Design for All - From idea to practise

Abstract

Design for all (DfA) is on the agenda of research for more than 10 years. It is to be seen as a complement to concepts like assistive technology and barrier free accessibility in a continuum of solutions. After several national policy actions around the globe, recently on international policy level, in the "UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities", reference has been given to Universal Design, a concept closely related to DfA. However, the level of take up of DfA in the design processes of industries and services stays behind the expectations. The idea has obviously been welcomed as a good one, but the implementation shows slow progress. The current development consists of threats and challenges towards a successful implementation of DfA and the market opportunities connected. "What are the key elements, what are the actions needed, which could be the next steps" are the kind of questions to be answered in order to conclude with a DfA roadmap and reflected in this paper. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.