Dónal Rice
Senior Design Advisor, ICT
Achieving universal design in
Ireland
Centre For Excellence in Universal Design
(CEUD)
Standards
– Stimulate research
– Participate in Standardisation work nationally and
internationally
– Provide advice to stakeholders
– Encourage compliance
Education and Professional Development
– Incorporate UD content into design curriculum
– Guidance on Universal Design for teaching, examinations
and accreditation
Awareness
– Maintain a best practice database (website)
– Promote awareness and understanding
Universal Design Assumes;
Every person experiences barriers, reduced functioning,
some form of disability – temporary or permanent – at
some stage in life
Ireland’s National
Disability Strategy
launched in
September 2004
Disability Act 2005
Formation of;
Centre for Excellence
in Universal Design
(CEUD) January 2007
Built environment
Products & Services
ICT
3
Age
Technology and Older People
• Universal Design and Technology for
Older People
• A Survey Tool for Assessing Technology
Design for Older People, in-situ, in an Irish
Context
• St James Hospital and TCD
• Pendant alarms and other ‘difficult
technologies’
Technology and Older People
• Mostly unsure or unaware of what steps would occur after
they had pressed the alarm button.
• Understanding that batteries needed to be replaced from
time to time on the alarms
• Understanding that the alarms would not work outside a
radius of the home
• Buttons on tape recorders or DVDs that were the same
colour as the casing, and were very small and difficult to see
• Symbols on controls that were difficult to understand
• Difficulty in operating equipment due to reduced mobility
and dexterity, for example reaching down to operate a DVD
player placed at a low level relative to the ground.
Technology and Older People
• Universal Design Survey tool
– applied in the homes of 30 older people in the
Liberties Area in Dublin 8. All were over 65 years
of age and most live alone.
– Draft tool based on work of e.g. Lenker and
Beecher
– 3 pilots of Tool
– capable of generating quantitative scoring of the
relative difficulties the users had, and capturing
qualitative data on the design issues with which
users struggled.
– designed to be of use to a usability expert and an
engineer with design experience.
Technology and Older People
•“Dramatic reading” at
Activage Seminar
•Inspired by work of Alan
Newell/Maggie Morgan
http://www.universaldesign.ie/AGEING
Size
Size Data for Universal Design in Ireland
(Anthropometry Research, Penn State, USA)
http://www.universaldesign.ie/SIZE
Ability
In-Home Displays Guidance
http://www.universaldesign.ie/INHOMEDISPLAYS
Lived experience of people using public
sector websites
• Research and guidance
The research question
• What are the experiences of Irish
people in using Irish public sector
websites, and what are the practical
implications regarding Universal
Design for website managers?
1. Literature review
Review of
other
sources of
data e.g.
MeAC
Analysis of
NDA data
2. Expert eval
Review of
other
literature
sources
Literature review and initial key
themes and issues needing
clarification
AMAS
business
audit
(usability)
Site
audits
(DIT?) accessibil
ity
Data from
website
managers
3. Consultation
Consultation: End
users and their
representatives
CONSULTATION
Public sector web
managers
User testing
Key themes and issues
validated
Key themes and issues identified in detail
Final report
and
Recommend
ations
Research: key findings
• Initial interviews with some 1,300 people about their
experience of these sites
– a relatively low rate of usage (52%) of public service
websites – ostensibly due to “lack of interest” particularly
among groups who would benefit most from well designed
websites
– over 80% [n=679] of users reported no difficulty in using
these sites
• Persons with disabilities 3 times more likely to encounter
a difficulty
Research: key findings
•
•
•
•
•
Huge diversity in how people in Ireland access and use the Web today presents new challenges for public sector organisations in terms of accessibility
and usability
For those who do not use public sector sites, “lack of interest” type responses
may mask a wide range of issues, from accessibility perceptions to a lack of
relevance. While most respondents say they have no difficulty in using these
sites, a substantial number report problems for fundamental tasks such as
making applications online and finding out about entitlements
Self-assessment by site owners may give an overly positive picture and
downplay the problems of "churn" – where websites that achieve a certain level
of accessibility in one year are unable to sustain this subsequently
Online provision of public services offers considerable benefits for government
and society. There is a clear business case for applying Universal Design
principles and practices in delivering these services online. In particular,
planning UD into a site's development has a much lower cost than "retrofitting“
Hundreds of thousands of people in Ireland have conditions that may hamper
Web usability, and application of better design will improve website usability for
all users.
The Guidance
http://www.universaldesign.ie/WEB
Universal Design for Customer
Engagement in Tourism Services
This Irish Standard presents guidance for the use of Universal
Designs to improve the engagement between tourism services
providers and their customers, in:
1) Electronic based communications
2) Written communications
3) Telephone communications
4) Face to face communications
http://www.universaldesign.ie/TOURISM
Disability
MEASURES
TO IMPROVE ACCESSIBILITY
OF PUBLIC WEBSITES
IN EUROPE
Funka Nu AB
WRC
Empirica
Content of the study
• Accessibility assessment of
websites
• Interview
with webowners
• Stakeholder
involvement
Services to check
•
•
•
•
•
Income taxes
Job search by labour offices
Social security benefits
Public libraries
Enrolment in third level of
University education
• Health related services
Meaningful accessibility
•
•
•
•
•
Navigation, tab and focus.
