Author: Jane Bringolf

Home for Good

A vase of purple and white flowers sits on a small table with a cup of tea, an open book and a pair of glasses.What is a home? It’s so much more than a shelter from the elements. The concept of home gives us a place in the world. It underpins our identity, our relationships and our understanding of who we are and where we fit in the scheme of things. It is intrinsic to the human condition. Yet it is overlooked in the development of policies to support housing provision.

Home for Good is a policy brief “intended to restore the idea of home as both a psychological and social asset to our discourse on housing, rather than just a financial asset. It is specifically concerned with the role of the home as we age, positing that successful ageing is dependent on a person’s access to a home that provides security, community, safety and autonomy”. The policy brief poses a policy framework for a national approach to providing older Australians with homes that meet their social, emotional, environmental, and psychological needs.

The policy brief says nothing about the design of homes, but it does tap into the real meaning of home for many older people – the social equity. Hence the reticence to move to age segregated living. The article can be downloaded from the Analysis & Policy Observatory. It’s by Emma Dawson and Myfan Jordan of Per Capita. Easy to read.

Also see 2013 qualitative Australian research about housing design and older people, Chasing ‘The Great Australian Dream’: Definition of and “Ideal Home’ among Baby Boomers. It’s interesting to not that in less than ten years our terminology has changed from “the elderly” and “the aged” to “older Australians”.

Extract from Abstract: “The study reveals that ‘ageing in place’, is a preferred option for the aged. This raises questions as to how well the housing system and neighbourhood environments are able to support ageing in place, and what aging factors should be taken into consideration when designing Baby boomer’s home to facilitate health and wellbeing. Therefore, this research designed a qualitative approach to investigate Australian Baby Boomers homes around Queensland, predominantly in the Brisbane area, using semi-structured interviews and observations.”

Christianity and inclusive education

The cupola of a Christian church.Supporting concepts of inclusion is one thing; putting it into practice is another. “The Challenge” is the title of a book chapter about including children with disability in Christian schools and giving them access to a Christian education. An interesting discussion about faith and inclusion using a case study to illustrate points. The discussion gives yet another voice to the inclusion discourse‍.

Abstract  Christian educators advocate that faith and learning should be holistic and integral to Christian education, but is this available for all students? The inclusion of students with disabilities does not have a strong record of implementation within Christian Schools. This chapter briefly recounts the history that led to the legislation mandating inclusion, and discusses the very real issues that concern teachers and parents today. The question posed is: should children with disabilities be enrolled in Christian schools? Responding in the affirmative, nine research-based strategies are described in detail, which provide solutions to the challenges faced in inclusive classrooms. Children with disabilities are capable of learning; and in order to receive a holistic Christian education they need to be included in Christian schools.

“The Challenge”, written by Marion Shields, is a chapter in Revealing Jesus in the learning environment:Experiences of Christian educators. It is open access. 

Interior design for brain trauma

A set of technical drawings with a set square and pens sit on a table top. Dementia and autism have received a lot of attention in the design world, but what about people with brain injury? No doubt some of the design solutions are similar. Using a human centred approach an exploratory study looked at developing a prototype home that could address common symptoms of people traumatic brain injury.

The idea is to minimise negative feelings and behaviours in the design. For example, designing something difficult to use can cause frustration leading to aggression. The article goes through the common behaviours and how to design for them.

Artist view of an exercise room with a big picture of a forest.
Image from the article depicting an exercise room.

The article draws together relevant health information with interior design ideas using person-centred design principles. The researchers developed three residential spaces to address common symptoms. These were and exercise room, a re-regulation room, and a quiet meditative space. The strength of the designs is they do not call attention to differing ability. That’s what universal design is all about. 

The title of the article is, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy and the Built Environment. It lists design measures for different symptoms. The article is technical in parts, but the background, findings and conclusions provide some interesting reading. Also good for those involved in Specialist Disability Accommodation.  

From the abstract

This formative exploratory study looked at person-centred design techniques for a person with brain injury. The person-centred design method used for this study was based on a two-tiered reductionist approach. The first tier was to identify
common symptoms and concerns from the literature. This information provided specific symptoms that were addressed through brainstorming ideations.

This method of understanding a health condition through its symptoms, and then
designing for those symptoms can extend the practice of interior design by providing probable solutions to specific health symptoms, thereby including designers into the healthcare team.

