News

Job opening in the Design Division of National Endowment of the Arts


The Universal Design Handbook (2nd Ed.)


Department of Justice issues new ADA Title II and Title III rules


Karin Bendixen receives Award


Call for Entries: The Generative Space Award
Today, the knowledge is available to consistently design environments that robustly improve individual health, healthcare delivery, organizational effectiveness, and overall community wellness. Indeed, we have the tools to make our entire world become "a place to flourish." Submittals are due online prior to 15 May 2010. For more information, visit A Place to Flourish (www.aplacetoflourish.org).

National Endowment for the Arts Announces Jason Schupbach as the New Director of Design
Washington, DC -- The National Endowment for the Arts announced today that Jason Schupbach will join the NEA as Director of Design at the end of May.

The Colour, Light and Contrast Manual: Designing and Managing Inclusive Built Environments

Endorsed by the Society of Light and Lighting, this practical book offers comprehensive guidance on how colour, light and contrast can be incorporated within buildings to enhance their usability. The book provides state-of-the-art, clear guidance as well as a valuable information source for busy professionals involved in the design or management of new and existing environments.

For more information go to the Wiley Website: www.Wiley.com or to purchase a copy of this book go to: Amazon.com

Design In The 21st Century: Danish Designer's "Manifesto": A Vision For The Future of Danish Design
Danish Designers is a professional hub for approximately 900 individual members, working professionally with design. Our mission is to promote the most intelligent use - as well as the understanding of the true value - of design and of the thinking, skills and capacities of Danish designers. We do this through a palette of services, addressing the personal, professional and political needs and interests of our members.

Technology Bill of Rights for the Blind Act of 2010 Introduced
The Technology Bill of Rights for the Blind Act of 2010 was introduced on January 27, 2010 and mandates minimum non-visual access standards for all electronic devices. HR 4533 would mandate a minimal standard of accessibility for all consumer electronics devices, such as televisions, home stereo systems, appliances and kiosks.

Congresswoman Janice Schakowsky (D-IL) introduced the bill and said, "The importance of access to technology in today's society cannot be overstated. In many cases, a person's livelihood depends upon the ability to use technology," said Representative Schakowsky. "This bill will allow people who are blind or have low vision to compete on a level playing field with their sighted peers and remain productive members of society.

MIT News

New Wheelchair Gets It's First Real-World Test

The U.N. Development Programme estimates that less than 1 percent of the need for wheelchairs in developing countries is met by local production, partly because small workshops can’t exploit economies of scale to be profitable. Moreover, the wheelchairs that are available aren’t designed for people who must push themselves over rough roads and muddy walking paths often encountered in the Third World. As a result, millions of people must rely on others to carry them or be stranded inside their homes.

Ed Steinfeld Award March 25, 2010
Award ceremony and presentation March 25, 2010, for the Presidential Award for Faculty Excellence honoring Edward H. Steinfeld, Arch. D., AIA recipient of the 2nd annual Presidential Award for Faculty Excellence. The Presidential Award for Faculty Excellence was established to honor faculty members who have compiled distinguished records of teaching, mentorship, research and public service. The event is free and open to the public.

ICADI 2010 Call for Papers
The International Conference on Ageing, Disability and Independence (ICADI) will focus on approaches to support people as they age in maintaining independence in daily living at home, at work and in the community.

Let Nature Feed Your Senses
News from the Sensory Trust. In partnership with LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) this three and a half year project will involve a new and exciting programme of activities and events throughout England, aimed at getting young people, disabled groups and older people out onto farms, nature reserves, education centres and city farms, to experience nature and the countryside in their everyday lives.

Creative Spaces – dementia and environment
News from The Sensory Trust. The Creative Spaces project creates opportunities for older people with dementia to improve their environments, strengthen their communities and play a more active part in society.

Better Learning...by Design - CALL FOR PROPOSALS
The UDL@UVM Project and the Center on Disability and Community Inclusion are happy to present this unique conference on universal design for learning (UDL) in higher education. We are inviting proposals for breakout sessions and poster sessions.

National Endowment for the Arts Job Vacancy: Design Director
As the Design Director, you will be responsible for providing national leadership and direction concerning agency assessments of funding and other assistance for the field of Design.

