Knowra Universal design Universal design Universal design creates products, services, and environments usable by people with a wide range of abilities from the outset, reducing the need for later adaptation.
Principles of Universal Design : Seven guidelines for designing environments and products for broad usability, developed by a team at North Carolina State University. They turn universal design’s founding idea into criteria such as flexibility, simplicity, and perceptible information.
Curb cut : A ramp cut into a sidewalk curb to connect the sidewalk with the street. Curb cuts support wheelchair access and also help travelers with strollers, luggage, or carts.
Ronald Mace : An American architect and disability-rights advocate who founded the Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University. Mace helped define and popularize universal design as an architectural and product-design approach.
Reasonable accommodation : A necessary, appropriate adjustment that enables a person with a disability to participate or access an opportunity. Accommodations respond to individual needs that a broadly usable design may not anticipate.
Accessibility : The extent to which people with disabilities can access and use places, products, services, and information. Universal design pursues access through initial design choices, while accessibility also includes standards and accommodations.
Accessible web design : The practice of designing websites and digital interfaces so people with disabilities can use them. Digital interfaces apply universal design goals through keyboard access, captions, readable structure, and other features.
Center for Universal Design : A research and education center founded at North Carolina State University to advance universal design. The center produced influential principles and promoted their use across design fields.
Retrofitting : The addition or alteration of features in an existing building, product, or system after its initial design. Universal design aims to prevent avoidable barriers before later alterations become necessary.
Disability : A condition arising from interactions between impairments and barriers that restrict participation in everyday life. Design decisions can create or remove barriers that shape disability in practice.
Wayfinding : The processes and systems people use to orient themselves and navigate through an environment. Clear, redundant cues help people with different sensory and cognitive abilities navigate shared spaces.
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