From computer workstations to the world of the web, statutes and policies have afforded students with disabilities the right to participate in postsecondary education in a non-discriminatory manner. Automatic doors and adjustable tables are a commonplace on campuses and represent prime examples of accessible policy adherence, but what affect do accessible website design policies have on practice? The answer is monumental for the students with disabilities that rely on the integration of electronic curb cuts into institutional websites. In 2006, Illinois Board of Higher Education required public postsecondary institutions to develop and implement a website policy, report on the accessibility of their websites and continuously improve throughout the year. In response, multiple policies and practices were implemented throughout the state. As to how effective this requirement was and what variables influenced policy decision and implementation is the purpose of my study. Through a mixed method approach, I examined the relationship between web accessibility policy and practice. Quantitatively, descriptive statistics in conjunction with a paired t-Test were used to examine the amount of change in the accessibility pass and fail rates of all 12 Illinois postsecondary institutional homepages. In addition, quantitative data were used as a means to identify trends such as spikes and drops. Qualitatively, autoethnographic practices and document analysis were implemented to bring focus as to why these changes and trends might have occurred. By implementing this mixed methodological approach, I was able to identify a statistically significant change in the overall statewide pass rate. In addition, three prominent trends were discovered. The first was a spike trend where accessibility pass rates spiked just before deadlines. The second was a high standard, high accessibility rate where institutions that incorporated a high standard ended up being the most accessible of all the state institutions. The third was a low standard, high accessible illusion trend. Here, institutions incorporated a low standard then stopped accessibility development when the standard was met. This afforded institutions the opportunity to report a high pass rate when assessed with their low standard rather than a low pass rate against a more stringent standard. The implications of this study are many. Of paramount importance is that policy is not always incorporated into practice as it was intended. This is evident with the low standard, high accessible illusion trend. The intent of the policy in this study was for continuous improvement. However, when institutions reported 100% compliance to a low standard, they were also able to report that there was no need for improvement. Consequently, if a policy is to succeed, such behavior needs to be taken into consideration and appropriately addressed.

For people who are blind or have low vision (BLV), physical barriers and negative experiences related to using current transportation options can have negative impacts on quality of life. The emergence of levels 4 – 5 automated driving system-dedicated vehicles (L4+ ADS), which will not require human operators to provide any input into the dynamic driving task, could empower the BLV community by providing an independent means of transportation. Yet, the BLV community has concerns that their needs are not being adequately considered by those currently developing L4+ ADSs, which will result in this technology being inaccessible to populations that it would otherwise greatly benefit. The current study sought to address this gap in the literature by explicitly evaluating the information and interactions that BLV riders will require from L4+ ADS. Specifically, we collected focus group and empirical data across three studies on BLV riders' information and interaction requirements for L4+ ADSs across expected and unexpected driving scenarios as well as pick-up and drop-off tasks (PUDO). Through focus groups with sighted (n = 11) and BLV participants (n = 11; Study 1), we identified similarities and differences between sighted and BLV participants in terms of their user needs for L4+ ADSs across five challenging driving scenarios. Next, we examined BLV participants' (n = 13; Study 2) information requests in real-world settings to better understand BLV riders' needs during a simulated L4+ ADS experience. Our findings show that BLV riders want information that helps with (a) orienting to important objects in the environment during PUDO, (b) determining their location while riding in the ADS, and (c) understanding the ADSs' actions. Finally, we developed an HMI prototype using BLV riders' feedback in Studies 1 and 2 and had BLV participants engage with it during a simulated L4+ ADS trip (n = 12; Study 3). Our results suggest that BLV riders value information about nearby landmarks in familiar and unfamiliar areas, as well as explanations for ADS's actions during ordinary and unexpected scenarios. Additionally, BLV riders need information about required walking distances and presence of tripping hazards in order to select a drop-off location. Taken together, our studies show that BLV riders have specific requirements that L4+ ADS must meet in order for this to be an accessible means of transportation. In light of these findings, we generated 28 guidelines and 44 recommendations that could be used by designers to improve the accessibility of L4+ ADSs for BLV riders. / Doctor of Philosophy / When using current transportation options, individuals who are blind or have low vision (BLV) often encounter physical barriers and negative experiences, which can limit their ability to travel independently and have negative impacts on their overall quality of life. However, future vehicles equipped with levels 4 – 5 automated driving systems (L4+ ADSs) will offer transportation that requires no input from human operators, and thus, could be used as an independent means of transportation for the BLV community. Unfortunately, the BLV community has concerns that their needs are not being adequately considered by those currently developing L4+ ADSs, which will result in this technology being inaccessible to populations that it would otherwise greatly benefit. The current work sought to address this gap in the literature by evaluating the information and interactions that BLV riders will require from L4+ ADS. We conducted three studies to collected data on BLV riders' information and interaction requirements for L4+ ADSs across a variety of driving scenarios as well as tasks relating to being picked up and dropped-off by an L4+ ADS. First, through focus groups with sighted and BLV participants, we identified similarities and differences between sighted and BLV participants' user needs for L4+ ADSs across five challenging driving scenarios. Next, to better understand BLV riders' needs, we had BLV participants indicate when they would desire information during a simulated L4+ ADS ride-hailing experience in real-world settings. Our findings show that BLV riders want information that helps with (a) orienting to important objects in the environment during PUDO, (b) determining their location during their trip, and (c) understanding the reason for the ADS's actions. Finally, using BLV riders' feedback, we developed an HMI prototype and had BLV participants engage with it during a simulated L4+ ADS trip. Our results suggest that BLV riders value information about nearby landmarks in both familiar and unfamiliar areas, as well as explanations for ADS's actions during common (e.g., stopping at a stop sign) and unexpected driving scenarios (e.g., sudden swerve). Additionally, when being dropped off, BLV riders need information about required walking distances and presence of tripping hazards in order to select a desirable drop-off location. Taken together, our studies show that BLV riders have specific requirements that L4+ ADS must meet in order for this to be an accessible means of transportation. In light of these findings, we generated a set of guidelines and recommendations that designers can use to improve the accessibility of L4+ ADSs for BLV riders.

