Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERC) Program: RERC on Universal Design Applications

Background:As initially defined, “universal design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaption or specialized design” (Mace, 1985). This definition has evolved over time. However, the primary intent of universal design is the creation of products and built environments that are usable by people with the widest possible range of abilities without modification. This priority operationalizes universal design within the seven universal design principles developed and validated under previous NIDILRR funding (Connell, et al., 1997). Universally designed products and built environments:Are useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities;Accommodate a wide range of individual preferences and abilities;Are easy to understand, regardless of the user’s experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level;Communicate necessary information effectively to the user, regardless of ambient conditions or the user’s sensory abilitiesMinimize hazards and adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions;Can be used efficiently and comfortably with a minimum of fatigue.Have appropriate size and space for approach, reach, manipulation, and use regardless of user’s body size, posture, or mobility.In the United States, two mechanisms have driven the application of universal design. Legislation has mandated access for people with disabilities leading to universal design adoption within the built environment. The resulting changes created a large impact, primarily for people with physical and vision disabilities (Dolph, 2021). Meanwhile, free-market forces led to the demand for universally designed products meeting the needs of the growing population of people with age-related changes in function (Maisel and Steinfeld, 2022).Most research, development, and practice efforts related to universal design have focused on addressing the needs of people with physical disabilities within the built environment. This focus increased physical activity, for example, through improved walkability of communities, greater accessibility of transportation options, and greater accessibility of community-level recreational facilities. Such universally-designed changes have also increased access to health services for all people. The accessibility of the built environment is a strong determinant of health, physical function, and wellness (Olodeoku, et al., 2024; Rollings, et al., 2024) and is associated with positive cognitive function and quality of life among people with disabilities (Chen, et al., 2022; Delhey, et al., 2024; Forster, et al., 2023).Additional universal design applications have addressed the needs of people who are blind or who have low vision. Most of this effort has centered on the needs of people with vision disabilities in pedestrian interaction with traffic. We are only beginning to understand how residual vision and assistive technology use shapes universal design needs in these scenarios (Chidiac, et al, 2024). People with vision impairments continue to prioritize their need to navigate independently in all environments because this provides them with beneficial social interactions and experiences. Unfortunately, independent navigation remains challenging in unfamiliar indoor spaces and outdoor environments such as parks and other recreation spaces. Indoor navigation challenges include detection of and passage through automated sliding doors, orientation in large rooms and spaces that are noisy and populated, and navigation around other people and moveable furnishings within the environment (Jeamwatthanachai, et al., 2019). Meanwhile, many outdoor environments tend to lack navigational landmarks (Bandukda, et al., 2019). We lack knowledge about how people with vision disabilities can successfully navigate these spaces (Bandukda, et al., 2019; Jeamwatthanachai, et al., 2019). Universal design applications that incorporate awareness of user experiences, and knowledge about the characteristics of optimally navigable environments would improve community living and participation outcomes among people with vision impairments.Applications of universal design principles for people who are d/Deaf have largely focused on indoor spaces, with little attention paid to pedestrian interaction with traffic and other outdoor scenarios (Chidiac, et al., 2024). People who are d/Deaf rely on proximity, spatial configurations, and lines of sight for communication and participation within a given space (Azalia, et al., 2019). For example, a hallway within a building that meets regulations for physical access requirements is not generally wide enough for two people to adequately view the sign language communication space while walking together. Further, lack of visual cues may result in collisions around or near hallway corners. Universal design applications may be useful in addressing these environmental barriers faced by people who are d/Deaf.Studies of the needs of those who are neurodiverse have largely focused on children in learning environments. These studies suggest