11 Feb
Scott Rains Writes About Access Verses Inclusion
New Mobility Magazine Image
What if the first question we asked was, “What is so unique about this situation that it justifies exclusion?” instead of, “how much does it cost to make it accessible?” So ponders Dr. Scott Rains of the Rolling Rains Report, in an article in the January issue of New Mobility magazine. New Mobility Person of the Year in 2009, Rains is an internationally renowned advocate for Inclusion – the enshrined right of freedom of movement and full participation of all people. Where accessibility is passive – leaving the door open without obstacles in the way, inclusion actively invites you in to the human network beyond the barrier-free doorway. “Accessibility looks at stuff and at space. Inclusion looks at human lives.” Accessibility often becomes mere compliance – obsession with checklists, concern that people with disabilities are risk management problems, and aiming for whatever minimum can be codified. “It is doing for”. Inclusion is about community. “It is about doing with”. Universal Design (or Inclusive Design, Design-for-All, or Lifespan Design) is modelled on the concept of inclusion. The Institute for Human-Centered Design describes it as a “framework for the design of places, things, information, communications, and policy to be usable by the widest range of situations without special separate design.” It is the design of everything with everyone in mind.
