Rolling Rains Report:

Marc Mendelsohn @ Universal Design Specialists

Some understand the idea of Universal Design - its seven principles and its historical grounding in the civil rights movement. Some understand the growing market demand and have positioned themselves well to provide timely solutions. Still others have the skill and artist's sensibility to distinguish their work with a sense of style. Less have the ability to combine all these. Fewer still have the commitment and passion to shepherd the very idea of Universal Design into new realms.

I am always impressed by those who get the "big picture" about Universal Design. Ideas, like products, have a "life cycle." It takes the right person to launch an idea on a new cycle. I have been privileged to meet several - not surprising since I regularly travel around the world to seek them out! From my short observation it appears that Marc Mendelsohn is one of those people - and he is in my own back yard.

I met Marc, after hearing about him for years and briefly connecting last Spring, at his booth at the Santa Clara, California 2005 Abilities Expo. He has construction, design, and universally designed product retailing experience. He has crated a foundation to assist those needed Universal Design services. And he is opening a new showroom on the San Francisco Penninsula.

Below are links to some of his work:

http://www.universaldesignspecialists.com/

http://www.universaldesignspecialists.com/why.html

http://www.universaldesignspecialists.com/nonprofit.html

Traveling in a Wheelchair Doesn't Have to be Limiting

Darren Hillock located a travelogue on wheelchair travel in South America that was recently published in the Austin Statesman. I especially appreciate how one of the travelers, Pat Broderick, understands herself to be an ambassador for other travelers with disabilities who come after her. We are still enough of a novelty in many places that our individual actions make a big difference. Read about Pat Broderick and Julia Malone at:

http://www.statesman.com/search/content/travel/stories/11/13disabled.html

You can read another version of the story here:

http://www.azstarnet.com/travel/101928

Darren always has something interesting going over at Get Around Guide -- the blog.

A Quote Found on the Gimp Parade

Not only do physically disabled people have experiences which are not available to the able-bodied, they are in a better position to transcend cultural mythologies about the body, because they cannot do things the able-bodied feel they must do in order to be happy, 'normal,' and sane....If disabled people were truly heard, an explosion of knowledge of the human body and psyche would take place.

Tips for Tourism Destination Developers

Save the dates April 24 - 26, 2006 for the National Association of Home Builders event, "Building for Boomers & Beyond: 50+ Housing Symposium 2006."

http://www.nahb.org/meeting_details.aspx?meetingID=1501

The Universal Trails Assessment Process

Some news items are most interesting for the ways that they "talk to each other."

Consider this article on the economic value of eco-tourism. Note that, if mismanagement of the natural heritage of the US continues unabated, exisiting Universal Design solutions such as the Universal Trails Assessment Process created by Beneifical Designs will not be implemented.

inclusive travel

universal design

disability

Update on Universal Design Competition

The Emerging New York Architects Committee (ENYA), AIA NY Chapter, has announced the second biennial international ideas competition to explore issues of universal design and historic rejuvenation in developing a visual / performing arts center on Roosevelt Island. The registration deadline has been extended to December 18, 2005. Visit www.enyacompetitions.org for further information.

http://archinect.com/events/detail.php?id=E2716&act=&grps=grps

Access Tips for Switzerland

Cheryl Imboden's Switzerland & Austria for Visitors offers the following advice on accessible travel in Switzerland: http://europeforvisitors.com/switzaustria/articles/accessible_switzerland.htm

Live Luggage Meets a Universal Design Need

There is a change in the air. I have been scanning the Engadget blog aimlessly recently. It must be "window shopping season" - too late for back-to-school and not quite time to buy holiday gifts.

Unfortunately for my bank account, I found sometyhing that I just must have: Live Luggage!

This innovative luggage system incoporates electic motors in the suitacse wheels powered by a recarchagble lithium on battery to ease travel. Their literature decribes the system as having a "patented Anti-Gravity handle, which places 85% of the weight over the wheels."

