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Universal Design Newsletter, January 2010 issue (MS Word format)
Cynthia Leibrock
Improving People's Lives by Design
Editor's Note: Congratulations to Cynthia Leibrock who was recently featured in a New York Times article on Aging in Place. Here is a feature article we ran in Universal Design Newsletter in July 2006.
She had the career many young designers dream about…a firm of her own, designing homes for people for whom money was no object. In her own words, universal designer Cynthia Leibrock, MA, ASID, Hon. IIDA, now an award winning author and international lecturer, spent the first decade of her career “making rich people, look richer.” But instead of feeling successful, she felt empty. “I didn’t find eternal satisfaction in doing that. I didn’t feel like I had much purpose,” she says. So she fired her dozen employees, shut down her firm and went on a quest to find a purpose for her life. A simple invitation by one of her fired employees to attend a Bible study class led her to
discover her life’s work.
“I grew up with a brother with a mental disability. One of the reasons that I ended up doing high end work was that it was as far away from disability as I could get,” she said. But her spiritual journey brought her full circle. “I found that I wanted to improve the lives of older people and people with disabilities by design,” says Leibrock. With certain deliberateness, she works toward that goal in her many and varied projects and endeavors.
Universal Design Newsletter April 2009 (MS Word)
Previous Features
- The Access Board's David Capozzi: Rising Through the Ranks -- David Capozzi
- "It's Not You, It's the House" -- Leon Harper
- "Doing the Right Thing Shouldn't Be So Hard" -- The Carlyle Suites Hotel, Washington, DC
People in the Field of Universal Design
Capozzi Talks about the New ADAAG
Universal Design Newsletter asked new Access Board Executive Director David Capozzi about some significant changes found in the 2004 Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (2004 ADAAG).
“Everything is covered.” In the 1991 ADAAG things that are not described are not covered, and many non-fixed items, such as dining tables are exempted. The new
standards cover everything (fixed or not) even if not described. “You can’t regulate everything, that is why we have a robust technical assistance line,” says Capozzi. “…We get those calls often. ‘I’m building X and how do I apply your guidelines to that?’”
He says that the staff that write the guidelines are the same staff that answer the technical assistance questions and go out and provide training. Aside from having highly qualified personnel consistently and confidently answering questions, the process helps the staff identify issues that might need to be regulated. “You can’t nor should you ever try to regulate everything,” says Capozzi.
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Comment Clock is Running on Information Technology Standards
March 18, 2010
The public has until June 21, 2010 to comment on the draft standards for electronic and information technology in the federal sector covered by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. The draft was released March 17 by the US Architectural & Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board). As part of this rulemaking, the Access Board proposes to supplement its American with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines, which cover access to facilities, to broaden coverage to include certain types of interactive transaction machines such as point-of-sales machines and self-service kiosks.
“The new interactive transaction machines (ITM) criteria will have a far reaching impact,” says John P.S. Salmen, AIA, President of Universal Designers & Consultants Inc. “Any retail establishment with a credit card machine is going to be effected by these new standards and guidelines.” Point of sale devices were not mentioned in the 1991 ADAAG and specifically exempted from the 2004 ADAAG.
The draft features a new structure and format that combines the 508 standards and Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act guidelines into a single document referred to as the “Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Standards and Guidelines.”
According to the Access Board, requirements have been reorganized according to functionality instead of product type since many devices now feature an array of capabilities and applications. The released draft includes proposed revisions to various performance criteria and technical specifications that are designed to improve accessibility, add clarity to facilitate compliance, address market trends, and promote harmonization with other guidelines and standards.
These standards affect telephones and cell phones and other telecommunication products, computer hardware and software, websites, media players, electronic documents, and PDAs, among others. Access is addressed for various disabilities, including those that are sensory, physical, or speech-related in nature. The Access Board will hold a public hearing on the draft rule in San Diego at the 25th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference organized by the California State University at Northridge (CSUN).
The draft rule and published notice are available at www.access-board.gov/508.htm. To view and submit comments, visit www.regulations.gov. For further information, contact Tim Creagan at creagan@access-board.gov, 202.272.0016 (v), or 202.272.0082 (tty).
Universal Design Leadership Project Deadline tomorrow
February 16, 2010
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. Proposed projects should focus on extending the appeal of universal design from the disability community into the mainstream of American design and American society. The project should educate designers and others including developers, city planners, and consumers on this important issue.
The purpose of this Program Solicitation is to select an organization (Cooperator) to administer the Universal Design Leadership Project.
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Proposal Receipt Deadline: February 17, 2010 The complete program solicitation is available as a PDF document: |
Shoveling for all
February 12, 2010
Having a 36-inch wide path through the snow on sidewalks can be the difference between isolation and independence for some members in a community. That was the impetus in launching the Wide Enough for Wheels educational effort in Montgomery County, MD several years ago.
The campaign is targeted at homeowners and business owners who are required by county law to shovel public sidewalks and curb ramps in front of their properties within 24 hours of a snowfall. According to the brochure, “Not everyone can use a narrow path.” It suggests that the 36-inch wide path would be beneficial for people who use walkers, wheelchairs, baby strollers and rolling brief cases.
With two blizzards in a week and more than 25 inches of snow on the ground in the Washington, DC metropolitan area this winter, the positive impact of this campaign is significant. This snow, unlike usual DC snows, will not likely disappear anytime soon. The paths people shovel this week will likely effect the travel of people who roll or walk in the area for weeks to come.
For more information on the campaign, visit http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/PIO/emergency/wide_enough_for_wheels_flyer.pdf