Population ageing and disability rights are two well-established and highly predictable issues that will not go away. It is these two issues that have, and will continue to, shape the future for inclusive design
Population ageing began in the UK some 150 years ago, and is now a widespread characteristic across the developed world, with Japan currently the most mature nation in the world. This trend is driven by increased longevity due to design, engineering and technology-based improvements in the built environment, the packaging and preservation of food, etc., medical advances and lifestyle changes. Another factor is reduced birth rates, now very low in countries such as Italy, due to social developments and the changing status of women.
The longer-term consequences in the developed world will be contracting populations, as fewer children are born into each generation, and significant shifts in the ratio of over-50s to under-50s. This has profound implications for business and government finances. Inevitably, people will work for longer, reversing a long-term trend towards early retirement. Larger numbers of older people will fuel lifestyle change amongst older generations, and ageing baby-boomers will have a dramatic effect on our expectations of later life.
Although not prepared for this age shift, the developed world has the advantage of the resources and wealth to adjust, whereas the developing world is not so well placed to deal with the consequences.
While there are clear threats to the welfare system, pensions and healthcare provision, there are also significant design and business opportunities to deliver the products and services that will help to support older people in an independent and enjoyable life. Anticipating and exploiting these opportunities is a major challenge for design and business.
The international growth of legislation supporting the rights of disabled people is typified by recent developments in the UK, where in 2004 the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) came fully into force. Companies that fail to comply could find themselves facing unquantifiable future liabilities if individuals take them to court.
The Draft Disability Discrimination Bill is also now on its way to becoming law. Like the Race Relations Act, this will place significant obligations on employers, and was followed in October 2006 by the Age Discrimination Act.
Legislation will play a significant part in the move to include older and disabled people in mainstream society, and inclusive design has been identified by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as a key mechanism for achieving this.
In the past, the focus was on accessibility and ‘barrier-free’ design in the built environment - hence the wheelchair symbol used to identify ‘disabled’ facilities. It is now recognised that products, services, and importantly, information can be inaccessible to large numbers of people who are effectively disabled by poor design. This shift in emphasis, away from aids and adaptations - fitting the person to the environment - to a more dynamic, ‘social model’, based on equal opportunities and participation - fitting the environment to the person - requires a fundamental rethinking of buildings, products, services, interfaces and information. Hence the emphasis in inclusive design, on understanding the range of capabilities across the whole population, and the way these change over the life course and under different conditions.
The future focus will be on encouraging and supporting businesses to respond in a rapidly changing marketplace to needs highlighted by social and demographic change.