New Book: Universal Design: A Reconsideration of Barrier-Free
The Institute for Human Centered Design is pleased to offer the English-language translation of Dr. Yoshihiko Kawauchi's book Universal Design: A Reconsideration of Barrier-Free translated by Sachi Shirota & Yoko Mori. Yoshi Kawauchi is an architect, author, professor, and winner of the Ron Mace Award in 2000. He is a pioneering leader in Universal Design and resides in Tokyo.

Resources on Socially Sustainable Design


Great Places Awards 2010: Call for Entries
Places: Design Observer and EDRA, the Environmental Design Research Association, in cooperation with Metropolis Magazine announce the twelfth annual Great Places Awards for Place Design, Planning and Research. The deadline for entries for the 2010 Great Places Awards is February 10, 2010.

We Care Filmfest 2010: Call for Entries
Entries are invited for We Care Filmfest 2010 on various issues of disabilities recognized by Persons with Disabilities.

CSUN 2010 - Call for Papers Deadline Extended
Paper submissions are now due by Monday, November 2, 2009.

Mass Transit Announces its Top 40 Under 40 List
Mass Transit, the only magazine exclusively dedicated to public transportation, announces the first annual Mass Transit Top 40 Under 40 list, honoring those professionals who have made significant contributions to the public transit industry.

Call for Papers: ARCC/EAAE 2010 - International Conference on Architectural Research
The Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC) and the European Association for Architectural Education (EAAE) are holding their joint 2010 Architectural Research Conference next summer in Washington DC USA.

Seniors Want to Rest in Style: Results from the Danish i-SIT project on user-driven innovation of resting chairs
i-SIT is a user-driven project focusing on innovation and methods for developing resting chairs based on user needs in relation to functionality and immaterial values. The i-SIT project is co-financed by the Danish Enterprise and Construction Authority under the Danish government’s programme for user-driven innovation. The project runs through six phases in the period from August 2007 to December 2009.

Talking ATMs: Ten Year Anniversary Coming Soon
October 1, 2009 marks the 10th anniversary of the first Talking ATM installed in the United States. From that first accessible ATM in 1999, there are now tens of thousands of Talking ATMs around the world.

MSc in Digital Inclusion / UK
Places are available to study for MSc Digital Inclusion at Middlesex University in the UK. This exciting new programme examines the ethical, social and political demands for eInclusion - the rights of all citizens to benefit from new technologies, and explores the practical and theoretical demands of implementing inclusive, accessible solutions.

IIDA / Metropolis Smart Environments Awards: Call for Entries
The IIDA / Metropolis Smart Environments Awards recognize excellence in interior environments in tune with twenty-first century needs and desires.

White House Press Release: Remarks by President Obama on Signing of UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Proclamation


Americans With Disabilities Applaud President Obama's Intention to Sign the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities
WASHINGTON, July 21 -- United States International Council on Disabilities (USICD), representing a broad constituency of Americans with disabilities and disability organizations, praises Monday's announcement of President Barack Obama's intention to sign the international Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) Friday, July 24, 2009 at the White House.

Disability Rights Fund Releases Second 2009 Request for Proposals
The Disability Rights Fund (DRF)--a groundbreaking grantmaking collaborative supporting the human rights of people with disabilities--today announced the second round of its 2009 grantmaking, "Raising Our Voice."

IHCD Announces Opening of a Japan Office
June 1, 2009 - Hakuhodo Universal Design, a new arm of Hakuhodo, Inc. focused on popularizing and informing the world about universal design, opened today the first Japan office of the Institute for Human Centered Design (IHCD).

New Hakuhodo Unit, Hakuhodo Universal Design, Established
June 1, 2009 (Tokyo) — Hakuhodo today established Hakuhodo Universal Design, a new consulting and creative boutique for universal design.

ZAI Inc. Wins American Institutes of Architects Award for Small Projects 2009
The AIA Small Project Awards Program, now in its fifth year, was established to recognize small-project practitioners for the high quality and ingenuity in design resolution of small projects and to promote excellence in small-project design.

