From Michael Janger:

In advertising, the inclusion of people with disabilities is a double-edged sword: is it intended to highlight the disability, or the person, or both? If the disability is highlighted, it is usually because the business is selling products that accommodate the disability. 

For companies that do not directly sell to people with disabilities, utilizing a person with a disability in an advertisement is a delicate exercise, because popular culture in America today tends to exclude people with disabilities from its meme. The good news: this is not the 1950's, as people today are more aware of the economic power and influence of people with disabilities and their contributions to society. Yet if advertising practices today are any indication, people with disabilities still have a long way to go to be considered an integral part of popular culture. In a country where almost 20% of the population has a disability, this is a big slice of American society we are missing out on.

Two weeks ago, Target announced a special post-Christmas sale for kids' t-shirts ($5 each!) and kids' pants ($7 each!), through this advertisement on its website. It was just like any other promotion peddled by one of the United States's largest department stores. As with most retailers recovering from the Christmas shopping season, Target needed to clear out its inventory, and the $5 and $7 sales were meant to grab the attention of consumers and encourage them to buy clothes for their kids.

Rick Smith noticed something about this advertisement, only because of his own one-year-old son, who has Down syndrome. On the left side of the Target advertisement was a blond-haired kid wearing an orange- and brown-colored long-sleeve shirt. If you saw this kid and did not think twice, you were probably like most others who were interested in the shirt he wore and whether they should buy it from Target.

This ad needs no caption.

Target did not highlight the fact that Ryan Langston - the name of the kid in the orange shirt - has Down syndrome. He has some of the classic physical features of this condition, but that was not the point of the advertisement. All Target was doing was selling kid's apparel, and using cute kids to send the message. They did not even announce the kid in any of its press releases.

Thrilled about the non-announcement of Ryan and his disability, Rick Smith wrote about Target's advertisement on his blog, Noah's Dad. Disability advocates and others saw his post, and in a matter of hours it went viral. Rick told me, two days after his post, of his amazement at finding over 8,000 likes on his blog post (it is now over 21,000 as of this writing).

Read more:

http://blog.michaeljanger.com/2012/01/19/hey-that-limb-is-missing-debunking-disability-stereotypes-in-advertising/

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Slowly, slowly, very slowly the imperative of Universal Design as urban planning is trickling into US thought. Here John Lorinc helps the process along:

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When he worked as the parks commissioner in Bogotá, Gil Penalosa helped trigger a quality of urban life revolution of sorts by promoting car-free Sundays - "ciclovias" -- on hundreds of kilometers of the streets around the Colombian capital. As this video shows, over 1.3 million residents each week would take to their bikes or participate in festivals and activities throughout Bogotá. In so doing, they boosted both their enjoyment of the city and their own fitness levels, thus creating a lively, low-emission sense of community for people from all walks of life, so to speak. 

In his current gig as the executive director of Toronto-based 8-80 Cities, Penalosa travels the world with a trenchant question that arose out of those experiences: how do we create cities in which both 8-year-olds and 80-year-olds can move about safely and enjoyably? "We have to stop building cities as if everyone is 30 years-old and athletic," he says.

His 8 to 80 litmus test involves imagining a public space, but especially a busy city street or intersection, and asking whether it is suitable for young and old alike. In all too many locations - signalized crossings on wide suburban arterials, narrow bike lanes, over-taxed sidewalks, etc. - the answer will be no.

By way of solutions, Penalosa's group has advised cities like Seville and Guadalajara on the importance of more accessible surface transit, improved cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, and more programmable park space.

But in many aging societies, where the proportion of seniors will grow as much as four-fold over the next two decades, public space improvements alone won't make large urban areas, especially car-dependent suburbs, more suitable to the needs of older residents. Indeed, one of the most difficult questions facing urban areas is how they will go about making themselves more age-friendly.

Accessibility is obviously a big piece of the puzzle. In Japan, where the aging curve is further along, planning officials and architects have promoted "universal design" principles that can be found in such amenities as multi-generational housing meant to address the shortage of caregivers.

Read more:

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2012/01/8-80-problem-designing-cities-young-and-old/959/

And onward the fuller diffusion of Universal Design - once again inspired by the global age-inversion as the population bulge ages. Here's Yves Béhar from an article on Core77. As UD becomes ubiquitous the "obviousness" of inclusion becomes commonplace and the consumer backlash becomes more pronounced. Note Béhar's characterization of exclusion-by-design as insult. Savvy travel industry readers take note. Then take action! :

O Programa Praia Acessivel do Estado de São Paulo:

Photo of the Presidents of Fundación ONCE, UNWTO and ENAT at the signing.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the ONCE Foundation for Cooperation and Social Inclusion of People with Disabilities and the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT) have signed a Cooperation Agreement aimed at developing ever more accessible tourism for persons with disabilities (Madrid, Spain, 16 September).

"The facilitation of tourist travel for persons with disabilities is a central part of responsible and sustainable tourism," said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai. "Over 600 million people worldwide suffer from some form of disability and it is the duty of every one of us to help ensure that they enjoy equal access to travel and tourism".

The Executive Vice President of the ONCE Foundation, Mr. Alberto Duran López, stressed the importance of counting on the support of UNWTO. "We are happy to work with UNWTO and ENAT and trust this partnership will significantly advance equal opportunities and rights for persons with disabilities," he said.

