Rolling Rains Report:

National Institute on Recreation Inclusion (NIRI) Conference - Sept 8 -11, 2005

The National Institute on Recreation Inclusion (NIRI) will hold its national conference from September 8 -11, 2005 in La Quinta, California.

For conference information visit NIRI.

From the web site:

Get the most current information on recreation inclusion at the premier inclusion institute. Sessions for professionals, educators, students, advocates, parents, therapists, and others seeking:

The Silver Tsunami: A Graphical Depiction

Global social policy and practice will increasingly be affected by the aging of the Baby Boomer generation. This graph from the Trace Center assists in visualizing the trend.

Source:
http://trace.wisc.edu/docs/function-aging/

Disability as a Function of Age

There is a confluence of interests between those who acquire a disability and those who do so through the process of aging. This chart from "U.S. Census Bureau Report on Americans with Disabilities: 1994-95" summarizes.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau Report on Americans with Disabilities: 1994-95, P70-61 (August 1997)
Based on Survey of Income and Program Participation, Oct. 1994-Jan. 1995

Jim Marston @ UC Santa Barbara

Wayfinding is a subject of much study in the area of architecture and design. Travel, either for business or leisure, is one extended act of wayfinding. Travel with a disability adds complexity to wayfinding and Jim Marston is one researcher who has undertaken a thorough study of the issue.

Further Reading:

"Measuring Accessiibility for People with a Disability"
http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~marstonj/PAPERS/2003_GA_C&M.pdf

"Towards an Accessible City"http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~marstonj/DIS/OVERVIEW.html

The European Institute on Design and Disability

The founding philosophy of the Institute has always been embedded in design-for-all, a philosophy which aims to improve the life of everyone through design.

”Good design enables, bad design disables”. That is the motto of the European Design for All declaration adopted on 9 May 2004 in Stockholm.

EIDD is a voluntary organisation. It is the 'umbrella' for national organisations whose members include architects, product, graphic and interior designers as well as professionals concerned with rehabilitation.

http://www.design-for-all.org/

from the EIDD web site:

EIDD is a founding member of the European Disability Forum, EDF, and is closely involved with many of its activities. Many of our members are also involved at several levels with the work of the European Commission.

There are national organisations in:

• Belgium
• Denmark
• Finland
• Germany
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Italy
• Norway
• Spain
• Sweden
• Portugal
• UK
• The Netherlands

Universal Design in the EU @ ProAsoultions

Universal Design - Design for All in Europe - has a longstanding champion in Francesc Aragall. His consultancy, ProAsolutions, offers a broad set of services for those in receptive tourism pursuing a strategy of inclusive destination development.

From the web site:

ProAsolutions is an Accessibility and Design for All consultancy firm. It collaborates with administrations, companies and organisations at European level, so that public spaces, products and services are adapted to the needs that include the user’s diversity.

The principal mission of ProAsolutions is to contribute to the development of a more open and democratic society where we all can participate and enjoy a better quality of life individually.

The creation of ProAsolutions, S.L., is the result of the company’s values and hence its double-barrelled name. On the one hand Pro, i.e. in favour of, and the letter A standing for ALL and, on the other hand, Proa, i.e. the front section of a ship, that makes the way.

The professional team that makes up ProAsolutions is formed by architects, engineers, graphic and industrial designers, computer experts and administration personnel. The multidisciplinary nature of this team allows us to tackle projects with greater efficiency in various fields.

Leading his team is Francesc Aragall – an expert in design for all and internationally renowned – he is the ideological soul of ProAsolutions and is a further guarantee of the quality production output of this consultancy firm.

http://www.proasolutions.com/eng/index.html

Universal Design in Practice

Several studies are underway to measure the real impact of Universal Design - beyond anecdote and case studies. Universal Design in Practice ( UDiP) is one such project. Housed at Georgia Tech and funded by NIDDR it is officially titles, This 3-year NIDRR-funded project is officially titled "Analyzing Universal Design Resource Needs for practitioners in industry and government."