I think their marketing department should do up a set with the Rolling Rains Logo and fly me out to test drive them, don't you?

inclusive travel

universal design

disability

Adelaide Airport Gets Universal Design Makeover

From The Advertiser

Access for all in the new terminal
By JESSICA HURT

MAKING Adelaide Airport's new passenger terminal accessible to everyone, especially the disabled, was a major challenge facing the designers. The new facilities, opened to the public over the weekend, demonstrate the world-leading Universal Design principles that should be used in all developments, according to a leading disability standards expert.

Dr Lloyd Walker, the director of NovitaTech, an Australian research and service facility, has identified a number of Universal Design features in the new airport. He was encouraged by the terminal's design.

"Universal Design is about people-oriented design that takes into account people of all ages, sizes, ability, and understanding - something that meets everybody's needs equally," Dr Walker said.

Features of the new terminal include customer service counters that are accessible to people who need to use a wheelchair, and hearing assistance technology at every third check-in desk.

Transpdisc: Accessible Transport When Visiting Argentina

Gracias a Diego Alejandro Sadras of Argentina we have news about an accessible transport service in Argentina: Transpdisc.

They offer pick up from the International Airport of Ezeiza or the Port of Buenos Aires. They also offer excursions. They have been around since 1996 and their site is trilingual: English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

A Tourist's Dilemma - the ADA Line of Sight Clause

Susan M. LoTempio traveled a relatively short distance as a tourist - Buffalo to New York City - although, for the price of her concert ticket, she could have flown to LA roundtrip.

She writes a "Tale of Two Concerts" - pre- and post-ADA. In the October 7, 2005 issue of the New York Times she recounts her experience as a wheelchair user attending first a Beattles then a Paul McCartney concert in Madison Square Garden. In spite of spending nearly $300 on a front section ticket, she was unable to see either the stage or the giant screens. To make things worse, she recounts:

Too close to the stage to even see the huge monitors overhead, I moved into the aisle to try to get a view. The security guard told me to move back. I asked him where I could go to see around the masses of bodies, and he ordered me to stay where I was.

I tried to remain polite, but that painful sensation I get when I'm being dismissed or patronized swept through me and I yelled back, "These tickets cost $300, and I can't see anything."

"Stay there," the security guard shouted, his face just inches from mine. "If you don't like it, you can leave."

For the full article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/07/opinion/07lotempio.html?th&emc=th

I would post this as an isolated exception and unfortunate outlier in the American culture and entertainment scene if I did not know better. Rcently, although at a lower volume, I had a similarly demeaning encounter with the self-designated bouncer at a KQED radio event. Invited to share the evening of honor for a friend disgnated as one of northern California's top Latino community leaders, I was similarly herded into the only vacant spot - directly in front of the auditorium's floor-mounted speakers.

Line staff at events have a hectic job. Customer service is not always their first priority. That is why the fault in both cases lies at the design level. That is why ADA, ADAAG, and human-centered building codes exist.

Katrina Recovery Watch: People With Disabilities on Point Positions

Apparently there are a few other people paying attention to the lack of transparency, accountability, and community participation in post-Katrina rebuilding schemes.

These two Letters to the Editor appeared yesterday.

Concerns about Biloxi

Dear editors:

I am writing to express concern about the rebuilding of Biloxi following Hurricane Katrina. It is my fervent hope that, in the process, the planners will consider wheelchair access to homes, businesses, and public buildings as a basic necessity, not a luxury.

The moment presents an opportunity to do something right from the start. "Visitability" is important for people with disabilities, their families, their friends, their neighbors, and their co-workers. It makes no sense to build exclusion into the fabric of the new Biloxi. Please cover this angle of the story in your newspaper, and know that across the US people are watching.

Penny L. Richards PhD

More Concerns About Those with Disabilities

Hello, Ms. Magandy.

I've been reading your newspaper's series on the Mississippi Renewal Forum, and I haven't seen any mention of accessibility for people with disabilities. Has there been any discussion of this issue during the forum? I'm especially concerned that basic access to residential homes is being ignored.

I hope your newspaper will ask the officials involved in the rebuilding process about the issue of accessibility, and whether they will include input from people with disabilities in their planning.

Also, please consider publishing an article on universal design and visitability. It would be an excellent way to inform your readers about this critical issue.

Thank you.

