BEYOND THE WHEELCHAIR

by HECKEL, PAMELA FUNDERBURG

The accessibility movement has become handicapped by its success. With the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the United States,1 the public has assumed that designating access as a civil right has solved the problem. Although civil authorities worldwide have revised building codes, they have shortsightedly focused on the removal of architectural barriers. The truth of the matter is that most people with disabilities have never used a wheelchair. Problems of accessibility have not been solved by wider doorways and gently-sloping ramps. The late Ronald Mace and others at the Center for Universal Design in Raleigh, N. C., have developed the theory of universal design to look beyond the wheelchair. 1 Ostroff, Elaine, “Universal Design: The New Paradigm,” in Universal Design Handbook, Wolfgang F. E. Preiser and Elaine Ostroff, eds., New York, McGraw-Hill, 2001, p. 1.3.