that universal design strategies can enable greater participation in education and employment, as well as greater social participation among this population. Simple spatial layouts, availability of quieter retreat spaces, diffuse natural or customizable lighting, and sound-absorbent materials can create less overwhelming environments for this population and others (Black, et al., 2022). More research and development is needed to expand these universal design applications beyond learning environments to allow neurodiverse people to comfortably participate in a wider range of social and built environments. Most of the universal design research related to people with sensory disabilities or those who are neurodiverse has been descriptive and exploratory in nature (Chidiac, et al., 2024; Black, et al., 2022). More advanced research would provide insight into universal design applications that present more enabling environments for all. Advanced research would define design specifications where the needs of differing groups conflict with each other. Finally, there is a dearth of research surrounding universal design applications for people who have multiple functional limitations.Universally designed products that appeal to broad groups of people have often entered the market as rehabilitation tools aimed at a smaller target population. To assist people with limited hand function or reduced grip strength, for example, occupational therapists provided custom solutions that increased the grip surface of various tools. OXO International engineered this concept at a broader scale for its production of mass market kitchen products (Maisel and Steinfeld, 2022). In doing so, they improved fabrication quality and design aesthetics which led to an expanded target audience and reduced costs. Developers have used similar strategies to take rehabilitation tools to broader markets. These include voice input technologies, tactile flooring, bottle openers, and other products. Unfortunately, some universal design products have lost the features that most improve access during their transition to and adoption in the mass market (Guffey, 2021). In case studies, this loss has been addressed by applying universal design principles with people with disabilities as the primary audience.New strategies allow city and regional planning professionals to incorporate information communication technology (ICT), large datasets, machine learning, and artificial intelligence into urban planning, development, and implementation, improving the quality of life of citizens (Wang, et al. 2021). These “smart city” initiatives allow planners to focus on improving efficiency and sustainability. However, technology applied within the smart city paradigms necessarily rely on the statistical analysis of existing datasets to guide development and service delivery. Historically, people with disabilities represent statistical outliers in large datasets. Analyses and applications based on this data may exclude or even harm those whose experiences fall outside of the norm (Deitz, 2023). Planners can use universal design principles and concepts to evaluate smart city initiatives for inclusion of people with disabilities. References:Azalia, N., Arvanda, E., Isnaeni, H., & Kusuma, N. R. (2020). Proxemic as spatial strategy on social space for deaf community. AIP Conference Proceedings, 2230 (1).Bandukda, M., Singh, A., Berthouze, N., & Holloway, C. (2019). Understanding experiences of blind individuals in outdoor nature. Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1-6.Black, M.H., McGarry, S., Churchill, L., D’Arcy, E., Dalgleish, J., Nash, I., Jones, A., Yan Tse, T., Gibson, J., Bolte, S., Girdler, S. (2022). Considerations of the built environment for autistic individuals: A review of the literature. Autism, 26(8), 1904-1915.Chen, X., Lee, C., Huang, H., (2022). Neighborhood build environment associated with cognition and dementia risk among older adults: A systematic literature review. Social Science & Medicine, 292: 114560.Chidiac, S.E., Reda, M.A., Marjaba, G.E. (2024). Accessibility of the Built Environment for People with Sensory Disabilities -- Review Quality and Representation Evidence. Buildings, 14: 707 - 726.Connell, B. R., Jones, M., Mace, R., Mueller, J., Mullick, A., Ostroff, E., Sanford, J., Steinfeld, E., Story, M., Vanderheiden, G. (1996) DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF PRINCIPLES OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN. In A. Langton (Ed.), Proceedings of the RESNA 1996 Annual Conference: Exploring New Horizons (pp. 435-437). RESNA Press: Arlington, VA.Deitz, S. (2023). Outlier bias: AI classification of curb ramps, outliers, and context. Big Data & Society, 10(2), DOI: 10.1177/20539517231203669.Delhey, L. M., Shi, X., Morgenstern, L. B., Brown, D. L., Smith, M. A., Case, E. C., Springer, M.V. & Lisabeth, L. D. (2024). Neighborhood Resources and Health Outcomes Among Stroke Survivors in a Population‐Based Cohort. Journal of the American Heart Association, 13(14), e034308.Dolph, Eric (2021). The Developing Definition of Universal Design. Journal of Accessibility and Design for All, 11(2): 178-194.Forster, Grace Katharine; Aaro, Leif Edvard; Nordheim Alme, Maria, Hansen, Thomas; Sevenius Nilson, Thomas, & Vedaa, Oystein (2023) Built Environment Accessibility and Disability as Predictors of Well-being among Older Adults: A Norwegian Cross Sectional Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20: 5898.Guffey, Elizabeth (2021). In the wake of Universal Design: Mapping the Terrain. DesignIssues. 