Class+16+February+29,+2008+Jen+and+Gavin+B

__UNIVERSAL DESIGN AND ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY__

__Agenda__ -Universal Design -Assistive Technology -Universal Design in Education

__Background__ -Universal Design emerged from the need to have environments that enhance people’s ability to function well - Ron Mace, an architect coined the term in 1978 - Ron and his colleges developed principles and guidelines for the development of universally designed buildings, products and environments.

__Principles of Universal Design__ - Equitable Use - Flexibility Use - Simple and Intuitive - Perceptible Information - Tolerance for Error - Low Physical Effort - Size and Space for Approach and Use

__Examples__ - Touch lamp - A moving sidewalk - “Talking”, parking pay stations - Power doors with sensors - Lowered public telephones - Scissors for right or left-handed use - A double cut car key

We then got into 7 groups and matched the examples with the particular Principle that our group was assigned. These are the examples that go with each principle:

Equitable Use – power doors with sensors Flexibility use – scissors for right or left-handed use Simple and Intuitive Use – A moving side-walk Perceptible information – “talking” parking pay stations Tolerance for error – A double-cut car key Low physical effort – touch lamp Size and space for approach and use – lowered public telephones.

We then had a discussion about city buses and what kinds of universally designed things are helpful on buses. Some of the things that we discussed were lower buses, ramps, having the bus driver verbally communicate when the next stop is, and having cords run down the bus instead of across to stop the bus.

__Assistive Technology__ Consider this quote from your text: “From one perspective, we are all disabled, and technology helps us do things we could never accomplish otherwise”

How does this perspective affect your thoughts about assistive technology in classroom?

The uses of any tool or device that can help a person perform a task or learn. Some examples are crutches, glasses, and pencils
 * What is It?**