The Rise of Universal Design
There were three main benchmarks in the development of Universal Design.
Several successful services and assistive products have been created for
the elderly and persons with disabilities, yet they are expensive and
the availability is scarce. Products and services for users without
disabilities are however comparably inexpensive and abundant but are
oftentimes difficult to use for the elderly and individuals with
disabilities. There continues to be a large gap between the number of
products and services that are available for the elderly, who often
carry a slight disability.
As the population of senior citizens swells, there will be a stronger
movement towards adapting products to become accessible by persons with
disabilities. As current caregivers age and the market matures, a demand
for products incorporating features of existing assistive tools will
increase in intensity. This is the movement of universalization.
By continuing to include the voices of the elderly and persons with
disabilities during the development of products, products for the
general market will also improve, eventually become less expensive,
answering to the needs of a wider range of users. It is when this
scenario is realized can we say that Universal Design has spread.