Independent Living Institute

Newsletter 2000-01

Newsletter Index and Info

Universal Design for Human Rights, Diversity, Enrichment and Independent Living
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Contents

• Editorial
• This month's columnist
• New in the Library
• Other Universal Design resources
• Upcoming events
• Introducing the Institute's new web-editor
• Other services offered by the Institute
• Subscribe/unsubscribe info

Editorial

Access to the built environment, to information, culture and to all aspects of our communities is a basic human right. Access allows us to contribute to society's diversity. Access enriches everyone.

The best way of ensuring access is through Universal Design, that is, planning, building and maintaining our environment for the needs of all citizens, thus making them feel welcome as integral parts of the whole and encouraging them to participate in all of society on equal terms.

Universal Design minimizes the dependency of people with disability on others - a dependency that is not inherent in the nature of their disability but imposed on them by the cumulative countless actions and omissions of generations of policymakers, planners, builders and designers. Universal Design is a prerequisite for Independent Living, for living in the community with equal opportunities, self-determination and self-respect.

The Independent Living Institute is committed to compiling a collection of key documents on Universal Design as part of its full-text online library. Below, we draw your attention to resources which you might find useful in your work. But we also need to ask you for your help. Please, assist us with your expertise in this area and tell us which documents would improve the usefulness of our collection.

Adolf D. Ratzka, Ph.D.
Director, Independent Living Institute

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This Month's Columnist
http://www.independentliving.org/column/brown1_00.html
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Regular visitors to the website will have noticed our latest feature: a monthly columnist. We will present a number of internationally renowned leaders in the disability movement, who will write engaging articles for the Institute. Karen Stone introduced this feature and the millennium with her retrospective of the past century from a disability perspective ( http://www.independentliving.org/column/stone1_99.html).

Steven E. Brown follows our theme of universal design with his article, What Happened To Architectural Accessibility ( http://www.independentliving.org/column/brown1_00.html)?

All columns will be archived at: http://www.independentliving.org/column

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Independent Living Virtual Library - Universal Design
http://www.independentliving.org/Library/Library_Contents1.html
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Under the sub-heading "Universal Design" in our on-line Library, you'll find hundreds of texts on Accessibility resources, Country Profiles, Economics of access, Guidelines, Housing, Legislation, and Transportation.

Here are just a few titles:

Mobility for All
http://www.independentliving.org/mobility/index.html
While access for people with disabilities is poor in most industrialized countries, it is even worse in developing contries. This publication presents simple and cost-effective design solutions for our public transport and access needs around the world: busses, cabs, bus stops, streets and pathways including a list of organizations and resources for accessible transportation. The Institute is proud to be the only website granted permission to re-print this publication. The Spanish translation is forthcoming.

Toolbox: A guide for making a disability program in your local community
http://www.independentliving.org/docs1/konkkol1.html
In many parts of the world laws and regulations have been drafted to improve the life of disabled people. However, in all societies the situation of disabled people is still worse than that of non-disabled people. The Toolbox assists you in identifying your community's shortcomings and in advocating for change using international documents, political support and the strength that comes from organizing the disability community. Translations in Russian, Slovakian and Swedish are forthcoming..

Do "assistive devices" really assist disabled people?
http://www.independentliving.org/docs1/mclarenetal1996.html
Assistive devices are to ensure that people with disabilities are active in society. But what prevents them from assisting disabled people to be independent? This article discusses: availability, appropriateness, affordability, and maintenance.

A basic guide to the EU bus and coach directive
http://www.independentliving.org/docs5/eubus.html
On March 7th the European Union member states will meet to discuss the technical details of the forthcoming buses directive. While the article provides background on the current battle for accessible buses and coaches in Europe, the arguments of the disability lobby can be of interest to groups and agencies also outside of Europe.

United Nations Standard Rules: Accessibility
http://www.independentliving.org/standardrules/StandardRules2.html#anchor1370198
Although the United Nations Standard Rules imply no legally binding responsibility, it has become an important instrument in the hands of the disability community to demand full access as a human right. Read Rule number 5 on Accessibility as a target area for equal participation.

Portuguese Parliament promotes Web Accessibility
http://www.independentliving.org/docs5/portweb.html
Portugal became the fourth country in the world to officially promote web accessibility for people with disabilities, after the United States, Australia and Canada. These measures are included in the implementation plan for the National Initiative for Citizens with Special Needs in the Information Society.

For more information about web accessibility, visit the World Wide Web - Web Accessibility Initiative (W3C-WAI) at: http://www.w3.org/WAI/

We publish texts about your organization, its mission and activities, achievements, needs and plans in our full-text virtual Library. To have something published on our site, free of charge, contact http://www.independentliving.org/publish.html

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Other Universal Design resources
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Disabled People's Direct Action Network (DAN)
http://www.independentliving.org/docs5/transnews.html#anchorDAN2
For those who do not want to leave it up to governments to bring about change. To learn how to forcefully and effectively make your community accessible, visit DAN ( http://www.disabilitynet.co.uk/groups/dan/).

Global Universal Design Educator Online News
Elaine Ostroff, in cooperation with the Adaptive Environments Center, Boston, USA, produces this monthly on-line magazine. Previous issues of the Online News are available online at the Adaptive Environments website at http://www.adaptenv.org in the Universal Design section.

