Barriers,Incentives and Facilitators for Adoption of Universal Design Practices by Consumer Product Manufacturers

As electronic technologies become more integrated into education and employment, the ability to access and use these new technologies becomes critical to people with disabilities (40 million people in the U.S. alone) if they are to be able to participate in these environments. A key strategy for ensuring access to these emerging technologies is the practice of universal design - designing products so that they can be directly used by as many people as possible. Universal design is a practice that depends on the standard, mass-market product manufacturers for its implementation. Although there are key examples of universal design practices in the electronic and communication industries, they do not represent the majority of current practice. Little is known or documented about the reasons why universal design is, or is not, practiced. This paper reports on the first phase of a three-year project to explore the practice of universal design of products, including key factors, motivators, disincentives, and barriers to its practice, as well as what activities external to the company would facilitate (or hinder) practice within companies.