The health condition symptoms became the variables of design, and each symptom was assessed through additional data obtained from the literature for environmental causality, mitigation, or accommodation. Once the outcomes were determined, each design implication was assessed for its relationship to specific design actions.

Does universal design cost more in buildings?

xxxSupporters of universal design have long argued that it costs little, if any more, to make buildings inclusive and accessible. However, myths about cost remain and are perpetuated across the construction industry. A feasibility study by HCMA Architecture + Design for the Rick Hansen Foundation in Canada makes another attempt at the argument. In their report, they compare the Foundation’s certification features with Canada’s building code. Then they determine the cost increase by designing to the Foundation’s certification.

The key finding is similar to others. The average new construction cost increase is estimated to be an additional 1% of the construction in some cases. In others, there is no cost. But there is more to this research which reports on three certification levels and several design elements. The other key point is that the building code alone does not make buildings fully accessible. 

There are lots of graphs and drawings and it looks very technical. There are case studies across public, commercial and residential properties. This is a major piece of work at 80 pages with another 200 pages for appendices. Bottom line: the Canadian and Ontario building codes do not meet the needs of people with disability, and accessibility can be achieved with minimal cost impact with thoughtful/universal design. 

There is a very readable (simplified) news article in the Canadian Architect magazine, titled, Inclusive and Accessible Buildings Can be Constructed at No Additional Cost.  Or you can download the full research report, Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification Cost Comparison Feasibility Study.

 

Inclusive Towns: business, tourism and employment

Front cover of the Inclusive Towns Guide.The Inclusive Towns project was about increasing the participation and inclusion of people with disability as customers and employees in small business. The project was a partnership between the City of Greater Bendigo, Loddon Shire & Mount Alexander Shire in Victoria. Initially, the project was supported by a website, but this has been replaced by the Inclusive Towns Guide. The booklet has information business, tourism and employment. Three key areas are inclusive communication, physical environment and disability awareness. The guide is about:

• Why Inclusive Towns is important for your business
• Your legal responsibilities
• Disability statistics
• Tips on how your business can be more accessible and inclusive
• How you can use the Inclusive Towns logo
• Where you can go to get more information

A wheelchair user enters the frame on the left hand side. The background is a blurred out cafe setting.

You can find more articles on accessible and inclusive tourism on this website. 

 

Autism and cultural diversity

A brightly coloured logo in the style of a jig saw puzzle for Autism Awareness.People with autism are speaking out, and we are learning more about neurodiversity through practice and research. Consequently, it’s time to look at who is doing the practice and research. Is the family’s cultural background taken into account? If so, do researchers and practitioners know how to adapt? A journal article from the UK sheds a little light on the subject. It’s open access, but you have to click on the link, BAME report 2018 revised.docx.

The title of the paper is, Autism in Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Communities: A Report on The First Autism Voice UK Symposium. 

Abstract: 

Little is known about the way autism is interpreted and accepted among the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) populations in the United Kingdom (UK). This report summarises a symposium on autism in the UK BAME community in 2018 organised by Autism Voice UK, Participatory Autism Research Collective (PARC) and the Critical Autism/Disabilities Studies Research Group (CADS) at London South Bank University (LSBU).

The stance a family or community take about a condition like autism is influenced by their cultural background. The aims of the symposium were to highlight different perspectives about autism in BAME communities and to preserve the cultural dignity of the community in supporting autistic members. Beliefs about autism, diagnosis, acceptance and support for autistic people from a specific cultural perspective of BAME communities must be cautiously interpreted by autism professionals because beliefs vary among different cultural groups.

Thematic analysis of feedback from participants yielded the following foci. Firstly, cultural, ethnic and religious sensitivities were important to participants who felt that these were often ignored by non-BAME professionals. Secondly, the need for collaboration to improve autism awareness within the community and understanding by professionals of the intersectionality between autism and identity in BAME families was prioritised.

Thirdly, issues around feelings of stigma were common, but delegates felt that these were not well understood beyond people identifying as BAME. An action plan was created which highlighted raising public awareness through community engagement, improving access to information for parents, and culturally aware autism education for professionals and BAME communities.