37(1): 76-82.Jeamwatthanachai, W., Wald, M., & Wills, G. (2019). Indoor navigation by blind people: Behaviors and challenges in unfamiliar spaces and buildings. British Journal of Visual Impairment, 37(2), 140-153.Mace, R., (1985). Universal Design: Barrier Free Environments for Everyone. Designers West. 33(1): 147-152.Maisel, J. & Steinfeld, E., (2022). Universal Design and the Built Environment, in Milhailidis, A., Smith, R. (Eds.) Rehabilitation Engineering: Principles and Practice. (pp. 295-317) CRC Press. DOI: 10.1201/b21964-16Olodeoku, M., Alokun, A., Alagbe, O., Egwabor, J., & Buseri, J. (2024). Exploring Universal Design Principles in the Built Environment: An Empirical Review. African Journal of Environmental Sciences and Renewable Energy, 16(1), 84-98.Rollings, Kimberly A.; Dannenberg, Andrew L.; Frumkin, Howard; and Jackson, Richard. J. (2024) Built Environment and Public Health: More than 20 Years of Progress." American Journal of Public Health. 114(1): 27-33.Wang, Chihaungji (Herbert), Steinfeld, Edward; Maisel, Jordana; Kang, Bumjoon (2021) "Is your smart city inclusive? Evaluating proposals of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Smart City Challenge." Sustainable Cities and Society. 24: 103148.Priority:The Administrator of the Administration for Community Living (ACL) establishes a priority for a Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on Universal Design Applications. Under this priority, the RERC must use scientific and engineering approaches to research, develop, and evaluate innovative technologies that will result in new or improved products, devices, built environments, or technological advances that are designed to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaption or specialized design. Following the principles of universal design (as described in the background to this priority), the RERC must conduct research and development activities toward the production and promotion of universally designed products and built environments. These advances must promote improved outcomes among people with a variety of disabilities in one or more of the following outcome domains: health and function, employment, or community living and participation.The RERC must conduct advanced research activities that contribute to the applied science of universal design. The RERC must conduct at least one research project at the intervention development, intervention efficacy, or scale-up evaluation stage of research. The RERC must also conduct advanced development activities that further the existence and availability of universally designed products and built environments. The RERC must conduct at least one development project at the proof of product or proof of adoption stage. NIDILRR’s stages of research are described on ACL’s website.Activities under this priority must be designed to lead to state-of-the-science knowledge translation and technology transfer. The RERC must enhance the usability and effectiveness of currently available, new, and emerging devices and technologies to align with users’ goals, needs, and abilities.Applicants must demonstrate that people with disabilities from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds will be included in study samples in sufficient numbers to generate knowledge and products that are relevant to the racial and ethnic diversity of the disability populations being addressed by the RERC.Applicants under the priority in this notice are required to specify in their proposal the following:The NIDILRR outcome domain or domains to be addressed.The target population or populations of people with disabilities.The technological devices, products, or built environments to be produced.The benefits of those devices, products, or built environments to people with disabilities.The means of testing and evaluating the devices, products, or built environments to be produced.The way that people with disabilities will be included as part of proposed research and development teams, and the way that their input will be incorporated into research and development activities.Requirements applicable to RERC priorities:As a national center, the RERC must conduct high-quality research, development, technical assistance, capacity building, knowledge translation, and dissemination activities that address significant needs, promote independence, and improve quality of life and community living outcomes of people with disabilities. To optimize benefits to people with disabilities, the RERC must ascertain the efficacy and safety of proposed strategies, technologies, or interventions, and collaborate with appropriate entities to facilitate the transfer and adoption of development products. The RERC must