look to be based on the old Adaptable Housing Standard (AS4299) rather than the more flexible Livable Housing Design standard.

Mental wellness in the workplace

Sitting down for long periods in the workplace could be bad for your mental health. Perhaps that’s one reason working from home is popular – at least some of the time. Putting on the washing, clearing the dishes, or seeing to the dog in between workplace tasks might be the short breaks we need. We need to take mental wellness in the workplace more seriously.

Sitting for prolonged periods is just one factor discussed in an article on the Wellbeing website. There’s some evidence that breaking up excessive sitting with light activity is good for mental wellness. The average employed adult sits for more than nine hours a day.

Solutions include dynamic workstations and encouraging standing during meetings. However, some strategies might be more suited to some than others. While standing can relieve back ache, standing for too long can aggravate it. So all workplace policies need to have worker input and be flexible.

Job autonomy is another factor and may improve the mental health of younger workers. Evidence from the literature shows that improvements in job autonomy can have a positive impact on anxiety and depression. They could be given the opportunity to craft how their job is done.

In the second article in the series, flexible working policies can help reduce work-home conflict. This conflict can be a major source of depression and anxiety. Flexible working policies may include working from home, flexible working hours, job sharing or a compressed working week.

Author: Jane Bringolf

Public toilets by universal design

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