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A history of design that is often overlooked—until we need itHave you ever hit the big blue button to activate automatic doors? Have you ever used an ergonomic kitchen tool? Have you ever used curb cuts to roll a stroller across an intersection? If you have, then you’ve benefited from accessible design—design for people with physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities. These ubiquitous touchstones of modern life were once anything but. Disability advocates fought tirelessly to ensure that the needs of people with disabilities became a standard part of public design thinking. That fight took many forms worldwide, but in the United States it became a civil rights issue; activists used design to make an argument about the place of people with disabilities in public life.In the aftermath of World War II, with injured veterans returning home and the polio epidemic reaching the Oval Office, the needs of people with disabilities came forcibly into the public eye as they never had before. The US became the first country to enact federal accessibility laws, beginning with the Architectural Barriers Act in 1968 and continuing through the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, bringing about a wholesale rethinking of our built environment. This progression wasn’t straightforward or easy. Early legislation and design efforts were often haphazard or poorly implemented, with decidedly mixed results. Political resistance to accommodating the needs of people with disabilities was strong; so, too, was resistance among architectural and industrial designers, for whom accessible design wasn’t “real” design.Bess Williamson provides an extraordinary look at everyday design, marrying accessibility with aesthetic, to provide an insight into a world in which we are all active participants, but often passive onlookers. Richly detailed, with stories of politics and innovation, Williamson’s Accessible America takes us through this important history, showing how American ideas of individualism and rights came to shape the material world, often with unexpected consequences.

Barrier-free design --- People with disabilities --- Universal design --- History. --- American National Standards Institute. --- Americans with Disabilities Act. --- Berkeley. --- Cuisinarts, Inc. --- Disability Rights movement. --- Disability Rights. --- GI Bill. --- Howard K. Rusk. --- Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. --- OXO Good Grips. --- People’s Park. --- Raymond Lifchez. --- Rolling Quads. --- Ronald K. Mace. --- Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act. --- Timothy J. Nugent. --- Toomey J Gazette. --- Universal Design. --- University of California. --- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. --- World War II. --- access. --- accessible design. --- activism. --- architecture. --- assistive devices. --- assistive technology. --- athletic design. --- automobiles. --- civil rights. --- contemporary design. --- critical design. --- curb cuts. --- design history. --- design. --- disabled veterans. --- home renovation. --- housing. --- inclusion. --- industrial design. --- material culture. --- polio. --- prosthetics. --- public transportation. --- rehabilitation medicine. --- rehabilitation. --- sidewalks. --- technology. --- urban design. --- wheelchair access.

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Making Disability Modern: Design Histories brings together leading scholars to examine how designed objects and spaces contributes to the meanings of ability and disability from the late 18th century to the present day, and in homes, offices, and schools to realms of national and international politics.

Self-help devices for people with disabilities --- Design --- Barrier-free design --- Barrier-free design. --- Design and construction --- History. --- Human factors. --- Universal Design --- Self-Help Devices --- Communication Aids for Disabled --- Disability Studies --- Assistive Devices --- Assistive Technology --- Assistive Device --- Assistive Technologies --- Device, Assistive --- Device, Self-Help --- Devices, Assistive --- Devices, Self-Help --- Self Help Devices --- Self-Help Device --- Technologies, Assistive --- Technology, Assistive --- Disabled Persons --- Design for All --- Human Centered Design --- Design, Human Centered --- Design, Universal --- Designs, Human Centered --- Human Centered Designs --- Universal Designs --- Access to buildings for people with disabilities --- Accessibility for people with disabilities --- Architecture and the handicapped --- Architecture and the physically handicapped --- People with disabilities and architecture --- Architecture --- Human factors in design --- Human engineering --- Design and construction&delete& --- History --- Human factors --- TDD --- TTY Telephone --- Text Telecommunication --- Text Telecommunication Devices --- Text Telephone --- Augmentative and Alternative Communications Systems --- Communication Aids for Handicapped --- Communication Boards --- Speech Synthesizers --- Telecommunications Devices for the Deaf --- Communication Board --- Speech Synthesizer --- Synthesizer, Speech --- Synthesizers, Speech --- TTY Telephones --- Telecommunication Device, Text --- Telecommunication Devices, Text --- Telecommunication, Text --- Telecommunications, Text --- Text Telecommunication Device --- Text Telecommunications --- Text Telephones --- Speech Recognition Software --- Assistive technology --- Self-help devices for the disabled --- People with disabilities --- 72.012.4