UD Systems

Cook and Hussey (Cook and Hussey, 1995, 2002, 2007) present a general model for an AT system called the Human Activity Assistive Technology (H.A.A.T.) model. This model focuses on the interaction of three variables: the human (person); the activity ; the assistive technology. Each variable, operates within the context that also exerts an influence on how people use AT.

H.A.AT Model

AT Systems AT systems are based on the HAAT model (Cook and Hussey, 1995, 2002, 2007). This is analogous to the models of occupation based around the triple of Person, Occupation and Environment i.e. PEO models from Occupational Therapy (American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc., 1973, Hagedorn, 1992, Dutton, Levy and Simon, 1993, Christiansen, 1991a, Reed, 1984, Reed and Sanderson, 1983). Yet Universal Design doesn’t really talk about this triple. It seems to talk about all the elements of the triple, but separately.

Focus The major focus of Universal Design is the Environment, for example residential and urban environments (Preiser and Ostroff, 2006, NCSU, 2008). The term Universal Design was coined by Ron Mace (Mace, 1988, 1997, Mace et al, 1991), an architect, a profession shared by many of its early adherents (Mace, 1997). Universal Design of products and objects is ongoing, e,g. OXO award winning kitchen utensils (OXO, 2011).

Recent Work Some recent work applies principles of Universal Design to activity. This includes Universally Designed Instruction (Burgstahler, 2007, 2011) Universal Design for Learning (Rose and Meyer, 2002, Rose et al, 2005), and the activity/function of hearing (David, 2008).

The Person At the heart of Universal Design is the Person. All descriptions of the Universal Design process emphasize the central importance of consideration of the user in all their possible attributes and capabilities (Goodwin and Cooper, 2009,Black, 2009).

Model of UD With this in mind it seems entirely appropriate to consider Universal Design in terms of models of Person, Environment and Activity/ Occupation.

Universal Design System Objects Person/ People Activity/ Occupation Environment

Note Objects can be considered as a separate subset in the Environment because it allows us to talk about product design and interaction.

Such systems can be referred to as Universal Design systems. The analysis of moving objects from location to location carried out by the Center for Universal Design is a good example of such a Universal Design System (Yu, 2009). It considers the activity of load carrying and the objects involved. It looks at how the application of Universal Design principles might impact on the performance of the activity and on the well being of the person.

The concern is that Universal Design improves participation by optimizing the above triple. A system without the application of Universal Design results in greater barriers to participation and a greater number of people are excluded, than is the case where Universal Design has been applied.

UD Applied Contrast this with the next figure which depicts a system where Universal Design has been applied.

UD Applied

Partcipation Reduced barriers imply greater participation. The development of a formal framework for object interaction, particularly when augmented with anthropometric data, allows for the exploration of usability of everyday devices in terms of capacity demands of objects and activity versus the capabilities and capacities of users.

Inclusive approach This approach is espoused by major contributors to inclusive product design such as Clarkson (Clarkson et al, 2002, 2007, 2008). Emerging ergonomic assessment tools (Jack, 2011, RAMSIS, 2011) consider this relationship (Virtual Humans, 2011).There is a need for a new generation of tools which audit built in exclusion due to poor design choices.

Handicapping Environments This idea of exclusion is broader than the traditional paradigm of disability. The idea of handicapping environments and such like, show that there are issues for everyone. For example, bank ATMS are difficult for everyone to use, when the sun shines (INREDIS, 2011).

UD Systems The concept of Universal Design Systems is likely to gain further currency in the near future. It seems that major proponents of PEO models, namely Occupational Therapists are positioning themselves to play a major role in the development of Universal Design particularly with regard to occupational engagement (CAOT Statement, 2009).