Invention Helps Seniors Get Plugged In
Two young inventors have created a device, with the help of hands-on testing at a Fairfax County retirement community, that they say might change the way older Americans get news and entertainment.

2010 VSA arts International Conference: Call for Proposals
The submission deadline for presentations for the 2010 VSA arts International Conference on Advancing Inclusive Education and 21ST Century Learning Skills Through the Arts, including a Career Development for artists with disabilities to be held from June 10-12, 2010 in Washington D.C, USA, is May 29, 2009.

Unpacking Japan’s Commitment to Universal Design
Metropolis POV interview with Valerie Fletcher--executive director of the Institute for Human Centered Design, and a leader in the universal-design movement--about Toto’s research initiatives, the cultural underpinnings of these efforts, and the new “definitions” for an idea whose time is long overdue. Part of Metropolis POV's aging-in-place bathroom coverage this month includes a short piece on Toto’s universal-design center in Japan.

The Kids Are Alright
Billes Architecture Home Design Competition - Students were asked to design a 1,500- to 2,000-square-foot home for one of four neighborhoods in the city: Uptown, Downtown, Gentilly/Lakeview, or New Orleans East. The home needed to be eligible for gold or platinum LEED certification; to be raised to what local officials call the Advisory Base Flood Elevation; and to come in between $150,000 and $225,000. The contestants were either fourth-year undergraduates or first-year master’s students.

Virtual Participation in The 2nd International Multi-Conference on Engineering and Technological Innovation (IMETI 2009) is Now Possible
Submissions made for Virtual Participation will go trough the same reviewing processes of the regular papers (double-blind, non-blind, and participative peer reviewing) and, if accepted (according to the same acceptance policy), they will be included in the proceedings and will be eligible for journal publication if they are, according to their reviewers, among the best 10%-20% of those physically and virtually presented at the conference.

The Power of Diversity: Practice in a Complex World
The Access to Design Professions Project will be presenting three sessions as part of The Power of Diversity: Practice in a Complex World, the AIA convention 2009, April 30 - May 2 in San Francisco.

Techshare 2009: Call for Papers
The call for papers to present at Techshare 2009 is now open. This year’s event is organised by RNIB in partnership with other leading disability organisations, and we are looking for presentations that contribute to the conference content covering a variety of disabilities.

Universal Design Case Studies


Bringing Égalité Home
LAMORLAYE, France -- When Jean-Yves Prodel, who lives alone and uses a wheelchair, bought a 20-year-old house in this town just north of Paris in 2005, he hired an architect to remake it following the principles of universal design.

GAATES Honored with UN Habitat–Dubai International Award
The publication International Best Practices in Universal Design: A Global Review has been named as one of the world’s 100 "Best Practices" for 2008 by United Nations Habitat–Dubai International Award for Best Practices.

New IHCDstore Products!
Josh Jakus is a Berkeley, California–based designer dedicated to making experiential connections between form and function. When people use one of Josh’s products, they naturally encounter the way it was conceived and developed.

Proposal Deadline Extended for Pacific Rim International Conference on Disabilities
25th Annual Pacific Rim International Conference on Disabilities. May 4-5, 2009. Honolulu, Hawaii.

W3C Web Standard Defines Accessibility for Next Generation Web
W3C announces a new standard that will help Web designers and developers create sites that better meet the needs of users with disabilities and older users. Drawing on extensive experience and community feedback, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 improve upon W3C's groundbreaking initial standard for accessible Web content.

UB Professor, Son Get Transit Grant
Improving public transportation for people with disabilities will be the focus of a $4.7 million federal grant awarded, in part, to the University at Buffalo.

Universal Design Award 2009
This competition not only sensitizes the public to the topic of universal design, but invites it to actively participate in deciding which entries promise the greatest possible benefit for their target audience.

RIBA Launches Research Project Into Opportunities for Disabled Architects
RIBA, in collaboration with the University of the West of England, has launched a year-long study of the opportunities available to disabled architects, and how they are treated at work. The research - for RIBA’s equality and diversity forum, Architects for Change - will identity case studies where equal opportunities for disabled people have been delivered.