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Conferences related to Universal Design
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Designing for the 21st Century II
This International Conference on Universal Design will be in Providence, Rhode Island (USA), June 14-18, 2000
The conference highlights practice, education and research in the universal design of places, information and products, featuring worldwide leaders from 18 countries. Speakers include: Chairman William Kennard of the Federal Communications Commission, U.S.A.; Roger Coleman, DesignAge/Royal College of Art, UK; Natascha Drabbe, Cultural Connections, Netherlands; William H. Hudnut, III, The Urban Land Institute, USA.; Satoshi Kose, Ministry of Construction, Japan; Patricia Moore, Guynes Design, USA.; Bruce Nussbaum, Design Editor, Business Week, USA.; Adolf Ratzka, Institute for Independent Living, Sweden; Jim Sandhu, University of Northumbria, UK; Leslie Weisman, New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA.

Sponsored by the Adaptive Environments Center in collaboration with leading national and international organizations.

Contact: Elaine Ostroff elaineos@ici.net, Adaptive Environments Center

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UKIID 2000 Inclusive Design
United Kingdom Institute for Inclusive Design announces their conference beginning on Friday, June 2nd with workshops taking place in the afternoon of June 3rd. On Sunday, June 4th, delegates will tour practical examples, in and around London, to see how inclusive design is making facilities accessible.

UKIID is part of the European Institute for Design and Disability (EIDD) network that includes 14 countries.

The conference will take place at the London Underground's conference facilities at Canary Wharf - 30 The South Colonnade - where there is a now a direct link with Canary Wharf and Waterloo Station on the newly opened fully accessible Jubilee Line.

Details available from Liz Irwin AT: e.irwin@gsa.ac.uk, Glasgow School of Art 167 Renfrew Street Glasgow 3 6RQ or Tel 0141 353 4645.

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World Congress - Inclusion by Design - Planning the Barrier-Free World
Hosted by the Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work from June 1-5, 2001 in MontrÈal (QuÈbec, Canada).

There are three major themes:

1. Inclusive Employment;
2. Inclusive Communities;
3. Universal Access.

They are inviting all interested people to participate in this unique event by either presenting your work and contribution in support of inclusive employment, inclusive communities & universal access or attending the Congress to listen to others and develop future policies.

Visit their website at: http://www.ccrw.org
Abstracts must be received by April 7, 2000.
Email Karina Toupin at ktoupin@ccrw.org

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Introducing the Institute's new web-editor
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As the Independent Living Institute expands its range of on-line services, and the volume of texts and documentation in the Library, we are happy to announce that we are also increasing our staff to include Marc Krizack as web-editor.

Marc lives in Berkeley, California USA, where he has been actively involved with the disability community in a variety of roles. Since 1983, he has collaborated with wheelchair designer Ralf Hotchkiss on a number of international wheelchair projects.

Marc has worked closely with the disability community in Novosibirsk, Russia, leading to the country's first CIL. He also recently co-founded a new non-profit organization, The Disability Policy and Planning Institute (DPPI).

Krizack is the webmaster for Whirlwind Wheelchair International ( http://whirlwind.sfsu.edu) and is the technology reporter for a new disability webzine, DisabilityWorld ( http://www.disabilityworld.org).

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Books on Universal Design
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search?tag=independentliv05&keywo rd=universal+design&mode=books
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Through our new affiliate, Amazon.com, the Institute's Bookstore offers a selection of books directly related to Universal Design. If you've recently read a book you think is relevant to the Institute and would like to offer a short review, please contact our web-editor.

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The previous newsletter
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Our previous newsletter on Personal Assistance is archived at: http://www.independentliving.org/newsletter/4_99.html

Coming issues of the newsletter
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In our next newsletter we take up the theme of Advocacy. Send your articles, references to useful source of information, reviews, etc. to admin@independentliving.org

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Don't forget to visit our other on-line services
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Discussion Forums
http://www.independentliving.org/cgi/forum/bbs_entrance.c gi

Current threads under the Access/Universal Design Forum are:

• looking for suggestions of books, articles, or interior design ideas, relating to Cognitive Disability.
• invitation to join the accessibuilt mailing list hosted by mailbase and run by the SURFACE research team at Salford university.
• help needed working on a project to build a Universal Design apartment complex in Tokyo, Japan.

Regardless of what you have on your mind, you'll find an appropriate discussion forum that allows you direct contact with the thousands of visitors to our site each month. Among the variety of themes such as human rights; personal assistance; and relationships, sexuality & family, there is also one for personal assistance.

Accessible Vacation Home Exchange
http://www.independentliving.org/vacaswap.html
Swap your home during your next vacation with somebody in such destinations as France, Egypt the UK or Canada. We have over 100 attractive offers waiting for you! Our base of participants lists the accessible features of their homes and dates they wish to travel.

Assistant Referral Service
http://www.independentliving.org/assex/index.html
Many persons with extensive disabilities use employed workers for such daily tasks as getting bathed and dressed, shopping, driving their car or anything else which they cannot do by themselves.

Our ambition is to match assistance users and assistants in their hometown, within their country or in other parts of the world. For example, if you as an assistance user plan to take a trip abroad, you might want to put in an ad offering a position in that city you will be visiting. In this case, you might want to use English. If you need an assistant in your hometown, use your own language. In this case it is easier to match your request.

Assistance users can find assistants through the Personal Assistance Exchange, while assistants can regularly check the site for job openings.

Global Networking
http://www.independentliving.org/donet/index.html
Global Networking now has over 240 organizations from around the world offering information to partner organizations for joint projects, events, sharing resource persons for lectures, training or technical assistance, for study visits, internships or other cooperation including funding. Add your organization now.

Get published
http://www.independentliving.org/publish.html
Expose your articles, reports, training manuals or other resources to disabled people, researchers, service providers, government officials and policymakers all over the world.

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