The initiative for this project was taken by Benteler Engineering Services, as a result of having identified areas of improvement, in designated accessible areas like the wheelchair spot onboard buses. Depending on a wheelchair to be able to move around can understandably be challenging. Public transport is a common good in today`s society, however despite the measures taken towards adjusting to accessible needs, the majority of those being disabled chose different alternatives of transportation. This is due to reasons such as the drivers' poor attitude, furthermore the limitations of the space allocated to accessible needs, as people with strollers also use these spots onboard. Also, some wheelchair users find the rides unsafe, as they could easily fall over during without the appropriate space for them onboard the buses etc. These are only a few reasons why other options are sought out, i.e. private cars or taxis. The focus of the project has been to create a dialogue with the wheelchair users, in order to address the issues and challenges they are often faced with. To be successful in doing so, various unions have been contacted, followed by questionnaires and workshops with people from all professions – Engineers, bus drivers and those who assist the disabled. The result of this project is a 3D drawing designed in Catia V5. The drawing contains the four sub-functions that the users expressed most worries of. Keywords public transport, wheelchair spot, wheelchair users, accessibility, universal design, anthropometry

Simulation games may increase student engagement in the social studies classroom. Papert (1991) states that constructionism allows students to build, whether tangible or intangible objects, and that the building and conversation around the building allows student to learn best. In this study, the researcher observed and interviewed participants, as well as wrote in a journal about the experience, regarding playing a simulation game about the Electoral College. The researcher utilized en vivo coding to facilitate data interpretation. The participants were 18 year-old students at a suburban high school in a metropolitan area in the southeastern United States. These participants were selected by self-identifying themselves as ‘social studies haters.’ The researcher gathered data to determine if the simulation game has a relationship to engagement in the social studies classroom and examined with the simulation game, eLECTIONS, exercised elements of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) theory to engage the participants. The researcher determined that self-identified social studies haters at this school more strongly engaged in the social studies content when they participated in the simulation game on the Electoral College. The research also determined UDL enhanced engagement in the simulation game.

Outcomes related to students’ reading comprehension and higher-order critical thinking skills, and students’ academic and intellectual engagement following the implementation of a Three-Block Model of UDL-based literature circles pedagogical model were investigated. Fifty-nine (59) students attending three suburban public middle schools took part in the study. The study adopted a mixed-design approach to data collection and analysis, with quantitative data collected from all students, and qualitative data collected from a purposively selected sub-sample of 24 students (12 in each of treatment and control classes). Intervention and control groups were assessed pre and post for measures of reading comprehension using classroom-based assessments, which were triangulated by qualitative data from pre and post semi-structured student interviews to explore students’ academic and intellectual engagement. Quantitative data were analyzed using repeated measures MANOVA’s to determine treatment effects for both groups while qualitative data were transcribed and analyzed thematically using a case study approach. Quantitative results showed a small but significant increase in reading comprehension outcomes for proficient and typical readers in treatment groups compared to their counterparts in control classes, and showed a significantly greater increase in reading comprehension outcomes for students in treatment classes who are culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) and struggling readers. These findings were corroborated by the qualitative results, which showed that students’ academic and intellectual engagement increased in the treatment classes both for proficient readers and struggling readers.

The tourism industry involves people with specific but different needs to be satisfied, whether one is able-bodied or has a disability. People with disabilities are a global phenomenon and research indicated that 600 million people in the world have some type of disability. Therefore the market for tourists with disabilities cannot be disregarded, for it can significantly contribute to a country's tourism receipts. To understand and effectively cater for the disability market, there are several aspects that the tourism industry should look at. This leads to the aim of this study viz. to determine what the barriers and constraints faced by people with disabilities are. In order to achieve this aim, a hundred questionnaires were distributed to various sectors of the tourism industry, for example the accommodation sector (hotels, guesthouses, Bed and Breakfasts), tour operators and travel agents. The study indicated that: *The tourism industry needs to adapt and promote “Tourism for All”. *The lack of available and accessible facilities, transport, accommodation and attractions have an impact on the travel patterns of tourists with disabilities. * Marketing should include information to tourists with disabilities. * To achieve this goal and server diverse tourists, a universal design needs to be included in the current and future developments of tourism products. Evaluation of existing facilities and tourist attraction need to take place in order to provide a quality service and experience to people with disabilities. * Government and local authorities have an important role to fulfil to ensure that a universal design be implemented in tourist attraction and facilities. The key aspect that the tourism industry need to know and remember is that if a person has a disability, it does not mean that he/she is unable to travel or does not want to travel. / Thesis (M.A. (Tourism))--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2003.

