1,721,033 research outputs found
Spatialising differently through ability and techné
No full textThis paper reflects on multisensorial and multimodal processes by considering spatial design differently through three case studies in Canada and Belgium that involved persons with visual impairments. Our research provokes alternative ways of ‘seeing’ and ‘being’ in the world and we assert that the normative ways that designers think, act, and design for/with people who have disabilities can be shifted when considering ableism and techné together. Our studies and methods differ from other design processes and methods, in that we situate design within an understanding of ableism and techné, where we encourage designers to reflect upon their ability biases in order to break assumptions about the abilities and disabilities of users and/or codesigners. Through exploring, observing and creating, nuanced examinations into ability and techné are revealed that support an intimate bond and an empathic response towards shaping the designers’ understanding of participants embodied and practical knowledge. Our case study research expands the ways of knowing and doing in codesign through ableism and techné with people who are visually impaired, to create inspiring and meaningful designs through multisensorial processes that are inclusive of ‘seeing’ in order to spatialise differently.Funding
This work was supported by the Killam Trusts [Cornerstone Grant]; Institute for the Promotion of Innovation through Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT-Vlaanderen/ FWO Flanders) [Grant]; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [Doctoral Fellowship].
Acknowledgments
The film Light in the Borderlands was funded through a Killam Cornerstone Grant. For the Canadian Museum, this work was partially funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Grant. The Belgian case study was partially funded by a grant from the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation through Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT-Vlaanderen/FWO Flanders). The authors would like to thank all of the participants and organisations in Canada and Belgium for sharing their time and insights for these research projects
Architects and visually impaired people: analysing two ways of talking
No full textWhile architects think and work in a visual way, people who are visually impaired may pay more attention to other senses and, as a result, are able to appreciate other spatial qualities. Because of this particular ability, our research seeks to explore how to enhance communication between architects and visually impaired people. It is imaginable that there is significant disparity between how architects and visually impaired people talk; even so, this paper seeks to discover points of connection that support enabling a genuine dialogue between these two groups of people. The study reported here aims to gain insights into how both groups talk about the built environment by comparing and contrasting two independent data sets: four in-depth interviews with architects, and four with visually impaired people. Through analysis of the spoken word, we identify what common ground exists and what the central differences are between both groups. On this basis, we discuss potential elements that may challenge or facilitate developing connections towards deeper conversation between architects and visually impaired people. While the study focuses on architectural design and visual impairment, the findings
may be transferable to communication between designers and non-designers in general
Remembering and forgetting: The material culture of disability in Canadian National Museums
No full textMaterial cultural studies questions societal issues through material things. In the case of this study, we use the museum environment and its relationship with disability to map embodied encounters as a means to exploring contemporary society’s notion of disability. Museums have been producing and communicating knowledge for over 600 years and yet they have only recently come under critical examination. This work is framed by theories that complement a more holistic approach and focus on the museum as a complex ‘material’ network where human and nonhuman actors come together to create a understanding of dis- ability. Two in-depth case studies conducted in Canadian museums that have a reasonable amount of disability content are the focus. The case studies involve deep object analysis whereby the space (exterior, interior) and displays are examined for overt or implied content related to disability. By unpacking how disability is presented through the museum—an influential institution where knowledge is both produced and consumed—insights into how contemporary society engages with and constructs of disability are revealed. For instance, the presentation of disability within museums is some- times very explicit whereas other aspects of disability are barely present because these are related to cultural memories of silence, loss and that which is forgotten
Minding the gaps: Disability culture + cultural competence in interior design
No full textDespite the increased attention to the relationship of disability and design, this area still suffers from\ud
terminological confusion, oversimplification and a positivist bias that continues to produce ableist space.\ud
Here, I am suggesting that space is not a fixed container or a pochéd plan that needs to be ‘altered’ in\ud
order to accommodate, but that space is a fundamental element of social life and that space continually\ud
reproduces the social and cultural relations of its production. This paper serves as a critical foundation\ud
for ongoing explorations into how disability culture is situated within interior design.\ud
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A shift towards disability as culture is necessary to move our understanding of how to design for those\ud
with disabilities out of the objective realm (prescriptive codes and guidelines) and into a subjective\ud
realm (the lived experience and embodied know-how of those with disabilities). By framing disability\ud
around a cultural model rather than a medical model it allows for epistemological and pedagogical shifts\ud
