As New Year's wishes come in from around the world it occurs to me that I hid my hopes for 2008 in the Vision Statement of a paper published last month in the journal of Design for All India. It is part of the article, "Prayaville, Thailand:Becoming a Destination of Choice for Travelers with Disabilities." (For those heading for their maps right now, don't bother, "Prayaville" is a fictional location.)
May more of us live in such a place!
Vision Statement
(This Vision Statement is written in the present tense to express the ideal goals of the project as if they were already reality.)
• Prayaville is a barrier-free city with an affirmative policy of inclusion of people with disabilities (PwD) that is evident in its infrastructure as well as its business and civic cultures.
• Prayaville is a city with a community of citizens, as well as long- and short-term guests with disabilities, who actively participate in civic life through government, business, education, media, and the arts.
• Prayaville is a destination of choice for people with disabilities because it has applied Inclusive Destination Development principles of Universal Design in developing its tourist assets.
• Prayaville has differentiated itself from other tourist destinations while positioning itself within the mainstream tourist route of Thailand and of Southeast Asia.
Meanwhile, real places approach this ideal through the steadfast work of organizations like Adaptive Environments:
http://blog.groundswellcollective.com/2007/07/29/the-institute-for-human-centered-design/
Posted by rollingrains at January 1, 2008 09:51 PM