Staying vigilant on web accessibility

A pair of hands holding a tablet with a computer screen in the background. Staying vigilant on web accessibility.Digital infrastructure accessibility and content accessibility are not the same things. Infrastructure covers things like elements that show up on every page and anything related to navigation. Content is anything that can be updated and uploaded. So that’s text, documents, articles, photos and videos. We all need to stay vigilant on web accessibility.

A key point in an informative article from Sheri Byrne-Haber is:

Every single time the content is updated, content accessibility should be reassessed. 

This is particularly relevant if staff or third parties are free to upload content onto a site, or are providing content. The other key point is:

Accessibility is never one-off and done.

Byrne-Haber uses a case study to show how organisations can be left vulnerable to lawsuits if they don’t check regularly for accessibility. Webpages can be accessible today, but next week they might not be because new content has not been assessed for accessibility.

The title of the article is, What’s more expensive than getting sued over inaccessibility?. 

 

Designing inclusive surveys

Picture of a hand holding a pen and filling in boxes on a survey formWe all know that no matter how objective we try to be, biases exist. Researchers try to avoid them when they design surveys. But it isn’t easy as bias is by nature invisible to the owner. So a bit of help is handy. Using a screening survey to hire people can disadvantage people from diverse backgrounds for several reasons. Most researchers know the usual pitfalls, but perhaps not those relating to ethnic diversity and cognitive differences. Or for people with disability. A really helpful part of this short article is the reference list. Here are just two items:

A Catalog of Biases in Questionnaires includes sources of bias, issues with questionnaire design, and problems with wording, language use, and formatting, plus more. There’s lots of examples too. By Choi, B. C., & Pak, A. W. (2005)

Another good one is about integrating universal design into questionnaires. The focus is on people with learning disabilities. Of course, this also suits people who find reading English as a second language difficult as well. So the authors recommend that instead of making accommodations for people with learning disabilities, the questionnaire should be designed to suit all participants. Lots of good information here. By Goegan, et al, (2018). 

The title of the article is,  Removing Bias from a Hiring Survey for a Diverse Applicant Pool.  

 

Learning Styles: Is it a myth?

Two pairs of women sit at a table with paper and pens. One of the pair looks to be explaining something to the other.The idea of learning styles is something many of us have encountered. But is there evidence to support the application of learning styles? Perhaps in the past it was helpful, but looking forward and using the principles of universal design in learning (UDL), perhaps not. Whether you are doing a webinar, an e-learning program or a scientific seminar it’s worth taking a moment to consider the differences in your audience. A paper from Andrea Antoniuk discusses many aspects of learning and how we can move forward with UDL and away from the traditional learning styles concept.

The title of the article is Learning Styles: Moving Forward from the Myth. In the conclusions Antoniuk says that there is no valid reliable tool to support learning styles. “Despite being debunked, learning styles remain a thriving industry throughout the world, as many books, research studies, education courses, and assessments maintain the concept of learning styles. As a growing number of teachers utilize evidence-based practices, learning styles are being replaced by universal approaches, community building, cognitive science, and motivational practices.”

 

Ageing and the Australian dream

An older man stands by a post with his arms folded looking a little puzzled.. He is wearing a shirt and has his pullover tied around his waistLooking at housing through a typology lens, Matthew Hutchinson discusses the issue of suitable housing for an ageing population. He claims that segregated and congregated living is unlikely to serve the upcoming older cohorts. Instead he poses the idea of “salt and peppering” suitable housing for older people in developments. There is a mention of accessible features in the research, but ideas such as having stairs to stay fit are questionable. A useful text giving an Australian context, but lacking is the concept that all new homes can be designed for ageing in place, at any age, and also provide a safe workplace for care staff and family carers. However, there is much more useful discussion in this chapter.

Hutchinson’s book chapter is titled, The Australian dream or a roof over my head. An ecological view of housing for an ageing Australian population. 

The chapter is a result of a PhD research project and can be found in, Designing for Health & Wellbeing, Home, City, Society.  You might be able to freely access some of the text via Google Books. 

Editor’s note: Ideas such as salt and peppering in communities takes us back to the proportion argument. Without a register of accessible homes that means they will disappear into the general milieu of the marketplace. Having stairs to stay fit sounds good, but we can’t put off ageing for ever. Besides, accidents and chronic illness can happen at any age to render a person immobile either temporarily or permanently. That’s not the optimum time to think about moving.