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Universal Design Applied to Large Scale Assessments
What is Universal Design?
More than 20 years ago, Ron Mace (an architect who was a wheelchair user) began to actively promote a concept he termed "universal design." Mace was adamant that we did not need more special purpose designs that serve primarily to meet compliance codes and may also stigmatize people. Instead, he promoted design that works for most people, from the child who cannot turn a doorknob to the elderly woman who cannot climb stairs to get to a door. Universal design was defined by the Center for Universal Design (1997) as "the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design" (Universal Design, ¶1).
General Universal Design Principles
A cross-disciplinary group working on universal design (architects, product designers, engineers, and environmental design researchers) originally compiled seven general universal design principles:
- Equitable Use
- Flexibility in Use
- Simple and Intuitive Use
- Perceptible Information
- Tolerance for Error
- Low Physical Effort
- Size and Space for Approach and Use
With funding from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, U.S. Department of Education, this group identified the principles, defined each principle, and provided characteristics of each principle (see Table 1). The principles were intended to apply to the evaluation of existing designs, guide the design process, and educate both designers and consumers about the characteristics of more usable products and environments.
Table 1
Principles of Universal Design
Principle One: Equitable Use: The design is useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities.
1a. Provide the same means of use for all users: identical whenever possible; equivalent when not.
1b. Avoid segregating or stigmatizing any users.
1c. Provisions for privacy, security, and safety should be equally available to all users.
1d. Make the design appealing to all users.
Principle Two: Flexibility in Use: The design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities.
2a. Provide choice in methods of use.
2b. Accommodate right- or left-handed access and use.
2c. Facilitate the user's accuracy and precision.
2d. Provide adaptability to the user's pace.
Principle Three: Simple and Intuitive Use: Use of the design is easy to understand, regardless of the user's experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level.
3a. Eliminate unnecessary complexity.
3b. Be consistent with user expectations and intuition.
3c. Accommodate a wide range of literacy and language skills.
3d. Arrange information consistent with its importance.
3e. Provide effective prompting and feedback during and after task completion.
Principle Four: Perceptible Information: The design communicates necessary information effectively to the user, regardless of ambient conditions or the user's sensory abilities.
4a. Use different modes (pictorial, verbal, tactile) for redundant presentation of essential information.
4b. Provide adequate contrast between essential information and its surroundings.
4c. Maximize "legibility" of essential information.
4d. Differentiate elements in ways that can be described (i.e., make it easy to give instructions or directions).
4e. Provide compatibility with a variety of techniques or devices used by people with sensory limitations.
Principle Five: Tolerance for Error: The design minimizes hazards and the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions.
5a. Arrange elements to minimize hazards and errors: most used elements, most accessible; hazardous elements eliminated, isolated, or shielded.
5b. Provide warnings of hazards and errors.
5c. Provide fail safe features.
5d. Discourage unconscious action in tasks that require vigilance.
Principle Six: Low Physical Effort: The design can be used efficiently and comfortably and with a minimum of fatigue.
6a. Allow user to maintain a neutral body position.
6b. Use reasonable operating forces.
6c. Minimize repetitive actions.
6d. Minimize sustained physical effort.
Principle Seven: Size and Space for Approach and Use: Appropriate size and space is provided for approach, reach, manipulation, and use regardless of user's body size, posture, or mobility.
7a. Provide a clear line of sight to important elements for any seated or standing user.
7b. Make reach to all components comfortable for any seated or standing user.
7c. Accommodate variations in hand and grip size.
7d. Provide adequate space for the use of assistive devices or personal assistance. |
Source: The Center for Universal Design, North Carolina State University, 1997.
In developing principles of universal design, the group recognized that the ultimate objective of universal design is to be as inclusive as possible. Still, it recognized that it is nearly impossible to design all things for all people. Mace (1998) verified this in his statement: "I'm not sure it's possible to create anything that's universally usable. It's not that there's a weakness in the term. We use that term because it's the most descriptive of what the goal is" (What is Universal Design? ¶3).
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