NEA Program Solicitation: Universal Design Leadership Project
Proposal Receipt Deadline: February 19, 2009
The Arts Endowment seeks to enter into a Cooperative Agreement with an organization that will carry out a project to increase understanding, acceptance, and practice of universal design within the design profession, by design educators, and by the American public.

Great Places Awards 2009 - Call for Entries
Places: Forum of Design for the Public Realm, EDRA, the Environmental Design Research Association, in cooperation with Metropolis magazine announce the twelfth annual Great Places Awards.

Our 30^th Anniversary Celebration

Thursday, October 23^rd, 5:00-8:00pm
After 30 years as Adaptive Environments, we are now the Institute for Human Centered Design. Please come help us celebrate our first 30 years and our new name. Board members and staff invite you for a relaxed evening of good cheer, toasts, light refreshments, and live piano.

California Passes Complete Streets Law
Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law on September 30th Assembly Bill 1358, the California Complete Streets Act of 2008 authored by Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). The new law requires cities and counties to include complete streets policies as part of their general plans so that roadways are designed to safely accommodate all users, including bicyclists, pedestrians, transit riders, children, older people, and disabled people, as well as motorists.

Welcome to our new name!
After 30 years as Adaptive Environments, we are now the Institute for Human Centered Design. Please also mark your calendars for a celebration of 30 years on Thursday, October 23rd at 200 Portland Street in Boston. We’ll share details as soon as they’re available.

CSUN 2009 - Call for Papers
Paper submissions are due Friday, October 17, 2008. The "CSUN" conference is the world’s longest-running and largest conference of its kind on the topic of assistive technology and the positive impact on persons with disabilities.

Include 2009 Call for Papers
The RCA Helen Hamlyn Centre is pleased to announce a first Call for Papers for Include 2009 Inclusive Design into Innovation: Transforming Practice in Design, Research and Business, to be held at the Royal College of Art, London 5-8 April 2009. Include 2009 will be chaired by Professor John Clarkson (Engineering Design Centre, University of Cambridge), Steve Wilcox (Design Science) and Melanie Howard (Futurologist and author of 'The Future Unwrapped').

Adaptive Environments Receives NEA's 2008 Leadership in Universal Design Award
News from Adaptive Environments - We are delighted to announce that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Office for AccessAbility has awarded their 2008 Leadership in Universal Design award to Adaptive Environments. This award will allow us to embark on our plan to create an international web-based universal design case study collection.

IHCD Celebrates Celtics!
The IHCD staff congratulated the world champs today, along with thousands of other spectators at the parade. Celtics fans get 10% off of our retail and e-commerce store until June 27th!

Kathmandu Declaration – 2008
The attendees of the National Summit for Ratification and Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities organized by Nepal Disabled Human Rights Center (DHRC-Nepal) would like to declare the 'Kathmandu Declaration – 2008' in order to promote and protect the rights of people with disabilities through ratification and implementation of the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.

National Credit Reporting Companies, Blind Community, Announce Landmark Initiative to Provide Accessible Online Credit Reports
The nation’s three major consumer credit reporting companies today unveiled a comprehensive program to provide improved access to important credit information for people who are blind or visually impaired. The initiative, crafted with the American Council of the Blind, its California affiliate and several individual members of the blind community, will help protect the credit information of individuals who cannot read a standard print credit report.

EU to Mandate TV Subtitles
BRUSSELS -- All public-service television programs in the European Union must be subtitled, the European Parliament said on April 9. Meeting in Brussels, the Parliament said that subtitles -- or closed captioning -- ensure all viewers, including deaf and hard-of-hearing people, have full access to programs. The Parliament vote, in the form of a written declaration, added that subtitles also help with foreign-language learning.

AT&T Posts Developer Guidelines
AT&T took a step toward a more open network, posting its developer guidelines to the Web. These developer guidelines were previously only available to application developer partners and handset makers. This release comes a week after Apple released its SDK and a week before Verizon Wireless is scheduled to reveal technical specs at its Open Development Device Conference.

Call for Nominations: 2008 da Vinci Awards
The 2008 da Vinci Awards search committee is now accepting nominations worldwide for pioneering inventions or research, developed by corporations or individuals, that enables people with disabilities to participate and contribute to all aspects of society.

