Article

PURPOSE: To discuss Universal Design (UD) as an interdisciplinary topic with
relevance for rehabilitation professions and planning and building professions.
Significant for this topic is to discuss to what model of disability UD
strategies correlates.
The paper argues that the UN Convention on the Rights for
Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) pre-supposes a relational model of disability.
METHOD: This is a theoretical paper on the understanding of UD and the
significance of UD as a subject of interdisciplinary research and teaching. The
paper is based on literature and focuses on how to understand UD in
interdisciplinary contexts. Both impairment effects and disabling barriers are
important for understanding UD. Rehabilitation professions together with
user-representatives provide knowledge on impairments as an aspect of human
diversity; planning professionals provide knowledge on architecture and spatial
planning. As an emerging field of knowledge, UD involves different knowledge;
however, these differences may also lead to difficulties in communication.
RESULTS: Both theoretically and practically UD must correspond to an
understanding of disability as relational, involving person, interaction and
barriers. Implementing UD strategies ought to be linked to a concept of person
that clearly includes impairments as a dimension of human plurality.
In conclusion, the paper suggests that a common knowledge platform can prove
productive for interdisciplinary work with UD. Implications for Rehabilitation
Universal Design is a strategy to improve equal access for people with
disabilities. A concept of the person and of disability is of importance for
implementing Universal Design strategies. The interdisciplinary involvement in
Universal Design must involve rehabilitation professions to attend to the individual dimension in Universal Design.

Langue : ANGLAIS