A Literature Review on Cognitive Accessibility

The purpose of this study was to review the qualitative literature on cognitive accessibility in a digital environment and areas of inquiry for future qualitative research in this context. The focus of this literature review was to identify qualitative research in the cognitive accessibility field and how commonly this term is mentioned in qualitative research articles. In this study, a literature review was conducted on selected qualitative research studies performed globally related to cognitive accessibility. This literature review analysed through meta-synthesis. Based on the results of the literature review, an understanding of existing qualitative research was obtained in the cognitive accessibility field, as well as topics for further qualitative research in the cognitive accessibility field.

From Face-to-Face to Online UDeL Camps: Supporting Staff at Higher Education Institutions in Developing Universal Design for eLearning (UDeL)

The TINEL Project is running a series of camps for staff at higher education institution to support them in developing inclusive eLearning. The first camp was conducted face-to-face, but the coronavirus pandemic meant that the second camp was conducted online. This created a case study in inclusive eLearning in itself and allowed us to experience and reflect on the challenges and opportunities of inclusive online teaching and learning. This paper presents the structure and content of the two camps, our reflections on moving from a face-to-face to an online situation and our elaboration how the UDL principles apply to eLearning to create Universal Design for eLearning (UDeL). We found that because we already had a syllabus for the camp prepared, transferring it to an online camp did not present a great number of challenges. Some aspects of the online situation were actually advantageous (e.g. presenting all materials digitally and making them fully accessible) while others were difficult to overcome (e.g. engaging all participants in online activities and discussions). We provide a set of recommendations of how to implement the three principles of UDL in eLearning situations.

Universal Design – A Solution for Ageing Workforce in Digitalized Workplaces?

This study reviews the extent to which Universal Design of digitalized work tools is not only a useful, but a necessary principle to support inclusion in an ageing workforce. But Universal Design must be understood and implemented in a broader sense than “classic” adaptation. It includes areas like services, digitalization training and user interface between mainstream and assistive technologies. It makes requirements to an enterprise’s management system and training policy, besides mainstream human resources policies. The paper goes through these requirements and concludes with the need to improve our understanding of the principle of Universal Design for it to be an efficient tool for inclusive workplaces: not only the digital work tools have to be accessible, but it must be combined with management policy, training and support.

The STAGE Platform: User Engagement of Older People Through Co-Design and Extended Access to Streamed Cultural Events

This paper illustrates the aim, concept and scope of the STAGE project as a complementary way of exploiting leisure. This is achieved through accessing cultural events for the benefit of older users in addition to the standard direct participation. Older users could not always avail such events within reach, due to several reasons – mobility and family problem, lacking infrastructure and transportation, affordability. Accessing cultural events via streaming is not an alternative or substitute of direct participation, but it is an additional way of attending that extends the audience, the range of selectable events – also internationally – and the participation options through time. Platform development was carried out with a significant and supportive user engagement of older people through the co-design methodology.

Trans-Create – Co-Design with Persons with Severe Disabilities

Technology has potential for improving the lives of persons with severe disabilities. But it’s a challenge to create technology that improves lives from a person’s own perspective. Co-design methods have therefore been used in the design of Assistive Technology, to include users in the design process. But it’s a challenge to ensure the quality of participation with persons with significantly different prerequisites for communication than ourselves. It’s hard to know if what we design is good for them in the way they themselves define it, in a communication situation, which has to be significantly different than traditional co-design. In this paper, we present a new approach to co-design with persons with severe disabilities. We call this process “trans-create”, based on the creative translation we use when translating between cultures. We found that by using familiar artifacts that could be added and removed in the co-design process, we had a language for communication. By adding a personalisable digital layer to the artifacts, we could adapt, scale and redesign both tangible, visual and sound qualities in the situation dynamically. For example, by making it possible for the user to choose and activate a pink music cover card (RFID) that turns the lighting of the entire room pink and changes the music. This implies changing the distinction between designer and user, between the design process and the use process, and the view of what we create during a co-design process. That is why we have chosen to call this process “trans-create”, instead of co-create, what we create for “living works”, instead of design, a hybridisation between design and use, process and result.

Universal Design in the Metrobuss System of Trondheim, Norway – Challenges and Solutions

The presentation describes challenges and possible solutions for achieving truly accessible high-class urban public transportation based on a case from Trondheim, where a new high-class bus system was implemented. The implemented solution did not reflect the wheelchair user’s needs – despite clearly stated ambitions for accessibility. Ramboll conducted a study comprising a screening of the international market for relevant solutions, combined with interviews with representatives of Public transport authorities. The results were presented to the local user’s representatives, and some solutions tested on location. Based on this process, recommendations for short-, medium- and long-term solutions were made. The project highlights the need for involvement of sufficient professional knowledge of universal design in the planning phase as well as in the implementation phase.

