Currently browsing posts in ‘Accessibility’

About a year ago, I attended a universal design conference up in Auckland. At the time I was doing some study around vision impairment and afterwards I wrote a blog about my thoughts on how to consider people’s different needs when designing lighting in public places and spaces. But reflecting recently on how universal design ...

I’ve recently been lucky enough to go on holiday to Sweden, a country I’ve never visited before. While the history there is not as old as many other European countries – about 300 years in total as a nation – there are still many cobbled streets (such as the one seen here in Gamla Stan, ...

I believe workplace wellness includes taking care of customers as well as employees, and I love it when I come across simple but quirky solutions to everyday problems. Here are a couple I have recently discovered that I would like to share with you. The first idea was shared at the Be.Accessible team day, held ...

I’ve just completed an accessibility assessment of the beautiful Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch as a Be.Accessible assessor. The theatre was restored with replicas of all the original features following the 2011 earthquake, so I was very impressed with how they have gone the extra mile with creating a really accessible theatre facility whilst still ...

I find it really encouraging to hear Christchurch’s mayor, Lianne Dalziel, mention that accessibility is one of the focuses of the current mayoral team, and will continue to be so if they are re elected later this year. Why I find it so encouraging is that people with access needs are all around us, and ...

For those of us who work in an office, it’s easy to forget that workspaces and workplaces come in all shapes, sizes and locations. I was reminded of this recently when I went up to the Human Factors and Ergonomics conference in Auckland. Delegates included a number of academics from the field of ergonomy as ...

I was recently over in Melbourne for a most enjoyable stay – I love Melbourne for its vibrancy, open spaces, use of art work, reclamation of the docklands area and, more recently, its alleyways. There was a fascinating insight into this reuse of alleyways on Andreas Dalgaard’s documentary, ‘The Human Scale’  which showed how urban ...