Article: Universal Design Principles

Article 4: “What is Universal Design?”

Bob Topping of Sheridan College on Universal Design Principles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbZXGz_tiVU

Mr. Topping says that UD is really a way of thinking. It is considering the different disabilities in the population and taking those disabilities into account when designing spaces and experiences. He also says there are 7 principles and a set of guidelines for each that is used. He also mentions that UD is just not for architecture, but rather is for designing anything – to make things more “usable” (including curriculum design). It is really interesting that a movement that seems to have started with physical space planning has had such far-reaching implications in our world (both the larger one and the educational realm).

Just a side note – It has been really interesting to try and figure a way to run the Youtube videos at home. My Mac will not support the Quicktime to run the videos (either it won’t or I can’t figure out how to make it do so) – and my blog service is not supported by Youtube to embed the movies into the entries. Anyways, because of all this, I am sitting in front of my PC and my laptop trying to view the info on one, and type in the other. I keep attempting to use my PC mouse for my Mac. I guess I could use some UD here to make this experience a little more user-friendly.