[Announce] new publication: Designers with Disabilities

[announce-admin at comm-org.utoledo.edu]

From:	"Reidenbach, Betty" <BReidenbach at necfoundation.org>


...Designers with Disabilities at Work.
That's the title of an important new publication. It describes the 
career
development of 21 designers with disabilities from around the world, 
all of
whom contribute to a more inclusive society. In addition to 
documenting
their contributions to a more inclusive society, it reminds us that 
good
design - including architecture, industrial design and electronic 
design -
considers the needs of all users.

Whatever your perspective - diversity, vocational services, 
technology,
higher education, engineering, environmental design, universal 
design,
community, public spaces, youth - you will find something of 
interest in
Building a World Fit for People.

For more details, see the Press Kit at
www.AdaptiveEnvironments.org/accessdesign
<http://www.AdaptiveEnvironments.org/accessdesign>  .

You can order the book for $15.00 or read an accessible version 
online for
free. Development of the book was supported by a grant from NEC 
Foundation
of America.

A copy of the full press release follows:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: 	Elaine Ostroff, Founding Director Adaptive 
Environments
Director of the Global Universal Design Educator's Network, Email:
elaine at ostroff.org <mailto:elaine at ostroff.org>  or phone: 508 636 
6537

BUILDING A WORLD FIT FOR PEOPLE
Designers with Disabilities at Work

Boston July 23, 2002. Building a World Fit for People, written by 
Elaine
Ostroff, Mark Limont and Daniel Hunter, features the career 
development of
twenty-one designers with disabilities, from all over the world. The 
book is
published by Adaptive Environments, Boston, MA and made 
possible by a grant
from NEC Foundation of America. For more details, see
www.AdaptiveEnvironments.org/accessdesign
<http://www.AdaptiveEnvironments.org/accessdesign> . You can 
order the book
for $15.00 or read an accessible version online for free. 

Building a World Fit For People promotes the design professions as 
a viable
career opportunity for people with disabilities. The book describes 
the
earliest motivations, successes and roadblocks that the sixteen men 
and five
women encountered while pursuing their education and work. 
Building a World
Fit For People is for young people with disabilities, to let them know 
that
design-related work is an opportunity for them. It is also for career
counselors, to confirm that design is a profession that youngsters 
with
disabilities can enter; and for the many design teachers who have 
never had
a student with a disability, to illustrate the barriers that they can 
remove
in order to welcome students into their studios. It is for the staff of
disabled student services offices, to help them reach out to the 
design
faculty and find ways to assist students; for the vocational 
rehabilitation
counselors who may not know that design is an important field. It is 
for
employers in design firms that may never have had an employee 
with a
disability, to raise their expectations about the potential of designers
with disabilities. 

Reviewer Brad Grant, Chairperson of Architecture at Hampton 
University and
President of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture 
said,"
There is clearly an advantage to understanding and designing the 
environment
from the lens and sensitivity of being different, being with a 
"disability."


John Kemp, President of Half the Planet Foundation said, "The 
book is a
compelling statement about significant contributions to the built
environment by people with disabilities, architects and designers 
who
participate in the design of our environments homes, schools, 
workplaces,
cities, transportation systems. The disability mantra of the 1990s 
applies
to the design industry today more than ever: 'Nothing About Us 
Without Us'
is a slogan, a chant, even a book title, that implores policy- and 
other
decision-makers to include the people most directly affected by 
design
decisions in solving their own problems and creating better 
opportunities
for everyone's benefit".

The book was produced as part of the Access to Design Professions 
project, a
program of the Adaptive Environments Center. The late Ron Mace, 
FAIA,
inspired both the book and the project. Mace was an internationally
influential architect with a disability who defined universal design as 
the
design approach to create environments that most people can use 
throughout
their lives.  

Access to Design Professions (ADP) is funded by the National 
Endowment for
the Arts Leadership Initiative in Universal Design. The project 
promotes the
participation of people with disabilities in the design professions,
including architecture, industrial design, interior design, and 
landscape
architecture.  ADP offers an international E-Mentoring program that 
matches
design professionals with students or entry-level designers with
disabilities, connecting people from different parts of the world 
through
the Internet. Design students and practitioners with disabilities can 
also
join the International Network of Designers With Disabilities, and
participate in a private email list. For more information about ways 
to get
involved with the project visit: 
www.AdaptiveEnvironments.org/accessdesign
<http://www.AdaptiveEnvironments.org/accessdesign> .

Adaptive Environments is a Boston-based non-profit organization 
dedicated to
promoting access and universal design. A primary proponent of 
human-centered
design that works for everyone, Adaptive Environments was 
founded in 1978
and meets its mission of making the world fit for people through 
educational
programs, technical assistance, training, consultation, publications, 
and
design advocacy. For more information visit: 
www.AdaptiveEnvironments.org
<http://www.AdaptiveEnvironments.org> .

###




Betty Reidenbach
Executive Administrative Assistant
NEC Foundation of America

631.753.7021 phone
631-753-7096 fax

breidenbach at necfoundation.org 
<mailto:breidenbach at necfoundation.org>