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Summary
Summary
A history of design that is often overlooked--until we need it
Have you ever hit the big blue button to activate automatic doors? Have you ever used an ergonomic kitchen tool? Have you ever used curb cuts to roll a stroller across an intersection? If you have, then you've benefited from accessible design--design for people with physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities. These ubiquitous touchstones of modern life were once anything but. Disability advocates fought tirelessly to ensure that the needs of people with disabilities became a standard part of public design thinking. That fight took many forms worldwide, but in the United States it became a civil rights issue; activists used design to make an argument about the place of people with disabilities in public life.
In the aftermath of World War II, with injured veterans returning home and the polio epidemic reaching the Oval Office, the needs of people with disabilities came forcibly into the public eye as they never had before. The US became the first country to enact federal accessibility laws, beginning with the Architectural Barriers Act in 1968 and continuing through the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, bringing about a wholesale rethinking of our built environment. This progression wasn't straightforward or easy. Early legislation and design efforts were often haphazard or poorly implemented, with decidedly mixed results. Political resistance to accommodating the needs of people with disabilities was strong; so, too, was resistance among architectural and industrial designers, for whom accessible design wasn't "real" design.
Bess Williamson provides an extraordinary look at everyday design, marrying accessibility with aesthetic, to provide an insight into a world in which we are all active participants, but often passive onlookers. Richly detailed, with stories of politics and innovation, Williamson's Accessible America takes us through this important history, showing how American ideas of individualism and rights came to shape the material world, often with unexpected consequences.
Author Notes
Bess Williamson is Associate Professor of Art History, Theory and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This illuminating and thoughtful overview of the evolution of accessible design in the U.S. between the end of WWII and the late 1990s is a strong introduction to the topic. Focusing on physical disability concerns, particularly for wheelchair and prosthetic limb users, design historian Williamson traces shifts in cultural norms and expectations surrounding disability and their effects on design. In the aftermath of WWII, the goal for disabled veterans was "rehabilitation," the restoration of prior function through individual effort. Disabled people were considered responsible for "navigating and negotiating the inaccessible society," and efforts to design for them centered around prosthetics and other tools that could render a person "independent." In the 1970s and '80s, designers made stylish "Universal Design" objects, like the Cuisinart and OXO Good Grips kitchen tools, that smuggled features for people with disabilities into general-market products without mentioning disability. Meanwhile, the nascent rights-based concept that people with disabilities were entitled to public accommodations sometimes led to pushback against, for example, requirements to replace aging public transit vehicles with accessible models. Last, she discusses a recent shift away from as-invisible-as-possible mobility aids toward colorful, stylish, and luxurious choices that cater to the self-expression of the user. Williamson skillfully connects design concepts to changing social narratives; this work should reward readers interested in either topic. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Choice Review
Disability is unique as a civil rights issue, because accessibility involves more than simply opening up public spaces to a previously excluded group, it requires an actual change to the built environment. Starting with veterans returning from WW II, Williamson (School of the Art Institute of Chicago) explores the ways in which the challenges of providing better access for the disabled led to better products and services for all. As her focus is on design, her presentation is weighted heavily towards individuals with mobility or use issues, with an emphasis on veterans who lost limbs or experienced partial paralysis as a result of injuries. Those unfamiliar with these topics will be surprised to learn how far back studies on ergonomic design go, and how advanced many features of prosthetics were in the wake of WW II. More surprising still are the second-order applications of these advances, such as products with larger handles and better grips for the elderly and health-enhancing ergonomic office equipment. Books of this type rely on their illustrations, and Williamson's are well chosen and beautifully integrated with the text. Accessible America is handsomely produced and will appeal to readers interested in design, disability studies, and social history. Summing Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduates and above. --Brian Edward Donovan, University of Iowa
Library Journal Review
Williamson (design history, Sch. of the Art Inst. of Chicago) tells the story of the growth of accessibility design in America since World War II, from the design of artificial limbs, gadgets, and doorknobs to the fully legal architectural accessibility of public buildings outlined in the historic Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) signed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. The author's emphasis lies in social and political concerns rather than aesthetic and technological matters. Disability has grown enormously with warfare, from World War II through the Vietnam and Iraq Wars, and has been augmented tremendously by the physical sustainability of our aging and increasing senior citizens population. Williamson keenly emphasizes that the United States has led the world globally toward physical access and accessibility as acceptable and admirable natural and civil rights rather than annoying physical encumbrances that stand in the way. The black-and-white illustrations are small, but the bibliography and footnotes are excellent. VERDICT All public library systems should purchase this book, because reading it can change lives.-Peter S. Kaufman, Boston Architectural Ctr., MA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Introduction: Disability, Design, and Rights in the Twentieth Century | p. 1 |
| 1 Progress through Prosthetics: Limbs, Cars, Houses, and the American Dream | p. 17 |
| 2 Disability in the Century of the Gadget: Rehabilitation and Access in Postwar America | p. 43 |
| 3 Electric Moms and Quad Drivers: Do-It-Yourself Access at Home in Postwar America | p. 69 |
| 4 Berkeley, California: An Independent Style of Access | p. 96 |
| 5 Kneeling to the Disabled: Access and Backlash | p. 129 |
| 6 From Accessible to Universal: Design in the Late Twentieth Century | p. 147 |
| 7 Beyond Ramps: Cripping Design | p. 185 |
| Conclusion: Design for All? | p. 209 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 215 |
| Notes | p. 217 |
| Bibliography | p. 247 |
| Index | p. 267 |
| About the Author | p. 279 |