The following thesis presents the design for a housing complex. The complex provides homes for two different segments of our population: single families and older or disabled persons and couples. Located in Old Town Alexandria Virginia, the project sits on the banks of the Potomac River. The question of integration is central to this thesis. The first design challenge is to integrate the older persons and persons with disabilities into the community. Successfully done, this will prevent the sense of separation and isolation that can often result when people's physical limitations restrict their access to the world around them. The second design challenge is to integrate the complex itself into an existing, homogenous Old Town Alexandria neighborhood. / Master of Architecture

Most buildings are built accessible but they often just becomes a tool for admiration. Slap a ramp on to a building and you're seen as inspirational and inclusive, but he actual usefulness becomes lost in admiration. Even less accessible is buildings built for person who’s neurodivergent, an umbrella-term for autism, ADHD, dyslexia and similar cognitive disabilities. Neurodiversity has been know for 30 years but we know just as much now, as then, about architecture and neurodiversity. Physical disabilities is and are possible to measure and create guidelines for, but not neurodiversity. Neurodiversity is a wide umbrella term on a spectrum of disorders that can not yet fully be measured.  The traditional top down approach to accessible design has never worked and will never work for neurodiversity. A new approach is necessary. The last few years hints towards a new view from the disability community,- “If you fell like you’re disabled, you are disabled”. What if we looked at the design process from that view, that the building itself can create disabilities?  What if we created buildings not to be admired, but buildings that admier the user? More at Thedisabledarchitect.com

Accessible user interfaces are useful for people from a population with the widest range of capabilities. People with severe impairments primarily benefit from assistive technology while built-in software-based accessibility functionality and its customisation is advantageous to many other people who experience temporary or situational disabilities. However, increasing software customisation does not naturally result in better user interfaces or reduces barriers. Quite the reverse! Finding proper adjustments requires high computer literacy. Moreover, users must create mental models for different user interfaces and must be able to translate between them back and forth because several digital devices are used sequentially or simultaneous for multifaceted contexts. This thesis investigates accessible design for multifaceted usage of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) such as desktop, mobile devices, web-based applications or ubiquitous services to address people from a population with the widest range of capabilities. Particular attention is given to user-adaptive systems because they can overcome the limitations of manual forms of personalisation and thus can lead to better user interfaces for all people. The presented work is organised in three parts. The first part elaborates the foundations of accessible design. A distinctive domain of a user-adaptive systems called Adaptive Inclusive Interactive System (AIIS) is introduced to show personalisation embodies a new form of accessible design. AIISs distinguish from other user-adaptive systems because they take disability as a starting point for user modelling. Against the background of existing classifications, the common ground between AIIS and other domains of user-adaptive systems is elaborated and distinctive features of AIIS are discussed. The adaptor type of inference is newly introduced in order to describe use-adaptive systems adapting a single application and those considering the interplay of accessibility aids available on an interactive device. More specifically, the interaction within and across different configuration layers (i.e.\,operating system, application, assistive technology, web) is taken into account by inferring from existing knowledge to customisation for new platforms. Furthermore, functional requirements and design choices for AIISs are demonstrated along with five specific use cases; in particular respecting information appliances in ubiquitous or individual environments, highly customisable general purpose computers, multi-user application contexts and multi-screen behaviour. In addition, a systematic literature review of AIISs was conducted to discuss limitations of current approaches and to analyse the degree of user diversity targeted by existing systems. Results show, although multi-device and context-sensitive approaches are widely addressed, identified challenges are not sufficiently treated. Results of the literature survey show further, the adaptation theory of AIISs is mostly based on stereotypical assumptions about commonly known groups of impairments. A main limitation of stereotypes is that within-group diversity cannot be modelled. Feature-based user models such as needs and preferences