follow and understand emerging technologies and communicate to NIDILRR, ACL, and other appropriate stakeholders about the potential opportunities and drawbacks associated with these technologies.An RERC established under the proposed priority in this notice must be designed to contribute to the following outcomes:Increased technical and scientific knowledge relevant to its designated priority research area. The RERC must contribute to this outcome by conducting high-quality, rigorous research projects. The RERC must use appropriate engineering knowledge and techniques to collect, analyze, and synthesize research data.Increased innovation in technologies, products, environments, performance guidelines, or monitoring and assessment tools applicable to its designated priority research area. The RERC must contribute to this outcome through the development and testing of these innovations. The RERC must apply appropriate engineering knowledge and techniques to achieve development objectives.Improved research capacity in its designated priority research area. The RERC must contribute to this outcome by collaborating with relevant industry groups, professional associations, institutions of higher education, health care providers, or educators, as appropriate, to train research and development professionals in its designated priority research area.Improved awareness and understanding of cutting-edge developments in technologies within its designated priority research area. The RERC must contribute to this outcome by communicating with NIDILRR, people with disabilities and their representatives, disability organizations, service providers, developers, manufacturers, architects, designers, city and regional planners, professional journals, State Assistive Technology Act Programs, and other interested parties about trends and evolving product concepts related to its designated priority research area.Increased impact of research and development in the designated priority research area. The RERC must contribute to this outcome by providing technical assistance to relevant public and private organizations, people with disabilities, employers, and schools on policies, guidelines, and standards related to its designated priority research area.Increased transfer of RERC-developed technologies to the marketplace. The RERC must contribute to this outcome by developing and implementing a plan for ensuring that all technologies developed by the RERC are made available to the public. The technology transfer plan must be developed in the first year of the project period in consultation with the NIDILRR-funded Initiative to Mobilize Partnerships for Successful Assistive Technology Transfer (IMPACT) Center.Improved usability and accessibility of products and environments in the RERC’s designated priority research area. The RERC must contribute to this outcome by emphasizing the principles and goals of universal design in its product research, development, and evaluation.In addition, under each priority, the RERC must--Have the capability to design, build, and test prototype devices and assist in the technology transfer and knowledge translation of successful solutions to relevant production and service delivery settings;Evaluate the efficacy and safety of its new products, instrumentation, or assistive devices;Provide as part of its proposal, and then implement, a plan that describes how it will include, as appropriate, people with disabilities or their representatives in all phases of its activities, including research, development, training, dissemination, and evaluation;Provide as part of its proposal, and then implement, in consultation with the NIDILRR-funded Center on Knowledge Translation for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, a plan to disseminate its research results to people with disabilities and their representatives, disability organizations, service providers, professional journals, manufacturers, and other interested parties;Conduct a state-of-the-science conference on its designated priority research area in the fourth year of the project period, and publish a comprehensive report on the final outcomes of the conference at the beginning of the fifth year of the project period;Coordinate research projects of mutual interest with relevant NIDILRR-funded projects, as identified through consultation with the NIDILRR project officer;Specify the stage or stages of research projects that they are proposing. If the applicant proposes to conduct research that can be categorized under more than one stage, including research that progresses from one stage to another, those stages must be clearly specified. These stages (exploration and discovery, intervention development, intervention efficacy, and scale-up evaluation) are defined on ACL’s website; andSpecify the stage or stages of development of the development projects that they are proposing. If the applicant proposes to conduct development that can be categorized under more than one stage, those stages must be clearly specified. These stages (proof of concept, proof of product, and proof of adoption) are defined on ACL’s website.