Designing for Disabled Joy
Independent research project in collaboration with the Community Vision Assistive Technology Lab, 2020-2021
We need to ask disabled and neurodivergent people how they imagine a radically inclusive built environment.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) gave us the basics of non-discrimination, but it didn't give us freedom. Many spaces are still exclusive to disabled and neurodivergent folks who deserve to have full access to restaurants, shops, entertainment venues, and more.
The next step is to center disabled joy. Disabled joy is about participation, community, and personal enjoyment. It's about belonging. The design choices that support disabled joy will vary per person, which is why we need to learn from diverse disabled people.
I/F collaborated on this project with the super helpful folks at the Community Vision Accessible Technology Lab in Portland, Oregon (including M. Sabine Rear, in video above).
We developed a survey and conducted interviews and a focus group. We asked disabled and neurodivergent people where they like to go and where they would like to go—if there weren’t barriers.
Responses from our survey and interviews are interspersed throughout resulting design and alt-text trainings and an upcoming on-demand course for architects and other stewards of our shared spaces. Architects receive AIA LU|HSW credits.
Disability Justice Principle #10: Collective Liberation.
To move forward, we work together.
The AT Lab team reviewed survey questions, connected I/F with potential interviewees and survey respondents, hosted interviews, and provided instrumental feedback on course content.
Photo of Community Vision’s lovely roof deck by Disabled and Here.
Who responded to our survey?
Happily, we reached folks with a whole spectrum of spatial experiences for both our survey and interviews. We are so appreciative of their vulnerability and willingness to discuss their challenges in built spaces.
Click image to expand.
I/F is committed to equitable engagement.
We need to value the contributions of our disabled community members. Survey respondents were entered in a drawing for a gift certificate, and interviewees were paid for their time.
In appreciation for their assistance, Community Vision receives 15% of proceeds from I/F’s “8 Ways to Design for Disabled Joy” trainings and on-demand course sales.
What did we learn?
We summarized our findings in 8 takeaways for designers and stewards of shared spaces.
While some of the requests from our interviewees were to simply apply the ADA in full, we also learned that there is a lot we can do to go “above and beyond” the ADA.
Schedule a workshop with I/F to learn 8 Ways to Design for Disabled Joy!
Better Bathrooms / Equal Entry / More Chairs, Everywheres / The Space Between
Clear Navigation / Balance Sensory Inputs / Design for Dynamism / Digital Bridge
Two pages of the upcoming 8 Ways to Design for Disabled Joy on-demand course.