Guy M. Fisher
Cleveland, Ohio

For more discussion on Katrina renewal see the SunHerald bogs at http://blogs.sunherald.com/sh/

A Note to Hotel Designers: Universal Design Says "Quality"

It is always a little disheartening to find out that I am no more than a lemming in my style preferences. The door operators in my home? Lever. The finish on my bathroom fixtures? Brushed nickel.

The Quad City Times tells me I am not alone:

Brushed nickel is a popular finish for new home buyers, even when it costs more...Buyers in higher-priced houses want levers instead of knobs on their doors.

The article doesn't say so but chances are good that these same high-end home buyers respond to lever door handles in hotels, spas, and resorts with the thought, "That's quality - and it feels like home!"

Universal Design is defining the hotel of the future. Once it gets out the door it will define the whole neighborhood -- Inclusive Destination Development.

The Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access Receives $5 Million Grant

IDEA Center gets $5 million grant

Award continues funding of rehabilitation research on universal design

By PATRICIA DONOVAN Contributing Editor, University at Buffalo Reporter The Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access (IDEA Center) in the School of Architecture and Planning has received a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) to fund a second five-year cycle of its Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Universal Design and the Built Environment (RERC-UD). Although the IDEA Center is the grant recipient, in operating the RERC it now will collaborate with the Ontario Rehabilitation Technology Consortium (ORTC) and representatives from the design and disability communities nationwide. Co-directors of the center are architect Edward Steinfeld, UB professor of architecture and director of the IDEA Center, who is nationally recognized as one of the early developers of the concept of universal design, and Geoff Fernie, vice president for research at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, a member organization of ORTC. UB Reporter: IDEA Center gets $5 million grant Posted by rollingrains at 06:51 AM November 13, 2005 New from Santa Cruz: Shared Adventures Here in Northern California the network of organizations providing leisure and travel services to people with disabilities is maturing steadily. Among the highlights are Marilyn Straka's On the Level Tours of San Francisco, Access Northern California's accessibility audits and training for the travel industry in the same city. Environmental Travel Companions expeditions, programs by Accessible Adventures, and Shared Adventures year-round slate of activities in Santa Cruz, California Shared Adventures announces it new web site: http://www.sharedadventures.com/ Posted by rollingrains at 07:02 PM November 12, 2005 Accessible Taxis SEATTLE, WASHINGTON--The following four paragraphs are excerpts from a recent story in the Seattle Times via Inclusion Daily Express: Getting to a business meeting, the mall, a Seahawks game or even to a restaurant for a date with his wife, Emily, often means a long bus ride for Michael Rogers of Kenmore, and for many other wheelchair users in the Seattle area. Not so in Portland, where at least two taxicab companies offer wheelchair-accessible cabs. While visiting there, Rogers and his wife, who both have cerebral palsy, enjoyed something many able-bodied people take for granted: the ability to be spontaneous and not live life according to a timetable. The trip spurred him to begin lobbying the Metropolitan King County Council last year to bring accessible cabs here. And to his delight, the council this week unanimously approved a new wheelchair-accessible taxi demonstration project to begin in the spring. "I look forward to taking Emily on a date without having to wonder what time it is on a bus schedule," Rogers said. "It's like now we're in control instead of some clock." Source: Rogers Lobbies City For Accessible Taxis September 19, 2005 Entire article: "Wheelchair cabs headed here" (Seattle Times) http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/05/red/0919a.htm Posted by rollingrains at 03:44 PM November 11, 2005 Mexico City's First Symposium on Universal Design Mexico City hosted its first symposium on Universal Design. Sponsors included La Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México, a través del Departamento de Arquitectura, el Departamento de Diseño y la Coordinación de Difusión Cultural, y Libre Acceso, A. C., UIA - Primer Simposio Arquitectura y Accesabilidad The event schedule is available at http://www.uia.mx/actividades/temporales/simposio/pdf/arquitectura.pdf Posted by rollingrains at 10:35 PM November 10, 2005 Even the Title Gets it Right: "Beyond Compliance" Metropolis magazine features a great interview with Valerie Fletcher, Director of Adaptive Environments. See Beyond Compliance Posted by rollingrains at 02:33 AM November 09, 2005 Universal Design in Spain Thus article (in Spanish) came to my attention about Spain's application of Universal Design: Madrid: Impulso la transformación de las ciudades http://www.portal-local.com/acno_loc_not.asp?dato=6889 Madrid: Alcalá de Henares, 04/11/2005 El Consejo de Gobierno aprobó el proyecto del Reglamento Técnico sobre Promoción de la Accesibilidad y Supresión de Barreras Arquitectónicas de la Comunidad de Madrid, un documento que impulsa la transformación de las ciudades para hacerlas más accesibles y mejorar así la vida a las personas con discapacidades. Este documento, enviado ahora al Consejo de Estado tras un intenso trabajo con las asociaciones de discapacitados, tiene por objetivo garantizar la igualdad en la accesibilidad y el uso de bienes y servicios, independientemente de cual sea la condición física, sensorial o intelectual de las personas. Para ello el reglamento propone que todas las infraestructuras de transporte, edificios, lugares de acceso público y servicios de uso cotidiano cuenten con que facilite la movilidad y el acceso y disfrute a cualquier ciudadano. Nota: Que facilite la movilidad y el acceso y disfrute a cualquier turista tambien los quales cambios que se puden pagar por lucros de turismo que atraye um mercado mayor. Source Two articles (in Spanish) came to my attention about Spain's application of Universal Design: Madrid: Impulso la transformación de las ciudades http://www.portal-local.com/acno_loc_not.asp?dato=6889 Further Reading Recursos de la Fundación Sidar: http://www.sidar.org/recur/enla/index.php Posted by rollingrains at 04:27 PM November 08, 2005 Aging in Place Fair in Seattle This announcement from Herladnet: Households of all ages have roots in their communities and strong emotional ties to their homes. Few people want to move solely because their house no longer fits their needs. The problems faced by older individuals are compounded by the fact that they often live in the oldest housing stock. If you want to stay in the home, how do your prioritize your projects? How do you judge need versus want? Many of the answers will be provided at National Aging in Place Week, today through Saturday, featuring a series of programs and seminars offered in dozens of communities across the country and coordinated by the Aging in Place Council and the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association. Further Reading: Aging in Place Fair in Seattle http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/05/11/06/100bus_kelly001.cfm Washtenaw County Conference to Help Seniors Stay in Homes http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-15/1131275599217480.xml&coll=2 Posted by rollingrains at 02:18 PM November 07, 2005 Universities, Visitability, and Inclusive Destination Development Who will represent Universal Design in the HUD grant competition for rebuilding after Katrina? The Universities Rebuilding America Partnerships (URAP)- Community Design program provides funding to schools of architecture, urban planning and design, or construction at accredited two- and four-year colleges and universities to establish and operate partnerships with and for communities affected by Hurricane Katrina or Rita (or both). Universities Rebuilding America Partnerships - Community Design Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Departmental Grants Management and Oversight, Administration Description The Universities Rebuilding America Partnerships (URAP)- Community Design program provides funding to schools of architecture, urban planning and design, or construction at accredited two- and four-year colleges and universities to establish and operate partnerships with and for communities affected by Hurricane Katrina or Rita (or both). Link to Full Announcement https://apply.grants.gov/forms_apps_idx.html If you have difficulty accessing the full announcement electronically, please contact: Yorkshire, Dorthera, Program Analyst, Phone 202-708-0667 ext4336, Fax 202-708-0531, Email Dorthera_Yorkshire@hud.gov Yorkshire, Dorthera Posted by rollingrains at 02:03 AM November 06, 2005 The Boomer Tax Base: A Lesson in Destination Development? "Enticed by the appeal of keeping tax-paying senior citizens in place who don't have young children enrolled in the school system, suburban towns have been welcoming age-restricted housing with open arms," writes Bill Doak in "From the Age of Aquarius to Age-Restricted Housing." "Designed to appeal to the baby boomer generation and up - the housing is for those age 55 and older - the development is the hottest trend in new home construction, " he continues. Universal Design is incorporated into the homes. Stories are popping up about communities competing for "Golden Agers" as residents -- full or part time; in homes, condo, or timeshares. Consistently, Universal Design is being used. Slowly the juggernaut in private home construction is filtering into hotel and resort design. Cruise and passenger ship design still flounders in the wake of design innovation and market trends. Further Reading: From the Age of Aquarius to