The tourism industry involves people with specific but different needs to be satisfied, whether one is able-bodied or has a disability. People with disabilities are a global phenomenon and research indicated that 600 million people in the world have some type of disability. Therefore the market for tourists with disabilities cannot be disregarded, for it can significantly contribute to a country's tourism receipts. To understand and effectively cater for the disability market, there are several aspects that the tourism industry should look at. This leads to the aim of this study viz. to determine what the barriers and constraints faced by people with disabilities are. In order to achieve this aim, a hundred questionnaires were distributed to various sectors of the tourism industry, for example the accommodation sector (hotels, guesthouses, Bed and Breakfasts), tour operators and travel agents. The study indicated that: *The tourism industry needs to adapt and promote “Tourism for All”. *The lack of available and accessible facilities, transport, accommodation and attractions have an impact on the travel patterns of tourists with disabilities. * Marketing should include information to tourists with disabilities. * To achieve this goal and server diverse tourists, a universal design needs to be included in the current and future developments of tourism products. Evaluation of existing facilities and tourist attraction need to take place in order to provide a quality service and experience to people with disabilities. * Government and local authorities have an important role to fulfil to ensure that a universal design be implemented in tourist attraction and facilities. The key aspect that the tourism industry need to know and remember is that if a person has a disability, it does not mean that he/she is unable to travel or does not want to travel. / Thesis (M.A. (Tourism))--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2003.

Deutschland hat sich mit der Ratifizierung der Konvention über die Rechte von Menschen mit Behinderungen u. a. verpflichtet, ein inklusives Bildungssystem zu etablieren. Darunter zählt auch, die dafür erforderlichen Unterrichtsmaterialien bereitzustellen. Schulbuchverlage bieten deshalb seit einigen Jahren Inklusionsmaterialien an, die vor allem für Kinder mit erhöhtem Förderbedarf im Bereich Lernen oder der sprachlichen Entwicklung konzipiert sind. Allerdings sind solche Lernmittel für blinde oder sehbehinderte Kinder oft nicht zugänglich. Für eine barrierefreie Gestaltung fehlen Alternativen, Informationen auditiv oder taktil wahrzunehmen. Solche Lernmittel stellen bisher nur wenige spezielle Medienzentren her. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht, wie Lerninhalte derzeit barrierefrei produziert werden und welche Möglichkeiten sich für Schulbuchverlage durch die Anwendung neuer Technologien ergeben. Das Universelle Design – ein Gestaltungsansatz für Produkte und Anwendungen, die für eine größtmögliche Nutzergruppe zugänglich sind – bietet dabei die theoretische Basis, entsprechende (sonder-)pädagogische und herstellungstechnische Ansätze zu entwickeln. Auf der Grundlage einer Bedarfsanalyse, die durch Befragungen von Schulbuchverlagen, Lehrkräften und Medienzentren gestützt wird, werden Wege der Zusammenarbeit von Medienzentren und Schulbuchverlagen erschlossen. Daraus werden Prozessmodelle und -beschreibungen entwickelt, um die Reorganisationsmaßnahmen zu verdeutlichen, wie Schulbücher zukünftig barrierefreier produziert werden können. Eine abschließende Evaluation der Lösungsansätze mit Verlagsexperten und Mitarbeitern aus Medienzentren verdeutlicht die Synergiepotenziale, die aus technischer Perspektive vor allem im elektronischen Publizieren liegen. Durch eine Produktionsweise mit medienneutralen Daten in Schulbuchverlagen und Medienzentren können mehrere Anforderungen erfüllt werden, die den barrierefreien Zugang zu Lerninhalten verbessern. Die technischen Optimierungen allein lösen jedoch nicht alle Probleme. Auch die konzeptionelle Phase der Schulbuchentwicklung muss maßgeblich durch (sonder-) pädagogisches Wissen ergänzt werden, um ein sinnvolles didaktisches Konzept auch für blinde und sehbehinderte Kinder anbieten zu können. Die vorliegende Arbeit leistet deshalb grundlegende Untersuchungen, Besonderheiten für die Konzeption und Produktion zugänglicher Unterrichtsmaterialien darzulegen und die Mehrwerte für die Verlagsarbeit von Bildungsmedienanbietern aufzuzeigen.

Thesis (DTech(Design)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009 / Universal Design (UD), as it is known in the USA and elsewhere, is an inclusive approach to designing for the broader population and is rapidly gaining popularity amongst design practitioners and planners globally. Similar non-exclusive approaches have evolved in diverse parts of the world to counter the systemic disablement and exclusion of vulnerable/special populations of users perpetuated by traditional approaches to design. The transdisciplinary field of UD is informed by concilience in accommodating a wide range of related fields, such as education, landscape architecture, architecture, town and regional planning, industrial/product/three-dimensional design, furniture design, interior design, communication/information/graphic design, interaction design, human-computer interaction (HCI)/usability studies, and ergonomics/human factors engineering. UD proposes a collaborative systems approach that benefits from the synergies of cross-functionalism by approaching the diverse challenges facing society through socially responsible design. In so doing, UD can potentially impact such diverse issues as health, transportation, inclusive education, sports and recreation, entertainment, social welfare, inclusive employment, transgenerational/lifespan housing, inclusive tourism, accessibility, safety, and ecological concerns on sustainability.

