The Construction of Disability & Health:

Universal Design and Visitability

Universal Design

Craig Ravesloot

Landscape is one means by which people come to know

their ‘home’ (Morley and Robins, 1995). But the

question of course, is always which people landscapes

invite in and which people can find no place in them…

…“power to define” is the power to define what a

landscape is, what it means, who belongs to it and who

belongs in it.

-- Mitchell, 1996

Universal design refers to broad-spectrum ideas meant to produce buildings, products and environments that are inherently accessible to older people, people without disabilities and people with disabilities.

Universal design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design.

–Ron Mace - Wikipedia.com

Definitions

For Your Consideration

• What values do these two spaces reflect in the governments that created them?

Visitability

Dot Nary

One of the five themes of geography is that of human /environment interaction.

Humans modify the environment to meet their needs.

~National Council for Geographic Education, 1984

Visitability & Home Modification

“…most domestic design is premised on the production of dwelling spaces to facilitate use by people without bodily impairment.”

~Imrie, 2004, p. 685

Visitability and Home Modification“You don’t get a chance to see how they live or see stuff that usually people like to use their home as sort of a museum of their lives, their pictures…”

“I feel like I have more what I would call business relationships than personal relationships. “

“I have friends who, I haven’t been to their house for years now because I can’t get into it and …kind of missing out on the functions.”

For Your Consideration • As a society, what home modifications do we typically

make? What ones are made less often?

• What messages do our choices about home modifications send to people who have mobility-related disabilities?

• How do these choices impact the social connectedness of this population?

• How can we encourage different choices?