are promising but seldom applied by AIISs. The second part of this thesis describes a knowledge-based approach to user interface adaptation from preferences and for special needs. The approach was implemented as the Rule-based Matchmaker (RBMM) component of the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII). The GPII is a software architecture to facilitate the auto-configuration of ICT such as desktop computers running MS Windows or Linux, Android-based mobile devices or public terminals such as automated teller machines. Compared to the state of the art, the inference of the proposed knowledge-approach is not encoded into explicit rules deriving adaptations from impairment groups by propositional logic. Instead, a domain ontology and logical assertions were formalised to allow inferences compatible with those applied by accessibility experts who set-up interactive devices for people with disabilities. This knowledge was described in a generic and feature-based manner to ensure scalability of the inference about diverse user demands and heterogeneous accessibility aids. The formalisation of the domain knowledge and the logical rules fulfil several challenges, including deducing configurations in cases where a user need cannot be satisfied by device customisation or can be satisfied by a multitude of accessibility aids that interfere with one another. As the proposed system emulates decision-making of accessibility experts, automatically deduced configurations were validated against manual configurations of ten accessibility experts. Results show, the average matching score of the developed system is high. Thus, the proposed system can be considered being capable of making precise decisions towards personalising user interfaces based on user needs and preferences. Third part of this thesis comprises three empirical studies in order to discover specific domain knowledge with respect to insufficiently investigated AIISs-specific use cases as well as ICT-related requirements of certain user groups. Findings of this part of the thesis can be put to partial use -- for instance -- by extending the domain ontology of the proposed knowledge-based approach to user interface adaptation from preferences and for special needs. The first foundational user study investigates what people with disabilities know about their needs and preferences. The results show, user models must include ICT-related difficulties described at a more abstract level in addition to needs and preferences. Findings also demonstrate a wide range of individual requirements that must be considered by AIIS. Knowledge obtained from this user study was primarily used to derive requirements for the implemented RBMM. The second user study addresses a specific use case of AIIS, one that targets multi-user applications. More specifically, contradicting preferences in multi-user application contexts were analysed. Results comprise conflict resolution approaches that can be applied and further investigated by user-adaptive systems targeting this specific use case. A third user study explores ICT-related requirements of people with dementia because cognitive disabilities are not adequately covered by accessible design. The findings indicate an intersection of requirements with existing accessibility guidelines but they emphasise aspects not covered previously.

När man tänker på design och kanske framförallt grafisk design, samt med vilket av våra fem sinnen som vi människor främst upplever detta med, så är det förmodligen synen som man tänker på i första hand. De övriga fyra sinnena hamnar i skymundan och aktiveras inte i samma utsträckning som synen gör och de förblir passiva i vår interaktion med grafisk design. Men hur skulle upplevelsen av design förändras om man formger för fler sinnen än ett? Att inkludera och ta hänsyn till fler sinnen än synen när man designar öppnar även upp för ett mer inkluderande samhälle för dem människor som saknar full kapacitet av synen eller något av de övriga fyra sinnena oavsett om det är ett permanent eller temporärt tillstånd man befinner sig i. Med detta projekt ämnar jag att utforska vad sinnesdesign kan göra för vår upplevelse av design samt belysa de eventuella möjligheter som kan komma med den här typen av design där man designar med fler sinnen i åtanke. / When thinking about design, and perhaps graphic design in particular, and which of our five senses that we as human beings experience design with, most of us are likely to think about sight first hand. The other four senses tend to be forgotten or not taken into consideration and remain passive in our interaction with graphic design. How might the inclusion of more than one of these senses change, or perhaps even enhance the experience of design? To take more than one sense into consideration while designing could also create a more inclusive society for people that lack full capacity of their vision or any of the other four senses whether it be a permanent or temporary condition.  This project aims to explore what sensory design does to our experience of graphic design. It highlights the opportunities that could come with sensory design and designing with more senses in mind.

