"We Are Enabled by Design" event coming soon!

by Lili1, January 27, 2010 1:30 PM |  4 comments |  Add a comment |  Send to a friend

A very belated Happy New Year to you all! We hope that the new decade has been treating you well so far. Here at Enabled by Design HQ we're extremely excited about what the year 2010 has in store. It's already nearing the end of January and I'm sure you've all been wondering where we'd got to. I know we've been a bit on the quiet side recently, but it's been for a very good reason. Inspired by last year's myPublicServices, we've been busy beavering away behind the scenes. Intrigued? Well, let me introduce the newest member of Team EbD who will reveal all. Lilian, take it away...

It has been great to hear that the work we have been doing at Enabled by Design has started to inspire people to think differently about accessibility.

We want to build on all our work together so far by putting together an unconference to refresh and revitalise the disability and ageing debate.

Our aim is to move people away from society's stereotypical generalisation and labeling of disability and ageing to one of acceptance and respect for who people really are. And inject some style and fun into proceedings as well of course!

We believe the world is made up of people who have a range of varying abilities, with each person having their own personal strengths and qualities. We are passionate about harnessing these strengths to empower people to live as independently as possible. Universal design taps into this by focusing on meeting the needs of as many people as possible, to make either a product or service accessible. By mainstreaming accessibility, this can help to remove any stigma attached, while making people's lives that bit easier and in turn more manageable. For us, universal design means accessibility for the masses.

We recognise that we should further develop relationships between product and service designers and users. We want to give people the chance to influence the debate and ensure those who design products, services and technology accept universal design as the norm.

We're currently pondering on calling the event "We are Enabled by Design: making design truly universal" and are looking to hold it in central London in June.

So, we'd LOVE your input! The following themes are important to us and we are thinking of focusing on these on the day:

• Design including Product, Urban, Service, etc
• Technology
• Policy
• Employment and Leisure

Those who will be coming along will include people from a large and diverse network including: experts from each of the four themes above, designers, technologists, policy makers, disability/health/age related organisations and charities, health and social care professionals, media (both mainstream and trade) and most importantly users.

How can you contribute? Well, it's easy. We need help with:

• support at the venue and event
• sponsorship whether it's in kind, gift economy or hard cash
• ideas on who you would like to present and topics you may be interested in
• offers to speak or run a session
  
• who you would like to see exhibit at the event
  

If you have any other ideas please do let us know, either in the comments section below, on our facebook page or on twitter.

Watch this space in the coming weeks for more information about the event. Let's together make 2010 the turning point and get serious about the universal design debate.