For more information see:
http://www.isye.gatech.edu/lhci/udip/contents/introduction.php

D21 Closing Address

From Susan Szenasy, Metropolis Editor in Chief's D21 Closing Address:

"The time is coming for building that road to a design that no longer needs to call itself "sustainable" or "universal" - just good, need-oriented, environmentally sensitive design. Just design. Design with justice at its core."

For the complete text see;
http://www.designfor21st.org/pg.cfm?nid=313&l=en

D21 Address by Jean-Pierre Gonnot

Jean-Pierre Gonnot, Chief, Inclusive Development Section, of the
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs addressed the conference as follows:

Ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, let me state that the United Nations Secretariat attaches great importance to be one of the co-sponsors of this conference. The values that the concept of Universal Design encapsulates, its potential contribution to social and economic development as well as the dimension of inclusiveness that it adds to it, have never been more relevant.

Some of you may have heard that the international community has begun to negotiate an international convention on the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities.

I would like to take the opportunity I have to address you today to share with you the vision and hope that drive this process and provide you with information about the process itself that, I believe, is relevant to your own work...

For the entire text see: http://www.designfor21st.org/pg.cfm?nid=317&l=en

D21 Opening Address by Jim Sandhu

Professor Jim S. Sandhu, Conference Co-Chair, was unable to attend. This talk was delivered by Deborah Lisi-Baker, Executive Director, Vermont Center for Independent Living, USA

It is my profoundest regret that I cannot be with you. My doctors have advised me that I should not travel. For a perpetual traveller from the age of five this injunction is a defining moment for me to face a new reality. Nevertheless, given the many friends who are attending the conference I shall be in Rio in spirit- with trumpets and trombones- egging you to come up with an agenda for the 21st Century.

For me Design for the 21st Century is about sustainability, social responsibility and civic rights. To put it bluntly, this conference is about designing for our future survival. Above all we have to recognize that we do not inherit the earth from our parents, but instead borrow it from our children.

How can design overcome poverty and environmental degradation? This is the starting point for the relatively recent but logical marriage of universal design and sustainability and the very real challenges this provides practitioners...

For the entire text see: http://www.designfor21st.org/pg.cfm?nid=315&l=en

ASSETS 2005 - October 9 - 12, 2005

ASSETS 2005 takes place in Baltimore, Maryland, USA October 9-12. The conference website is now up. Full details and the Call For Participation are online at:

http://www.acm.org/sigaccess/assets05/

The ASSETS series of conferences is aimed at providing a
technical forum for presenting and disseminating innovative
research results that address the use of computing and
information technologies to help persons with disabilities.

The conference program covers a multitude of topics
relevant to assistive technologies and universal
accessibility and is structured around technical papers,
poster sessions, demonstrations, panels, the doctoral
consortium, and a host of social events.

Transgenerational Housing

Transgenerational Design Matters is a non-profit education and research organization, which advocates and advances the design of products and environments that accommodate the widest range of ages and abilities. See their site for exmples of the innovations in transgenerational housing that will increasing transform the travel and hospitality industry.

A Disability Policy Primer for Funders

In the travel and hospitality field service is paramount. In order to provide quality service it is important to know what customers want and what they need.

Paradoxically, a misplaced certitude about your customer can be a major cause of difficulty. It is an obstacle to customer satisfaction. Quite simply it is prejudice.

The conundrum is the fact the temporarily able-bodied persons (TABs) do not know that they do not know what customers with disabilities want and need.

Of course, there is no one answer for all people with disabilities - not even for all people sharing the same disability. People are individuals. But there are certain widely held world-views -- some would say cultures -- among people with disabilities. Those who provide travel and hospitality services to this market must be familiar with them as part of the basic set of cultural competencies necessary to work oin today's world.

One article that provides a good explanation of the history and texture of the disability community in the US is found at the Disability Funders Network. It is entitled, and is well worth reading.

See:
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