Transforming our World through Universal Design for Human Development

An environment, or any building product or service in it, should ideally be designed to meet the needs of all those who wish to use it. Universal Design is the design and composition of environments, products, and services so that they can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people, regardless of their age, size, ability or disability. It creates products, services and environments that meet people’s needs. In short, Universal Design is good design. This book presents the proceedings of UD2022, the 6th International Conference on Universal Design, held from 7 - 9 September 2022 in Brescia, Italy.The conference is targeted at professionals and academics interested in the theme of universal design as related to the built environment and the wellbeing of users, but also covers mobility and urban environments, knowledge, and information transfer, bringing together research knowledge and best practice from all over the world. The book contains 72 papers from 13 countries, grouped into 8 sections and covering topics including the design of inclusive natural environments and urban spaces, communities, neighborhoods and cities; housing; healthcare; mobility and transport systems; and universally- designed learning environments, work places, cultural and recreational spaces. One section is devoted to universal design and cultural heritage, which had a particular focus at this edition of the conference. The book reflects the professional and disciplinary diversity represented in the UD movement, and will be of interest to all those whose work involves inclusive design

Is My University Inclusive? Towards a Multi-Domain Instrument for Sustainable Environments in Higher Education

The paper presenst a pilot study on three Italian Universities using a multi-domain set of indicators for Inclusion. The indicators are expressed in the coding system of the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health \u2013 ICF \u2013 (World Health Organization, 2001). Three medium-sized Italian Universities have been selected: Brescia, Trieste and Venice. We combined a student-centered Universal Design philosophy for the built environment and Universal Design for Learning for the instructional environment. We identified four ICF Environmental Chapters (E1, E3, E4 and E5) and made them specific to the Academic context. Within the four Environmental Chapters targeting the physical, instructional, cultural, communicative, social and recreational domains we developed a 35-item checklist to fill out. The indicators were qualitative, quantitative or a mixture of the two. The three Universities shared the same instruments. Our main finding is that, although accommodations for students with disabilities exist as mandated by Italian law, the prevailing implementation is an individual accommodation based approach, rather than a universal design approach for the benefit to the greatest extent of the student population

Implementing Universal Design and the ICF in Higher Education: Towards a Model That Achieves Quality Higher Education for All

The landmark UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the first time explicitly makes reference to the inclusion of the needs and capacities of all persons, on equal grounds, in the planning of our built environment and services (Goal 11) and in our quality educational systems (Goal 4). Accessibility and inclusion of all people in vulnerable situations, including people with disabilities, provides a strong benchmark for sustainability. Accessibility and Inclusion in higher education are the topic of an increasing number of studies, however, there is no existing common set of multidomain indicators for Inclusion available to the multiple stakeholders involved in higher education. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap. With a Universal Design approach and the common language of the ICF we aim to provide a multi-dimensional assessment and planning tool to quantitatively and qualitatively measure Inclusion of environments and services in Higher Education

Preface

An environment, or any building product or service in it, should ideally be designed to meet the needs of all those who wish to use it. Universal Design is the design and composition of environments, products, and services so that they can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people, regardless of their age, size, ability or disability. It creates products, services and environments that meet people’s needs. In short, Universal Design is good design. This book presents the proceedings of UD2022, the 6th International Conference on Universal Design, held from 7 - 9 September 2022 in Brescia, Italy. The conference is targeted at professionals and academics interested in the theme of universal design as related to the built environment and the wellbeing of users, but also covers mobility and urban environments, knowledge, and information transfer, bringing together research knowledge and best practice from all over the world. The book contains 72 papers from 13 countries, grouped into 8 sections and covering topics including the design of inclusive natural environments and urban spaces, communities, neighborhoods and cities; housing; healthcare; mobility and transport systems; and universally-designed learning environments, work places, cultural and recreational spaces. One section is devoted to universal design and cultural heritage, which had a particular focus at this edition of the conference. The book reflects the professional and disciplinary diversity represented in the UD movement, and will be of interest to all those whose work involves inclusive design

Is My University Inclusive? Towards a Multi-Domain Instrument for Sustainable Environments in Higher Education

We present a pilot study on three Italian Universities using a multi- domain set of indicators for Inclusion. The indicators are expressed in the coding system of the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health – ICF – (World Health Organization, 2001). We selected three medium-sized Italian Universities: Brescia, Trieste and Venice. We combined a student-centered Universal Design philosophy for the built environment and Universal Design for Learning for the instructional environment. We identified four ICF Environmental Chapters (E1, E3, E4 and E5) and made them specific to the Academic context. Within the four Environmental Chapters targeting the physical, instructional, cultural, communicative, social and recreational domains we developed a 35-item checklist to fill out. The indicators were qualitative, quantitative or a mixture of the two. The three Universities shared the same instruments. Our main finding is that, although accommodations for students with disabilities exist as mandated by Italian law, the prevailing implementation is an individual accommodation based approach, rather than a universal design approach for the benefit to the greatest extent of the student population

DaD in Università durante il lockdown: criticità e potenzialità

“This study aimed at reporting the perspectives and experiences of university students with disabilities and specific learning impairments with respect to distance learning (DL) during the lockdown phase due to Covid-19. Specifically, we report the results of questionnaire-based interviews in three Italian Universities: «Ca’ Foscari» University of Venice, University of Brescia, and University of Salerno about the experiences of students with special educational needs during the four months lockdown phase (from late February/March 2020 to May/June 2020). The results show an overall positive response to distance learning, but also highlight several difficulties. Common problems were difficulties with connectivity and infrastructure, but also social and emotional problems due to reduced inter-personal relationships with faculty and peers. In addition to reporting the specific difficulties encountered by University students with special educational needs during the DL phase, we offer some suggestions to improve the quality of higher education during the next phases in the months to follow. In line with what emerges from the student interviews in all three of the Universities we advocate for a flexible, mixed system, to better respond to the specific local characteristics of each University and student population. “Our suggestions for improvement are aimed at enhancing the quality of education for all students.

DaD in Università durante il lockdown: criticità e potenzialità

Il contributo ha la finalità di riportare il punto di vista degli studenti con disabilità e con disturbi specifici di apprendimento (DSA) in merito alla didattica a distanza universitaria (DaD) erogata nella fase di lockdown causato da Covid-19. In particolare, si presentano i risultati di interviste condotte agli studenti con Bisogni Formativi Speciali di tre Atenei e relativi ai 4 mesi di sospensione delle attività didattiche in presenza: Università «Ca’ Foscari» di Venezia, Università di Brescia, Università di Salerno. Le risposte degli studenti intervistati restituiscono giudizi prevalentemente positivi sull’esperienza della DaD, ma evidenziano anche alcune difficoltà, tra cui quelle legate alla debolezza delle infrastrutture tecnologiche, ma anche ad aspetti sociali ed emotivi imputabili alla mancanza di relazioni faccia a faccia con i docenti e con i pari. Gli autori riportano criticità e spunti utili a migliorare l’offerta formativa delle prossime fasi di formazione — che sarà nella maggior parte dei casi «mista» — con il proposito di mettere a fuoco le specificità locali delle tre università, ma anche gli aspetti trasversali che i risultati delle interviste evidenziano. Gli spunti di miglioramento sono ritenuti opportuni e con una ricaduta positiva immediata sia per gli studenti con disabilità e con DSA sia per tutta l’utenza studentesca universitaria