The President of ENAT, Ms. Lilian Müller, expressed the hope to "bring a greater awareness of 'Accessible Tourism for All' among UNWTO members and to provide them with new tools and resources so that they can make effective progress in this growing field of tourism".

Aimed at enabling universal access to tourism facilities and services, the Agreement entails a series of initiatives, including awareness-raising, technical support, indicators and training in the field of accessibility to National Tourism Administrations and tourism enterprises. The trilateral accord also involves the promotion of traineeships for young persons with disabilities, with a view towards their integration in the labour market. It further encompasses the funding of pilot projects in destinations, involving the application of new technologies, to facilitate the participation of persons with disabilities in tourism and leisure-related activities.

Signed in Madrid by Mr. Rifai, Mr. López, and Ms. Müller, the Cooperation Agreement builds on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (30 March 2007), and the UNWTO Resolution on Accessible Tourism for All, adopted by the UNWTO General Assembly in 2005 and prepared in collaboration with the ONCE Foundation.

Relevant links:
Photos of the signing:http://www.flickr.com/photos/unwto/sets/72157627581468573/ 
UNWTO Ethics and Social Dimensions of Tourism Programme:http://ethics.unwto.org/en 
ONCE Foundation: http://www.fundaciononce.es/EN/Pages/Portada.aspx 
ENAT: http://www.accessibletourism.org

Image via Wikipedia

None of us are getting any younger, but we're still buying cars. Older drivers may have different needs than younger ones, though, which is why many auto companies are taking aging drivers into account when they design their vehicles.

"The baby boomers have always been an important segment, not only because of their numbers but also because of their affluence," says Sheryl Connelly, global consumer trends and futuring manager for Ford Motor Company. "For them, the car has always been an iconic symbol of status.

"The baby boomers are aging, but they're aging in a way that is also unprecedented. They're not like their grandparents. They're really an active segment, but there are some changes happening that come with aging such as reduced response time, impaired vision and limited range of motion.

From The Next Web:

Ankit Daftery

 is an engineering student at the Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute in Mumbai, India and he decided to take it upon himself to add the ability for the blind to type on an Android device. He was convinced he could add Braille support to the mobile platform.

Today, he is starting to turn that idea into a reality. OnlyGizmos brings us this video where the enterprising student earnestly speaks about BrailleType, a simple but ingenious application that will allow blind people to type on a smartphone using the Braille alphabet much in the same way that they use it for reading.

BrailleType gives the user a blank canvas, with the top 90% of the screen available to the user for entering in the characters and a strip at the bottom displaying them as they are typed, in addition to reading them out using Android's built-in text-to-speech synthesiser.

Just like Braille users read text written in the language by feeling the positions of the raised characters with the tip of their fingers, so they can type by touching the display with their fingers according to the established patterns of the Braille alphabet. Take a look at the video embedded below to see Daftery providing a live demo of the app:

While the US Department of Justice has been garnering headlines over the last year for adoption of the new 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, the 

2012 International Building Code has quietly come on the scene as The new accessibility standard. In many ways, the new 2012 IBC may have far more reach for making recreation facilities accessible. For the first time in the IBC history, the model code includes technical provisions for recreation facilities.   

 

According to International Code Council Senior Staff Architect, Kim Paarlberg, "Recreational scoping requirements (i.e., what, where and how many) have been in the IBC since its inception in 2000. What is new is that the technical criteria (i.e., how to) provide access to specific recreational facilities (i.e., pools, playgrounds, etc.) has been added." This means that any new construction or renovation of existing recreation facilities are now required to be accessible  where state and local code authorities reference the 2012 International Building Code (in addition to the DOJ 201 ADA Standards). While the 2010 ADA Standards are only part of a civil rights law that requires a complaint to be filed for enforcement to ensue, accessibility as part of a model building code would fall to enforcement by local building code officials. In reality, any entity required by the local authority to gain a building permit, have drawings reviewed, or be inspected prior to occupancy would have to follow the accessibility requirements for recreation facilities set forth in the 2012 IBC. As a result, a local building code official might also be inspecting a new golf course, sports field, fitness center, amusement park, swimming pool or playground for compliance with the accessibility requirements of the 2012 IBC.

 

Enveloping the revisions from the ADA accessibility guidelines into the IBC is yet one more step the International Code Council and US Access Board have taken to achieve harmonization between the two standard-writing agencies. Paarlberg works closely with the Access Board to continually track areas requiring revision and clarification between the two documents. Paarlberg further comments on the advantage of the ADA accessibility standards combined into the 2012 IBC, "DOJ has limited staff and resources to enforce ADA compliance. Code officials see plans before the project is even started, and are inspecting during construction. This is a more cost effective time to make corrections rather than after construction is completed."

 

From the Times of India:

Sanchi, the world heritage site, about 56 kms from the state capital, will soon become the first barrier free site in the world for physically 

challenged people. The initiative in this regard has been jointly taken by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and Arushi, a voluntary organisation that works with people with disabilities.

"We had approached the ASI in the year 2000. After much effort, this project is finally getting realised and will be completed by the month end. Pathway tiles for the disabled are being constructed around the Stupas for easy access and manoeuvrability. Braille inscriptions and accessibility to other amenities like toilets and canteen area for the physically challenged make this structure universally design friendly,"Anil Mudgal, Arushias founder said.

Marco Antonio Bonilla es um promoter ambiental en Chapultepec.

From Mena.com: