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Libraries Indiana University Bloomington

Inclusive Design

This guide provides information on disability studies, with an emphasized focus on design.

Mobility

This One Handed Food Workstation has been designed to give independence, convenience and assistance with day to day kitchen tasks. It is ideal for those who have difficulty in gripping or have only one hand available. The workstation has a clamp that can grip all sorts of food, bowls, jars or bottles and that is very easy to operate.

Five bowls of food next to a white board with different attachments.  White chopping board with different attachments. There is a parsnip, a red onion, and a carrot on top of the cutting board.

 

The Accessibility Mat came to turn Ford beliefs of mobility into a tangible piece capable of changing people’s lives. It is a new way to think mobility. A new way to move even when the driver is outside the car. 

Diagram with a man in a wheelchair next two a phone screen. Other texts and images accompany but they are too small to interpret.  Diagram of a black mat with three differently sized rectangles. The mat is accompanied by labels that are too small to weird. The image is labelled "ACCESSIBILITY MAT."

 

The StairSteady Armrest is a simple but brilliant award-winning concept originally invented by a Sheffield schoolgirl. It consists of a rail and a handle which moves freely when pushed but locks when weight is applied. It can help to keep you independent and safe on your stairs.

  Gif of a man using an assistive tool to walk in a room.

 

Designer: Gwenole Gasnier

Tilting sink is a sink that can adapt to everyone. The common basin has been re-imagined with a simple alteration to accommodate all walks of life – a cut along the body of the piece to allow it to tilt according to the user’s height. By rocking around an axis, the design can be positioned to cater for a standing and seated adult or children. A locking system and a large overflow makes it secure in the two positions of use.

  Smooth black curved spout of a sink next to a white sink bowl.  Man in a wheelchair at a sink. The bowl of the sink is white and the spigot is black.

 

HanDo offers two types of prostheses, the Daily Functional Arm, which helps children with their daily performance in school, and the Sports Entertainment Arm, which is used for sports activities and exercise. This is an improvement from traditional prostheses, which only offer a single function and can only be used in limited situations. Users of HanDo can purchase additional kits to accommodate their own needs; in this way, child amputees are free to explore, grow, and develop with a lessened financial burden. 

Gold award of IDSA

Young boy with blue and white arm prosthetic. He is holding a wooden block.

The Logitech G Adaptive Gaming Kit unlocks the potential of the Xbox Adaptive Controller with a powerful set of tools. It is a unified hub for devices that makes gaming more accessible to those with limited mobility. At its core, it is a base station with basic functionality: two large A and B buttons and a slightly oversized D-pad, home, menu, and info buttons. To truly unlock its potential, the user needs to connect other buttons, joysticks, or additional input devices to its many ports. This insight led the Logitech G team to develop an assortment of buttons that connect to these ports, turning it into a powerful controller for gamers facing a wide variety of physical challenges. 

Silver award of IDSA

Aesthetic picture of black wires, buttons, and a game controller against a white background.

 

Oneware, is an add-on tool for the sink specially devised for people with only a single functioning arm to carry out various kitchen processes more effectively. Oneware consists of a main frame and two modular units — a chopping board to facilitate cutting and a silicone net for more efficient dishwashing. The inspiration for the creation came from watching his uncle, a stroke victim, face many challenges during meal preparation. “That is when I felt I could design products that could assist him. Oneware endeavors to bring cooking to everyone with its elegant and versatile designs,” he said.

National Winner in the James Dyson Award

White cutting board with grooves holding a green bell pepper in place. There is someone holding a knife cutting down on the green bell pepper.

 

Domstate Zorghotel is a rehabilitation centre in Utrecht, the Netherlands, designed by Dutch studio Van Eijk & Van der Lubbe to give patients a hotel experience. In the patients' rooms elements such as a mirror, a shelf and a headboard hang from a curved rail on the wall on thick leather straps. As well as providing a striking visual element, the rail can be used for rehabilitation exercises. Straps on handles and peepholes placed at different levels cater to patients with different levels of mobility.

Room with a bed and other features on the wall.  

 

The spoon was designed by a biotech company to improve the lives of people with diseases like Parkinson's. It can counteract the hand tremors caused by Parkinson's disease by its own vibrations. The spoon uses AI algorithms to determine whether the user's movement is intentional or unintentional. If the movement is unintentional, the spoon reverses motion to counteract the user's tremor.
Someone holding a spoon with chicken noodle soup.  Image of two liftware spoons, the one of the left has a bulkier handle and is labeled "Liftware Steady" and the one on the right reads, "Liftware Level." At the top, text reads, "LIFTWARE."    

 

Called Walking Wheelchair, the vehicle allows its occupant to engage with their surroundings at the height of an able-bodied person, which is beneficial both on a social and logistical level. London architect Suzanne Brewer has created a prototype wheelchair with only two wheels and a saddle seat that takes the user from seated to standing in one fluid movement. 

Woman standing against shelves of storage in an upright wheelchair.