The Missing Voices of Disabled People

Abstract

This paper presents the development process of a graph database that connects statements posted by disabled people on various web-based platforms with accessibility requirements in the Danish Building Regulations (BR18). The aim is to bring the lived experience of disabled people into a vocabulary of space-making for architects. By elevating the missing voices of disabled people - describing what matters, how and why - the project supports the decision-making processes of architects to make the built environment more inclusive. The developed database relates statements posted by disabled people with sentences from paragraphs of BR18 through specific architectural features of room, element, and object. Using the architectural features as point of reference, the database not only highlights some of the most common building situations encountered by disabled people, but also allows anyone interested to explore their relationship to the real lives of disabled users and the statutory requirements.