UNIVERSAL DESIGN IS THE PATH TO ACHIEVING IT
I recount the conversation where the urban designers says, “I rarely see people with disabilities in my town, so I don’t prioritize their inclusion when I’m designing a new town or upgrading an old neighborhood.”
And I counter “with 85 million people with disabilities
in the U.S., it’s not because there aren’t many folks with disabilities in your
city – it’s because you are designing everything so poorly, so ableist, that
they don’t have the equity and inclusion they deserve.
They want to be immersed in your city, adding to its
vibrancy, but you keeping planning and building things that exclude them.
You better address that, or the city will replace you
with somebody who can design for all.”
Remember, anything public that is not equally accessible
to all is a failure of the basic tenants of civil rights and equal treatment
for all.
One of my Universal Design students said it best when he
reviewed a town plan that isolated people with disabilities and stripped them
of the basic dignity of inclusive mobility.
He observed: “If you city doesn’t work for everyone, it
works for no one.”
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