Users of the products we design are an extraordinary and often overlooked natural resource in the design process. Especially in Universal Design, where the needs and limitations of users may be unfamiliar, the designer can learn a great deal from the experiences of the potential consumers.
Elaine Ostroff, Founding Director of Adaptive Environments, Boston MA developed the Universal Design Education Project. She holds a M.Ed. from Harvard and received the Environmental Design Research Association Achievement Award in 1995 for helping to make architectural access a civil right.
Published in INNOVATION, the Quarterly Journal of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), Volume 16, No. 1 1997.
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