Experts by Experience as Contributors to Research and Development in a Corporate Context

This paper presents the findings of a user study conducted at a company, a global leader in its industry, in order to engage experts by experience in the research and development of the company’s future products. People who have life-changing experiences such as being ill or having a disability, and who are trained to consider their environment in terms of those experiences, can be called experts by experience. They can be inventive in creating solutions to the challenges of an inaccessible environment. Currently, their expertise is primarily used by the public sector, mainly in welfare and health-related initiatives. The corporate sector seems to have not yet actively engaged them. This study adopted a design research approach and applied a case study method to a research and development project conducted at a company. The user study comprised experts by experience testing a physical prototype that had digital content, by thinking aloud, interacting and participating in a design game. The aim was to understand the strengths, opportunities and development needs of the prototype, as well as to gain the experts’ insights into future requirements and how to meet them with similar products. The study resulted in usability-, appearance- and feel-related product qualities, as well as ideas regarding the product’s potential applications and digital content. The findings suggest that trained experts by experience can provide a company with information that could act as design drivers that benefit strategic development. Due to the inclusion and empowerment of users, as well as fostering their equality, engaging experts by experience in research and development could also be considered to be an example of corporate social sustainability and responsibility.

Inclusive Design as a Market Differentiator: An Industry and Academic Perspective on Diversity-Driven Initiatives in Built Environment Design Across North America, Europe, the UK, and Australia

Industry and academic perspectives have become more focused on designing for Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) over the past few years, both in general and particularly within the built environment. This renewed interest appears to have stemmed from a basis of respect-based ‘due diligence’ in 2018 to one of necessity in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic brought areas of difference into focus and exacerbated them, making it harder for people to live their everyday lives. In this paper, the authors seek to bridge the divide between academia and industry on the subject of Inclusive Design (ID) through their use of a combination of an academic and grey literature review as well as empirical research conducted with scholars and practitioners. These multiple methods focus less on the academic perspectives and more on how the industry has responded to the research and market demand. It clarifies nuanced differences among ID-related terms, provides best practice examples for wellness in the built environment, and identifies governing body guidelines (i.e., principles, protocols, policies) that have been enacted for ethical and business differentiating purposes.

Users’ Experience in Digital Architectural Design: Combining Qualitative Research Methods with a Generative Model

This paper presents the development of a digital generative design tool for residential building that integrates qualitative data from potential users of buildings. The central aim is to understand and challenge the inherent biases in the design process of architecture for mobility impaired users, whose experiences might be difficult to understand for designers who often move around and use buildings without any difficulty. Although Universal Design promotes designed environments that are more sensitized with the diverse difference of individuals, the most of design generating tools are based on empirically deducted human needs, objectifying the people or seeing them as useful in simply validating design ideas. There is a clear distance in between the real needs and wishes of wheelchair users and what architects imagine when designing. Mixed-methods – expert interview, literature review and data analysis of disability blogs – are used to collect and analyse wheelchair users’ experience. Accumulated qualitative data is, then, used as guiding input for the development of an explorative generative model that effectively produces large number of floor plans for residential architecture. The developed generative model effectively selects floor plans that correspond with challenges described by the wheelchair users. The selected floor plans become informed starting points for spatial planning, which can guide architects to produce new and unexpected design solutions that are more sensitised to wheelchair users’ experience. The application of generative design tools in early stages of design tasks can help architects to understand users’ needs and wishes, and thus challenge biased assumptions about wheelchair users’ experiences. And yet, further research needs to be conducted in order to progress the system: additional user data and new design objectives can give rise to new hypothesis and allow the system to be more precise, responding to the complex reality of disabled people in their everyday lives.

Practical Challenges of Creating and Managing the “Barrier-Free Basic Plan” for Better Accessibility in Cities by Local Governments in Japan

The Barrier-Free Basic Plan (BFBP) of Japan is based on Article 25 in the Act on the Promotion of Smooth Transportation, etc. of Elderly Persons, Disabled Persons, etc., abbreviated as the “Barrier-Free Act”. BFBPs are created by municipal governments and play a crucial role in progressing the accessibility of existing buildings/facilities in cities. However, the number of municipal governments which have their own BFBPs stands at only 304 out of a total of approximately 1700 municipalities in 2020. The purpose of this paper is to describe the barriers and difficulties that administrative officers face in creating and managing BFBPs. The questionnaires were distributed in 2018 to 183 municipal governments which have their own BFBPs. The procedures of analyzing the results were as follows: 1) motivation for creating their own BFBPs, 2) supportive advisers in proceeding with the creation of BFBPs, 3) difficulties of creating their own BFBPs, 4) key factors promoting the quality of BFBPs, and 5) self-evaluation of their own BFBPs. In conclusion, the challenges that administrative officers faced in creating BFBPs and the required measures to raise the quality of BFBPs on a practical level were discovered, by considering the population scales of municipalities and the establishment year of the BFBP. The continuous removing of obstacles in existing buildings based on BFBPs will allow for more comfortable and accessible cities for everyone.