Age-Restricted Housing http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15524290&BRD=1642&PAG=461&dept_id=10299&rfi=6 Posted by rollingrains at 05:02 PM November 05, 2005 Pattern Language & Universal Design Some ideologues argue against accessibility because it "beaks the esthetic." The truth is, an esthetic that permits inaccessiblity is already irrecoverably broken. Launching into study of Christopher Alexander's Pattern Language has been an engaging intellectual exercise. By no means can I claim to have mastered his thought but some initial thoughts occur to me. Resonant with Chomskian sensibilities the search for gramaticality in Alexander's work seems to substitute for the proscriptive esthetics of more precious constructs like New Urbanism. That is a hopeful sign. Alexander's essay "Methods" which discusses the role of " generative sequence" and its essential feature as being "backtrack-free" strikes me as the Pattern Language argument against retrofitting ("backtracking") - and, by extension, as argument for Universal Design. This is because Universal Design incorporates the lifespan-aware definition of disability outlined in the International Categorization of Functionality (ICF). Good design, even for those who remain in the temporary state identified and reinforced by the built environment as "able bodied," must take into account the functionalities associated with a complete lifespan -- childhood, temporary injury, tiredness, lapses of attention, the posssibility of permanent disability, and aging. To achieve the goal of livability each action undertaken must not eliminate the possibility a future one made necessary, for example, by disability: There is one essential ingredient to the sequences, which is perhaps their most salient feature, and which is also the feature that makes them work, and which forms the foundation of the described methodology. A sequence works, or does not work, according to the order of the steps in the sequence. Some sequences allow unfolding, others do not allow it. This property of being backtrack-free is the essence of what makes a successful sequence. This approach and business method is fundamentally different from previous attempts to plan, design and construct buildings. The present methodology provides for user participation in the planning design and construction of the built environment in a manner which allows the organic growth of a design through a sequence of generative steps... It is a major feature of this proposal that urban space is not only made better, not only made coherent and beautiful, and connected, but that it also contains the desires and will and thought of many, many individual people. Some of Alexander's thoughts on Urban Redevelopment, laid out in his 2000 article on Thessaloniki, seem even more feasible in light of functionalities for collaboration eveolving as "Web 2.0." The radical democratization of the unfolding of design he envisions can only work, however, if the anthropometrics accepted as "normal" by the dominant culture take into account the full range of human functionality -- childhood, disability, aging. There exists a class of people made invisible and voiceless by all examples of urban space up to this point in history - even the best, most organic, most esthetically pleasing - people with disabilities. They will not automatically be heard simply through access to digital amplification of their peripheral voices. The recent Paralympic Games did much to raise awareness of difference in Greece but not enough to give the seven principles of Universal Design or the practice of Visitability the ubiquity necessary for this methodology to generate a Livable Community. Still, the deep insight of Pattern Language remains congruent with a core, pan-disability cultural value -- interdependency. Alexander seems to return often to that theme under the term "belonging", or in the Thessaloniki speech, "deep pleasantness." I am struck that in biological systems growth ocurs at the periphery. That is the space -- both metaphoric and physical -- to which those with disabilties are relegated. To be true to its fascination with biomimicry, Pattern Language ought to engage itself in sustained, interpreted observation of the patterns produced by disability cultures. Universal Design arose from within disability culture. It is an actively nurtured and evolving production that authentically expresses, and simultaneously progresses, the vitality of that community. What would a fully developed dialogue between Universal Design and Pattern Language produce? Maybe it's time to find out. The city of the future should not be, as some may think, a fabric to be modernized by stripping out and enlargement of structure, and by destruction. Instead, careful observation, street by street, wall by wall, of the very subtle things which work now, and which make people deeply comfortable, can provide a new kind of solution more in keeping with the humanity of our new century, more in keeping with the promise of the 21st century