Documents: pdf or word
Forms
Basic technical construction
Multimedia
Report
• Current status on accessibility
• Efforts/costs of achieving
accessibility
• Monitoring and reporting issues
• Commentary on prepardness of
MS for Directive
3
3
3
1
EDUCATION
Universal Design 2nd Level Irish Education Pilot
Designing our Tomorrow (DOT) (Cambridge, UK)
Universal Design Grand Challenge
Student Awards 2014
• 29th May 2014
– UDGC People’s Choice Award
– Travelling perpetual trophy
• €1,000.00 in prize money (€500 for the school plus €500 for the
designer(s)
– UDGC Judges’ Choice Award 2014 Trophy
– Travelling perpetual trophy
• €1,000.00 in prize money (€500 for the school plus €500 for the
designer(s)
• http://www.universaldesign.ie/grandchallenge
Meet the Normals
Diversity is normal
Grandma Betty Normal
Mom Mary Normal
Dad Harry Normal
Daughter Susie Normal
Son Johnny Normal
Baby PJ Normal
Universal Design
Process
Motivation
Unit A
Process
Unit B
Evaluation
Unit C
Diversity
Unit D
Case Studies
Unit E
Motivation
Process
Evaluation
Diversity
Case Studies
Equitable Use
Myself and Others
Universal Design
Process
Thinking Creatively
Flexibility & Simplicity
Perception & Error
Effort & Space
Perception
Cognition
Action
Case Studies
Equitable Use
Myself and Others
Universal Design
Process
Thinking Creatively
Flexibility & Simplicity
Perception & Error
Effort & Space
Perception
Cognition
Action
Case Studies
Week
6
Week
7
Week
8
Week
9
Case Studies
Case Studies
Week
5
Perception
Cognition
Action
Week
4
Flexibility & Simplicity
Perception & Error
Effort & Space
Week
3
Universal Design
Process
Thinking Creatively
Week
2
Equitable Use
Myself and Others
Week
1
Week
10
Week
11
Week
12
Week
6
Week
7
Week
8
Week
9
Case Studies
Case Studies
Week
5
Perception
Cognition
Action
Week
4
Flexibility & Simplicity
Perception & Error
Effort & Space
Week
3
Universal Design
Process
Thinking Creatively
Week
2
Equitable Use
Myself and Others
Week
1
Week
10
Week
11
Week
12
Week
6
Week
7
Week
8
Week
9
The Normal Family
Case Studies
Case Studies
Week
5
Perception
Cognition
Action
Week
4
Flexibility & Simplicity
Perception & Error
Effort & Space
Week
3
Universal Design
Process
Thinking Creatively
Week
2
Equitable Use
Myself and Others
Week
1
Week
10
Week
11
Week
12
Week
6
Week
7
Week
8
Case Studies
Week
9
The Normal Family
Case Studies
Case Studies
Week
5
Perception
Cognition
Action
Week
4
Flexibility & Simplicity
Perception & Error
Effort & Space
Week
3
Universal Design
Process
Thinking Creatively
Week
2
Equitable Use
Myself and Others
Week
1
Week
10
Week
11
Week
12
Week
6
Week
7
Week
8
Case Studies
Design Project
Week
9
The Normal Family
Case Studies
Case Studies
Week
5
Perception
Cognition
Action
Week
4
Flexibility & Simplicity
Perception & Error
Effort & Space
Week
3
Universal Design
Process
Thinking Creatively
Week
2
Equitable Use
Myself and Others
Week
1
Week
10
Week
11
Week
12
Project Report.pdf
Instructor Guide.pdf
The Design Project
Sample Project
Discover.ppt
Develop.ppt
Description
Define.ppt
Deliver.ppt
Motivation
Process
Evaluation
Diversity
Case
Studies
Equitable Use
UD Process
Flexibility & Simplicity
Perception
Product
Perception & Error
Cognition
Built Environment
Myself & Others
Creative
Thinking
Effort & Space
Action
ICT
Introduction.ppt
Introduction.ppt
Introduction.ppt
Introduction.ppt
Introduction.ppt
Equitable Use
UD Process
Flexibility & Simplicity
Perception
Product
Perception & Error
Cognition
Built Environment
Myself & Others
Creative Thinking
Effort & Space
Action
ICT
Learning
Activities
Learning
Activities
Learning
Activities
Learning Activities
Learning Activities
In
Class
In
Class
In
Class
Take Home
In
Class
Take Home
In
Class
Take Home
Take Home
Take Home
Royal Institute of Architects Ireland Annual
Architecture Awards 2013
1st Universal
Design Award
sponsored by
Centre for
Excellence in
Universal
Design
Winner (and also
Peoples Choice
Award) – UCD
Student Centre
Institute of Designers in Ireland
Universal Design Award