Vol. 5 No. 2 (2015): Journal of Accessibility and Design for All

This number includes several articles focused on inclusive design. Particularly, studying aspects of daily activities such as social relations or going for shopping to the grocery. The research efforts invested in these topics are remarkably meriting because the huge impact that improvements discovered can bring to daily life activities for so many people.This is the case of the second article, "The use of proxies" (pages 100-124) of the current issue, that is dealing with social aspects. A group of designers tried to improve social relations of severely disabled residents in a care home in Denmark. The challenge for the designers was to gather information from users with severe communication difficulties. Their approach was to combine design methods on the borderland between assistive technology and social design. "Rethinking the grocery store" (pages 125-156) is related to wayfinding in this type of built environment. Researchers deal with barriers that many people with disabilities face while shopping in grocery stores. The objective of their research is to design an inclusive and innovative wayfinding system in for visually impaired shoppers to help them find the center zone, orient between different aisles, decide where to go, move easily between different sections, and select products with ease. In the case of "Understanding the barriers" (pages 157-173), the aim is to understand the barriers that shoppers with vision impairment face in the grocery stores. Regarding the research process itself, it is crucial to detect special needs and preferences of people with disability. Thus, participatory approaches are used. These techniques entail challenges regarding the involvement and maintained participation of these users. Particularly in large-scale R&D technology projects. The first article of this number, "Managing the participation of people with disabilities in large-scale R&D technology projects" (pages 77-99), discusses some strategies to overcome these barriers. Authors are based on their experience in two large-scale technology projects, AEGIS and CLOUD4all, funded by the European Commission.  For JACCES, the publication of this type of results is considered essential to enhance future research of this nature.
Published: 2015-11-29

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