Each problem can be overcome, because they are our own creation. Discuss…

As we have seen in ‘What do we think about when we think about disability?’, disability and other forms of profound dependence are normal, not unusual occurrences.

It happens to everybody all the time

This can’t be stressed enough. Each of us at some stage of our lives, whether temporary or permanent, will be reliant on others for our health, wellbeing, even our survival. We are dependent upon parents in our infancy; we become dependent on family members during ill health; we become dependent upon carers and health systems, as well as family members, during old age.

What are the barriers?

People in this situation find themselves facing all sorts of barriers to exercising their own agency within a societal environment. Whilst quoting the World Health Organization’s definition of barriers, the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists the seven most common barriers:

• Attitudinal
• Communication
• Physical
• Policy
• Programmatic
• Social
• Transportation

A report from the UK’s Office of National Statistics - Disabled people's experiences with activities, goods and services, UK: February to March 2022 – outlined the experience of disabled people trying to navigate life made for able-bodied people.

There are recurring themes highlighted in the report, which include:

• Design barriers (physical or digital) which influence accessibility,
• The strategies disabled people devise to navigate and overcome barriers, 
• The cost and consequences of inaccessibility, 
• The impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on access and engagement,
• Solutions suggested by participants to improve accessibility.

The respondents quoted in the report make the point that they are excluded as much by a lack of thought in design and layout of the physical environment, as by any real technical issue, the result of not considering the needs of all building and service users.

Reading these reports, it becomes clear that the barriers faced by people with disabilities are at least as much based in mindset and culture as they are in anything technical.

When the Lines don’t meet

It can also happen that when there is motivation to make improvements that benefit people with disabilities and without disabilities, this sometimes takes a back seat to policy priorities and / or system fragmentation.

Witness the UK’s railways.

In its most recent edition (No. 1620, 29^th March – 11 April 2024 p.17), Private Eye highlights a problem created by the fragmented nature of UK railways:

“Getting on and off trains is one of the biggest hazards passengers routinely face, the 'platform- train interface' accounting for 48 percent of the total passenger fatality risk on the network according to the Rail Safety and Standards Board.”

There is a solution to this. Rolling stock supplied by Swiss company Stadler is in operation across parts of the network involving Greater Anglia, Merseyside and Transport for Wales.

The selling point for Stadler’s rolling stock is that it has extra-low floors and gap bridging doorsteps. This can be used by people in wheelchairs, people who use crutches and people who have enjoyed rather too much liquid entertainment. They appear across the country and are used with little problem.

Except the UK’s Department for Transport has not made these carriages mandatory. Great Western Railways, for example, has decided not to use these carriages and is procuring longer trains which, apparently, preclude these disability friendly extras. Change seems unlikely before the carriages in procurement are themselves replaced, sometime in the 2060s.

Culture change

Placing disabled and dependent people at the centre of a culture change within design and engineering can influence many areas of the process and produce an improved environment for all of us to live in.

 

Fig: Elements involved in engineering for disability

Following on from Le Corbusier’s maxim that ‘a house is a machine for living in,’ and extending it outward means creating homes, functional buildings and open spaces that can be used by anyone - disabled, dependent or not - requires a change in thinking in engineering and design.

At the centre of the culture change must be people with a disability, a vulnerability or dependence. It might concern small children, elderly people who have become frail, the one in nine disabled people who use a wheelchair or the vast majority whose disability does not force them to use a wheelchair.

Designing the design process

This change should take in the design process (see the responses to this post, which refer to poor design for anyone who is not 100% able), where disabilities appear to be an afterthought to be factored in if people need it.  This means rarely if ever, because of the cost of retrofitting buildings or redesigning products.

Having accessibility at the centre of the design process can make life easier for everyone, not simply people with disabilities. Good engineering design would take account of the needs of each user.

The Business Disability Forum has some suggestions for the inclusive design of technology. It makes the point that captions can be useful in video content for everyone, not simply people with hearing problems.

While this is aimed at digital tech, it isn’t hard to see these principles as applicable to a wide range of design and engineering tasks and solutions.

It suggests designing technology with disabled people in mind, from the beginning, which will prevent having to expensively retrofit accessibility later.

Designers shouldn’t see accessibility as a destination, but a process - making accessibility an ongoing dynamic, requiring a constant review of how to improve functionality for a diverse audience.

That by applying such principles across a range of endeavours, such as video content, internal systems and websites, one reaches a wider audience by being inclusive.

That accessibility is not the sole responsibility of one individual, it must be the responsibility of the whole organisation (the whole of society, too, but we have to start somewhere), with a culture of commitment to accessibility in every level.

How do we embed accessibility as a principle into our engineering and design culture? What are your experiences of getting around and using products with a disability, or simply ill health? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.