as the century of biology -- that is, a century which may now be dominated by small scale intimacy, by complexity arrived at by working complexity created by sometimes tiny human structures cooperating to form more complex streets, and spaces, and foci, and opportunities for human life. Who will "Bring New Orleans Back Home?" Could it be the very people disproportionately left behind to bear the brunt of Katrina's destruction because the very inaccessibility of the city eliminated any chance of retreat from reality? Could it be that the view from the sidelines, disabled and meticulously attentive, holds the secret to renewal and rebirth? See: Rebuilding Thessaloniki Posted by rollingrains at 11:19 PM November 04, 2005 New York: City in Motion New York Institute of Technology in Manhattan invites presentation proposals for the Interdisciplinary Conference: New York: City in Motion. Rolling Rains readers may be interested to present their ideas on Universal Design and Inclusive Destination Development. For those wishing to be linked with other readers to discuss a collaborative presentation contact the editor, Scott Rains: srains (AT) oco (DOT) net. This day-long conference will take place on Friday, March 10, 2006, in NYIT’s state-of-the-art conference facility near Columbus Circle. The organizers welcome and encourage technology-enhanced presentations. From the press release: We seek presenters who will share their scholarship and perspectives on the City of New York as examined through the ideas of movement, mobility, and transformation. Panels and presentations may address motion either literally or figuratively as suggested by but not limited to the following categories: Transportation to or within New York Disability/Mobility/Accessibility in New York Architecture and urban design as they reflect or influence the motion of New York Literature addressing movement, mobility, or transformation in New York Immigration to New York Migration to or within New York Building or improving infrastructure such as bridges Disaster/Evacuation Preparedness Business and investment trends that may transform New York Arts, film, and the theater as they capture the motion of New York Please submit 300-word proposal describing topic and format (such as paper, talk, slide presentation) for a 20-minute presentation along with vitae by January 10, 2006 to Lori Jirousek via email to LJirouse@nyit.edu or via US mail to: Dr. Lori Jirousek English Department New York Institute of Technology 1855 Broadway New York, NY 10023 Email submissions are preferred. Posted by rollingrains at 02:59 PM November 03, 2005 What Ought a "Livable Community" Look Like? Nancy LeaMond defined "Livable Community" and summarized exemplary projects at the June, 2005 AARP Conference entitled, "Universal Village: Livable Communities in the 21st Century." Her presention, "Public Policy Challenges to Creating Livable Communities," closed with this memorable advice: Let me close by once again citing Joe Coughlin of AgeLab. He has talked about the "longevity paradox": having invested so much to get people to live longer, we've barely given any thought to how we can help them live better. Mere survival is not the goal. Aging successfully — with the ability to go where you want to go and do what you want to do — that's what it's all about. At its core, livability is about preserving those values that have always been central to the American way of life — independence, self—determination, dignity and choice. Building livable communities to accommodate an aging population is a practical goal, but it's also a moral imperative for a society committed to empowering its people and safeguarding their freedom. Posted by rollingrains at 12:08 AM November 02, 2005 To the Slovak Republic - Via Rio Susanne Pacher at Travel & Transitions has reprinted an article that I did for "Slovakia" magazine. Accessibility is a project they are still working on but it a country with heart. Read To Slovakia - Via Rio - from the Seated Position. Posted by rollingrains at 09:49 PM Is Lehigh Valley Senior Friendly? It's true. Lehigh Valley and Allentown do not show up this year on Conde Nast's top ten destinations list. They do have something in common with smart destinations however. They began the research necessary for Inclusive Destination Development in 2001 by examining their Livability. Read "Is Lehigh Valley Senior Friendly?" Posted by rollingrains at 02:43 PM November 01, 2005 Senior-Friendly Levers Improve Door Design From the Tennesean -- Universal Design as mainstream in private home construction: Instead of knobs, many people choose levers to give them the upper hand in opening and closing doors. Once marketed only to older people, the levers are now targeted at homeowners of all ages, especially if the builder is using universal design principles in a house. Full article: Senior-friendly levers improve door design http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051029/LIVING02/510290346/1007/LIVING Posted by rollingrains at 03:38 PM