[ES] La presente tesis doctoral propone un acercamiento metodológico para conceptualizar y diseñar proyectos de comunicación gráfica en exposiciones bajo criterios de sostenibilidad, accesibilidad e inclusión, teniendo en cuenta a las personas usuarias en todas las fases de desarrollo del proyecto. En primer lugar, se analiza la evolución del museo y sus funciones, atendiendo a los cambios sociales y tecnológicos acontecidos en las últimas décadas, que suponen un nuevo paradigma en la relación entre estos espacios culturales y sus audiencias, especialmente por la irrupción de las redes sociales y las técnicas de participación, que ofrecen interesantes posibilidades a nivel didáctico. Posteriormente, la investigación aborda la importancia de tener en cuenta la diversidad humana para promover instalaciones y discursos adaptados a todo tipo de audiencias, independientemente de sus características físicas, cognitivas, edad, formación o cualquier otro condicionante. Teniendo en cuenta estas premisas, se aborda la materialización del diseño museográfico bajo criterios de diseño para todas las personas, que se combina con los principios teóricos de la interpretación gráfica para asegurar una comunicación efectiva de los discursos. Finalmente, y ante la actual crisis climática, se ahonda en el diseño y producción sostenible de exposiciones, realizando un profundo estudio teórico aplicado a este ámbito. A partir de casos de estudio innovadores y un exhaustivo análisis de materiales, se proponen alternativas a la producción tradicional y diversas soluciones creativas a partir de la reutilización y circularidad de los materiales. La aportación se completa con entrevistas a profesionales de reconocido prestigio para ahondar en los retos a los que se enfrenta la museografía del futuro. Desde estas tres ópticas o líneas teóricas, lejos de concebir un método de forma estanca, la investigación sugiere concebir el diseño museográfico como un proceso de mejora continua para promover proyectos de comunicación significantes, inclusivos y sostenibles. / [CAT] La present tesi doctoral proposa un apropament metodològic per a conceptualitzar i dissenyar projectes de comunicació gràfica en exposicions sota criteris de sostenibilitat, accessibilitat i inclusió, tenint en compte a les persones usuàries en totes les fases de desenvolupament del projecte. En primer lloc, s'analitza l'evolució del museu i les seues funcions, atesos els canvis socials i tecnològics esdevinguts en les últimes dècades, que suposen un nou paradigma en la relació entre aquests espais culturals i les seues audiències, especialment per la irrupció de les xarxes socials i les tècniques de participació, que ofereixen interessants possibilitats en l'àmbit didàctic. Posteriorment, la investigació aborda la importància de tindre en compte la diversitat humana per a promoure instal·lacions i discursos adaptats a tota mena d'audiències, independentment de les seues característiques físiques, cognitives, edat, formació o qualsevol altre condicionant. Tenint en compte aquestes premisses, s'aborda la materialització del disseny museogràfic sota criteris de disseny per a totes les persones, que es combina amb els principis teòrics de la interpretació gràfica per a assegurar una comunicació efectiva dels discursos. Finalment, i davant l'actual crisi climàtica, s'aprofundeix en el disseny i producció sostenible d'exposicions, realitzant un profund estudi teòric aplicat a aquest àmbit. A partir de casos d'estudi innovadors i una exhaustiva anàlisi de materials, es proposen alternatives a la producció tradicional i diverses solucions creatives a partir de la reutilització i circularitat dels materials. L'aportació es completa amb entrevistes a professionals de reconegut prestigi per a aprofundir en els reptes als quals s'enfronta la museografia del futur. Des d'aquestes tres òptiques o línies teòriques, lluny de concebre un mètode de manera estanca, la investigació suggereix concebre el disseny museogràfic com un procés de millora contínua per a promoure projectes de comunicació significants, inclusius i sostenibles. / [EN] This doctoral thesis proposes a methodological approach to conceptualise and design graphic communication projects in exhibitions under the criteria of sustainability, accessibility, and inclusion, while considering users in all phases of project development. Firstly, the evolution of the museum and its functions is analysed, taking into consideration the social and technological changes that have taken place in recent decades. This represents a new paradigm in the relationship between these cultural spaces and their audiences, mainly due to the irruption of social networks and participation techniques, which offer interesting possibilities at a didactic level. Furthermore, the research addresses the importance of considering human diversity: promoting facilities and discourses which are adapted to all audiences, regardless of their physicality, cognitive function as well as age, education or other conditioning factors. Considering these premises, the materialisation of museum design is addressed under the criteria of Design For All. This is then combined with the theoretical principles of graphic interpretation to ensure effective communication of discourse. Finally, due to the current climate crisis, the sustainable design and production of exhibitions is explored in depth by carrying out a rigorous theoretical study applied to this field. Based on innovative case studies and an exhaustive analysis of materials, the thesis proposes alternatives to traditional production and various creative solutions based on the reuse and circularity of materials. The academic contribution is completed with interviews with renowned professionals to delve into the challenges facing the future of Museography. From these three points of view or theoretical lines, far from conceiving a watertight method, the research suggests conceiving Museography Design as a continuous improvement process to promote significant, inclusive, and sustainable communication projects. / Lleonart García, M. (2023). Diseño y producción de exposiciones. Un acercamiento a la comunicación efectiva en museografía bajo parámetros de accesibilidad, inclusión y sostenibilidad [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/196014