Orientador: Núbia Bernardi / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-23T17:00:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Martin_ClaudiaMaria_M.pdf: 137646573 bytes, checksum: b6bfa7e878949686c21ad73ffef90d02 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: A necessidade de uma arquitetura acessível tem sido cada vez mais solicitada e torna-se importante ao arquiteto compreender a diferença entre o conceito de projeto de arquitetura "acessível" e o conceito de projeto de arquitetura "universal". Enquanto o projeto acessível é aquele que atende Normas Técnicas de acessibilidade garantindo a utilização dos ambientes por pessoas com deficiência e/ou mobilidade reduzida, o projeto universal é baseado em princípios do Desenho Universal (DU) e visa criar espaços que não segregam e que atendam o maior número possível de diversidades. Esta pesquisa teve por objetivo demonstrar a diferença entre estes conceitos aliando conceitos do DU aos parâmetros de acessibilidade apresentados na norma técnica NBR 9050:2004, que trata da acessibilidade a edificações, mobiliário, espaços e equipamentos urbanos sendo a principal referência utilizada no Brasil para orientação técnica de soluções arquitetônicas acessíveis. A metodologia incluiu uma análise de conteúdo de publicações referentes à acessibilidade no ambiente construído e uma pesquisa de exemplos iconográficos e diretrizes conceituais dos princípios do DU aplicados a projetos de arquitetura. O resultado da pesquisa foi à criação de um documento de auxílio ao arquiteto durante a elaboração de projetos. Este documento relaciona de maneira síncrona alguns parâmetros de acessibilidade que constam na NBR 9050:2004 com os conceitos do DU, facilitando o entendimento destes conceitos para a sua aplicação no projeto de arquitetura. Desta forma esta pesquisa pretende contribuir para a elaboração de projetos que expressem com clareza os conceitos de uma arquitetura universal / Abstract: The need to produce accessible architecture is increasingly asked for and therefore it is important for designers to fully understand the difference between the concept of "accessible" architecture and the concept of "universal" architecture. While accessible design attends Technical Standards by ensuring the accessibility of environments for people with disabilities and/or with reduced mobility, universal design is based on the principles of Universal Design (UD) and aims to provide spaces that do not segregate and that serve the biggest number of diversities. This study demonstrated the difference between these concepts adding the concepts of UD to the accessibility parameters presented in the Brazilian technical standard NBR 9050:2004, that deals with accessibility of buildings, furniture, spaces and urban equipment and is the main reference in Brazil for technical orientation towards accessible architecture solutions. The methodology included an analysis of the content of publications relating to questions of accessibility in the built environment and a search of examples and conceptual guidelines to incorporate UD principles into architectural designs. The result of this study was the creation of a document to help designers during their design process and project development. This document connects some accessibility parameters synchronously contained in the standard NBR 9050:2004 with the concepts of UD, facilitating the understanding of these concepts for their application in architectural design. Thus this research contributes to the development of design solutions that express more clearly the concepts of a universal architecture / Mestrado / Arquitetura, Tecnologia e Cidade / Mestra em Arquitetura, Tecnologia e Cidade

This dissertation format includes three articles that each address a unique aspect of the current barriers to access that individuals with disabilities with intersectional identities experience in their academic and career paths to attainment of a doctoral degree. The first article contains an analysis of data drawn from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09). This analysis revealed that youth with disabilities who were also economically disadvantaged participated in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) classes in high school in significantly lower numbers than their peers who did not have disabilities and were not economically disadvantaged and in significantly lower numbers than their peers who did have disabilities, but were not economically disadvantaged. Many of these students from low socio-economic status (SES) families also have subordinate group identities (United States Department of Education [USDOE], 2014). These students who have disabilities and are economically disadvantaged are less likely to pursue graduate education which requires the completion of research methodology coursework. The second article is a qualitative study of the experiences of doctoral degree program graduates who have disabilities and belong to other subordinate groups. The barriers to inclusion and their successes in completing research methodology coursework is discussed. The last article in this dissertation explores Universal Design in Instruction and Learning (UDIL) techniques that can improve access in research methodology coursework at the graduate level for students with disabilities and/or those with diverse learning styles.

This thesis focuses on the revitalization of a once thriving manufacturing city, Gardner, Massachusetts. In the past the city of Gardner was rich with furniture manufacturers. Over the years the manufacture of furniture has left Gardner. The goal of this thesis is to reinvigorate the furniture making and craft back into Gardner. The proposed revitalization of the town was furthered through teaching and the design and production of a new product line. The renovation and retrofit of an existing now abandoned, building. Designing to meet the strategies, methods, and processes of furniture production; merged with an architecture meant to signal both respect for the history of Gardner and a new revitalization; designing from the inside – out. Thoughts about sustainability and environmental design are incorporated into the design. There are a multitude of new building practices and strategies that are explored and will be used to try and form a design that could unite usability, function, aesthetics, and comfort as well as meeting current code and ADA requirements, through retrofitting an existing building. Teaching the former craft of furniture making will ignite revitalization in the downtown area. A new form of universally designed furniture making will be taught and practiced in the facility.