Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
et al. 2006; Laueret al. 2006; Söderström and Ytterhus 2010). In light of this evidence, any
assistive technology assessment (ATA) process would be significantly incomplete without
a systematic consideration of how the user's environment influences the acceptance of AT,
its utilization, and the user's participation in various life activities.
This chapter provides a rationale and framework for incorporating the environment within
the ATA process. In the past, some AT manuals and guides have addressed this area with a
primary focus on microenvironments such as the home, school, and workplace (Mann and
Lane 1991; Church and Glennen 1992). In this chapter, we take a broader view of the environ-
ment and understand the environment to comprise physical, social, cultural, legislative, and
economic components. However, our goal is not to prescribe specific measures and tools for
evaluating each of these components. Instead, we offer an innovative model for considering
the environment within the ATA process more broadly and holistically and along the three
dimensions of accessibility, sustainability, and universal design (UD).
This chapter is divided into three sections. In Section 4.2, we introduce the concepts of
accessibility, sustainability, and UD and describe two models depicting the interaction
between these concepts. In Section 4.3, we discuss how an environmental assessment
framework incorporating these three dimensions can inform the ATA process and illus-
trate a step-by-step evaluation of the environment to support decision-making within the
ATA process. Finally, in Section 4.4, we provide an example illustrating how the concepts
and processes described in Sections 4.2 and 4.3 can be applied within an actual case.
4.2 Accessibility, Sustainability, and Universal Design: An Overview
Examining the environment in terms of accessibility, sustainability, and UD offers ways
of making the ATA process more comprehensive, relevant, and in line with contemporary
and future conceptual and geopolitical trends.
4.2.1 What Do We Mean by Accessibility, Sustainability, and Universal Design?
Traditionally, assessments and interventions targeting the environment have tended to
draw upon the concept of accessibility. In the United States, the first structured guide-
lines codifying accessibility of the built environment, known by the acronym ADAAG
(Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines), were created in 1990 (U.S.
Access Board 2004). Likewise, other countries around the globe have developed accessi-
bility standards, some of which are informed by legislation (Dion et al. 2006). In Europe,
through work of the European Institute for Design and Disability (EIDD Design for All
Europe) network, the
Build for All Reference Manual
was created in 2006 to organize and
promote accessibility within the built environment (Build-for All Project 2006). Build-
for-All aims to “enable all people to have equal opportunities to participate in every
aspect of society. To achieve this, the built environment, everyday objects, services,
culture and information—in short, everything that is designed and made by people to
be used by people—must be accessible, convenient for everyone in society to use and
responsive to evolving human diversity” (EIDD Design for All Europe 2004; Build-for
All Project 2006).
Although these standards and policies were primarily geared toward promoting acces-
sibility for people with disabilities, the current international trend has progressed toward