Re-Launch of Access to Design Professions E-Mentoring Program
Adaptive Environments/Institute for Human-Centered Design is re-launching the Access to Design Professions E-Mentoring Program. This Program finds mentors for students with disabilities who have graduated from high school and are interested in careers in design.

Leadership and Cool
Does being cool make it difficult to lead in challenging circumstances? Are architects up to the task of speaking for those people who lack an effective voice, whether due to infirmity, poverty, or other forms of social injustice? Can those of us in the academy educate our students to make such leadership the new cool?

Networks for Mobility 2008 Call for Papers
The symposium derives its name "NETWORKS FOR MOBILITY" from the network approach and sees itself as a forum for interdisciplinary exchange of the various areas of transportation science and related fields.

A New National Academy: National Academy of Environmental Design
The National Academy of Environmental Design (NAED) is being established by a coalition of education and professional organizations focused on the built environment. The academy, which is proposed to be housed within the the existing National Academies, would share their mission of addressing critical national issues and providing advice to the federal government and the public.

Global Initiative for Inclusive Technologies (G3ict)
A flagship partnership initiative of GAID, the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development, G3ict is headed by W2i , the Wireless Internet Institute in cooperation with the Secretariat for the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities and UNITAR, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research.

Call for Proposals - 3rd Annual International Forum in Doha, Qatar
Abstracts are due by February 17, 2008. The 3rd Annual International Forum, hosted by the Shafallah Center for Children with Special Needs, will bring together advocates, family members, scholars, and practitioners from a variety of perspectives to explore the theme of Sport and Ability.

Call for Papers: Interaction Design & Children Conference (IDC 2008)
The IDC 2008 conference will continue to present significant contributions to research, development, and practice in the field of interaction design for children. The goals of the 2008 conference are to better understand children's needs, and how to design for them, with a specific focus on creativity and innovation.

Hands-On: Radio for the Deaf
LAS VEGAS – TV has long had closed captioning. Why not radio? What sounds like an odd joke – radio for the deaf and hard of hearing – is close to reality thanks to a public-private consortium that will provide closed captioning on car LCD displays.

Call for Papers - CIB W 084 "Building Comfortable and Liveable Environments for All"
The CIB Working Commission 084 "Building Comfortable Environments for All" invites you to submit high quality research papers for the International Meeting in 2008 in USA. After the Rome Meeting in 2004 and the one in Verona in 2006, the new Meeting of the WC 084 will be held in United States.

Employment Opportunity: Academic Specialist - Director of the National Center on Accessibility
Indiana University is seeking applications for a Director for the National Center on Accessibility. This position is an appointed non-tenure track faculty member with the title of Academic Specialist – Director of the National Center on Accessibility.

Universal Home: The Results After a Year of Research
After one year of intense research work at Zollverein they have been established: The results of the "Universal Home" scholarship competition at Zollverein. In October 2006, ten young designers and architects from all over the world took up their annual scholarship at Zollverein to do research in cooperation with eleven companies on the future oriented issue "Universal Home".

An Outbreak Of Beauty and Happiness?
In spite of my sense that we are heading pell mell into the gloom of global warming, catastrophic conflict and hopeless mediocrity, I've noticed a hopeful trend. Beauty and happiness have been rehabilitated from irrelevant to necessary.

Total Access
Three European kitchen systems prove that universal design and high-end aesthetics are not incompatible. While much is made of the ongoing influence of America’s aging baby-boom generation—whose members are turning 60 at the rate of about three million a year—the demographics of Europe are even creakier. Nearly 16 percent of Western Europe is already over 65. Demographers estimate that by 2050 one in three Germans will be 60 years old or older. These are startling statistics, with profound implications for design.

Prevalence of Alzheimer's Rises 10% in 5 Years
More than five million Americans have Alzheimer'sdisease, a 10 percent increase from the last official tally five years ago, and a number expected to more than triple by 2050, absent a cure, as the 85-and-over population soars and the baby boomers move into their late 60s and 70s.

Assistive Technology News Launches News Web Site
Assistive Technology News has launched www.atechnews.com to assist the nation’s 56-million people with disabilities stay abreast of assistive technology products that enhance their independence and improve their quality of life.