November 2, 2024

Review Category : Blog

Driving

For most Americans, driving is the primary access to a world beyond our doors. It gets us to work, it gets the kids to school, it helps us shop, go to worship and socialize. When driving isn’t an option, chances are you just entered a different world called isolation. The...

Education Saved the Day

Long, long ago, in a distant galaxy, around 2006, a Google search for universal design would give you under three million results. Today, it’s 41,200,000! This is a fast growing field as we prepare for a planet with an older population. Students considering career choices: look into universal design! This...

CAPS – Certified Aging In Place Specialist

Hooray! I am a CAPS graduate. What’s so different? Through manuals, instruction, discussion and testing, I added to my knowledge (even me, Mr. know-it-all). And, I am very excited. CAPS is an acronym for Certified Aging In Place Specialist. It is a three-day training and certification course offered by NAHB,...

Consciousness Precedes Form

Being green has been around for a long time. However, in the last year a tipping point was reached and green is now visible everywhere. Governments are doing it, business is doing it, schools are teaching it, and even the “bad” guys, such as the petroleum industry, are dabbling with...

Destination or Journey, Part II

In May 2008, I wrote the following: “One day, there will be the ultimate universal design handbook. It will have well conceived answers to every design quandary, each achieved cost effectively and with elegance. No. That would be as if universal design was a destination, a place we arrive at...

Born Again

Have you raised a child? I often wonder what I learned in school that was so great: geometry, endless history, exotic authors, extreme science? After years of school there was so much practical stuff that I didn’t know: how to cook, nutrition, conflict resolution, and child rearing. Simply bizarre, even...

Assistive Technology & UD, Part III: Hearing Loss

My grandfather, a Russian immigrant, had diminishing hearing as he aged. As a lover of gadgets and an early adopter of technology, he soon fitted himself with a modern (1960’s) electronic hearing aid. He had a microphone concealed as a tie pin, a gizmo in his pocket, and a loudspeaker...

Assistive Technology & UD, Part IV: Vision Loss

“Darn. Where did I leave my eyeglasses now?” This is a familiar cry for many people who use eyeglasses to help with certain tasks such as driving or reading. Eyeglasses are such a simple piece of assistive technology. So simple, we take them for granted. So simple, we even make...