Thursday, April 21, 2011

THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT - 24


A GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL DESIGN

Universal design strives to integrate people with disabilities into the mainstream and assistive technology attempts to meet the specific needs of individuals, but the two fields intersect in a gray zone in which products and environments are not clearly "universal" or "assistive," but have characteristics of each.

Some products have enjoyed crossover success, starting as assistive devices and becoming mainstream products, such as the kitchen utensils with thick grips popularized by Oxo International in their "Good Grips" line.

A few products have moved the other way, conceived as high-tech devices for small markets that find new application in the rehabilitation arena, such as voice recognition software.

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