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Designing the future? - Universal Design as an accessible tourism tool

Designing the future? - Universal Design as an accessible tourism tool
Author: Alexandra Riepe
1 Commentries
Don't you think it is easier for everybody to walk up a ramp instead of climbing up stairs? Wouldn't it be more comfortable for us to have wide walks instead of narrow pathways? And what about sliding doors instead of heavy doors?

Now imagine one the following situations: You are sitting in a wheelchair. You are a small child. You carry a baby or wheel a pram along. You are old and frail. And then imagine that you have to meet everyday challenges such as climbing up stairs, threading your way through narrow pathways and opening heavy doors.

Now you may think that those conditions just apply to a minority of people. But let me tell you something. 650 million people which are 10% of the world's population are disabled. Moreover, 15% of all people are aged over 65 years and in regard to the Baby Boomers who are 25% of the whole population reaching their retirement age now this number is expected to increase over the next years. Furthermore, 15.9% of all children worldwide have only one parent showing that single parent families are also a minority that needs support in the built environment. Therefore, the concept Universal Design needs more attention from organisations and individuals. Universal Design can be defined as a strategy which aims to make the design and composition of different environments, products, communication, information technology and services accessible and understandable to everyone without the need for adaptation or specialised design. Its main goal is to simplify life for everybody regardless of age, disabilities or cultural background.

Particularly for people with special needs getting away from daily difficulties and challenges through vacation is important and needs encouragement. However, the travel industry is failing to tap into the business opportunities posed by accessible tourism. As a recent survey revealed, 50 million handicapped people in the United States would have spend more money on their vacation all over the world, if there had been more amenities adjusted to their needs, such as preferred seating on airplanes, hotel rooms closer to amenities as well as an improved design in all kinds of touristic facilities. Therefore, with millions of people who need accessible travel options, Universal Design needs to be considered as an opportunity which will help people with special needs to enjoy products and services by offering a huge potential for the tourism industry at the same time. Organisations which use Universal Design will increase their number of clients and particularly regular customers, differentiate itself from its competitors as well as marketing itself as a modern designed company accessible for everybody.

The Century Shizuoka Hotel in Japan offers a 'Universal Room' which is furnished and designed for people with special needs. This hotel room includes amongst other things a barrier-free en-suite bathroom, large passageways, sliding doors as well as an emergency button, costing about £170 a night for single occupancy. On the one hand, it is worth mentioning that the hotel is marketed by using the Universal Design theme but on the other hand, the aim of this concept is that nobody recognizes using it when e.g. walking over a ramp instead of using stairs. Moreover, it must be said that there is only one Universal designed room although the whole hotel could have been designed like this. It is also expensive to spend the night there and thus, not affordable for the majority of people. Furthermore, the room is marketed as it could just be used by wheelchair users but Universal Design aims at making things more bearable for everybody.

Besides those problems about the implementation of Universal Design standards, there is also a discussion about its realisation in developing countries. It is often argued that people with special needs in those countries cannot afford to make use of this concept and organisations do not have the money to apply Universal Design to their businesses. On the other hand, there are some successful examples of using Universal Design in developing countries, such as Brazil, which is considering the adoption of Universal Design standards to guide development for its 2014 World Cup facilities and its 2016 Olympics and Paralympics, or India, where the Universal Design guidelines were adjusted to the needs, requirements and the financial situation of Indian people.

However, Universal Design is a great but unfortunately unknown concept and this needs to be changed. It needs to be realised that Universal Design can be profitable for companies and consumers because it is not only about making people's environment to look better but also about helping others to have the same rights and opportunities. As Steve Jobs says: 'Design is not just what it looks like and feels like; Design is how it works'.

Main references:

Crews, D.E. and Zavotka, S. (2006). Aging, Disability, and Frailty: Implications for Universal Design. Journal of Physiological Anthropology, 25, p. 113-118.

Internationales Design Zentrum Berlin e.V. (2008). Universal Design: Unsere Zukunft gestalten / Designing Our Future. www.idz.de, [pdf]. Available at: http://www.idz.de/dokumente/Universal_Design_Publikation.pdf [Accessed 23rd April 2012].

Preiser, W.F.E. and Smith, K.H. (2010). Universal design handbook. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional.
Ethical question: Is it appropriate for tourism companies to make business out of physically handicapped?
Author: Annalena Boness
You mentioned some very interesting points in your conference paper. I critically dealt with the same topic and can relate to many aspects you have mentioned, especially that the demand of handicapped accessible tourism is growing as the number of physically handicapped people is increasing. I analysed the German city Lübeck regarding its accessibility for physically handicapped tourists and came to the conclusion that many tourist destinations have recognized the need for making tourism accessible for all people and that many adjustments were made in the past. I figured that adjusting a city to the needs of physically handicapped people could be of undeniable value in making the world a fairer place. Furthermore it can have beneficial consequences even for healthy people. One out of several examples is the replacement of the brick stone pavements through an even pavement. Whereas brick stone pavements could illustrated a barrier for people in a wheelchair, even for people without a disability it can be very tricky to walk on those stones.

I appreciate the concept of Universal Design for not differentiating between the needs of disabled or non-disabled people. However, there still needs to take place a change in attitudes of societies towards people with a disability. Regarding the example of the Century Shizuoka Hotel in Japan I think it is inappropriate and unfair to charge a higher price for a barrier-free room. Especially because handicapped people have to bear higher costs anyway compered to people without a disability during their travel. Instead of eliminating barriers for people with a handicap, the hotel built another barrier in making the room unaffordable for some people. This leads to the ethical question of whether it is appropriate for companies as the Century Shizuoka Hotel in Japan to make business out of the fact that this target group is increasing? I do not think so!

Overall, I really liked the clear structure of your conference paper. The specific beginning followed by some general figures on the topic, introduce an example on how the concept is realised, and closing up with a debate on principles. Furthermore, ending up the pater with a quote was a good idea because it inspires the reader for further thinking regarding this topic.