Bringing Solutions for Older Workers to Homogeneous Design Community

Writing after delivering a keynote address at the third international conference on universal design, organized by Boston-based nonprofit Adaptive Environments, Susan S. Szenasy, Metropolis Editor in Chief, reports on repeated indictments of design professionals:

"Architects don't want anyone to use their buildings," laments an aging advocate of accessible design. "Designers are ageists," another notes. "The design professions are populated by a young workforce that tends to design for its peers; they're unsympathetic to the aged."

Looking for a solution, she wonders about the lively debates that might occur in design studios if design and architecture schools start to attract older, more mature students who bring the real-life experiences of aging and disability into the studio.

Source: "Designing for Diversity" Metropolis Magazine (March 2005; posted February 22, 2005)