in our ways of knowing in interior design. In defining culture as “a way of life” it is important to look at\ud
disability as both a diverse way of living and a diverse way of knowing. Most significant, is that the everyday expertise of people with disabilities is recognized as knowledge that can inform the field of interior design. The urgency for defining disability culture is essential to our understanding of cultural competence in interior design education and practice. \ud
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The aim of this paper is to challenge our current understanding of how to design for those with disabilities and to shift our ways of knowing in interior design towards a deep understanding of the lived\ud
experience, embodied know-how and culture of those with disabilities. This paper will begin by analysing\ud
the different models of disability and how interior design education and practice has shifted to reflect\ud
these different models. Defining disability culture and all of its complexities is also an essential\ud
component of this paper. Finally, this paper will present best practices and case studies of how a cultural\ud
model of disability can shape interior environments and interior design pedagogy
Taken for Granted: Material Relations Between Disability and Codes/Guidelines
No full textThis paper provides a critical examination of the taken for granted nature of the codes/guidelines used towards the creation of designed spaces, their social relations with designers, and their agency in designing for people with disabilities. We conducted case studies at three national museums in Canada where we began by questioning societal representations of disability within and through material culture through the potential of actor-network theory where non-human actors have considerable agency. Specifically, our exploration looks into how representations of disability for designing, are interpreted through mediums such as codes, standards and guidelines. We accomplish this through: deep analyses of the museums’ built environments (outdoors and indoors); interviewed curators, architects and designers involved in the creation of the spaces/displays; completed dialoguing while in motion interviews with people who have disabilities within the spaces; and analyzed available documents relating to the creation of the museums. Through analyses of our rich data set involving the mapping of codes/guidelines in their “representation” of disability and their contributions in “fixing” disability, this paper takes an alternative approach to designing for/with disability by aiming to question societal representations of disability within and through material culture
Evaluating a Proposed Design for All (DfA) Manual for Architecture
No full textThis paper outlines the evaluation of a print-based Design for All (DfA) manual. The purpose was to understand if and how a DfA manual can be used as a tool to inspire students (future architects) in designing an inclusive project to transform theory into practice. The DfA manual has been used and tested during a workshop that took place at the UDweek 2016 in Hasselt, Belgium. Our results show that the manual was favorably received, particularly in the areas of the manual’s visual presentation. Conversely, short guidelines, as mean to transfer knowledge, was perceived as too prescriptive. Furthermore, more information to generate insights on users’ needs are required and the static format of the manual can’t satisfy the different ways students prefer to access information. The research provides interesting criteria on how to create a more relevant and useable DfA manual; however, further studies are required to elaborate upon these
Privacy, Dignity, and Integrity: A Material Culture Analysis of What Space and Technology Affords the Neonatal Nurse
Full text linkDespite a large and ever-growing body of literature that is concerned withthe relationship between the neonatal nurse and the physical environment of herworkplace, particularly as knowledge that can inform the design of NICUs, thereis very little work that looks to understand how the neonatal nurse experiences theparticular objects and spaces of her work environment. Taking a material culturestudies approach to the study of one intensive care unit in Edmonton, Alberta,Canada, this research describes how nurses working within this site interact with,perceive, and describe two everyday technological objects (the Overhead Warmerand the Hokki Stool) and one space (Pod 1) in the NICU. Based on an analysis ofdata collected through an artifact analysis, observations, and interviews, this thesistells the story of how nurses need and value privacy, dignity, and integrity in theirwork, and how these experiences are afforded through their interaction with thisspace and these objects. The findings of this research have implications for thedesign and development of the NICU and NICU design related products, as wellas being a contribution to scholarship related to the material culture of nursing,and the material culture of work
Tracing the Thread: Untangling Colonialism and Ableism from Material Culture Education
No full textThis thesis weaves together storytelling, personal reflections, poetry, and critical analysis to examine, critique, and document the colonial and ableist practices embedded within pedagogical approaches to material culture from the perspective of a Pinoy/Filipino and Pangasinan settler/immigrant on stolen indigenous lands. Grounding my personal history with textiles and a relearning of pinoy and Pangasinan languages, this document aims to archive the ways Western academic operations invalidate and erase diverse systems of knowledges from the university, while simultaneously creating the knowledges that validates its own existence as an institution. All the while, this thesis serves as a personal process to unravel the colonial and ableist threads within my own practice while embodying kapwa.
Structured in four parts, this document first situates my relationship to textiles within broader conversations around oppressive pedagogies, epistemicide, Indigenous Research Methodologies, storytelling as resistance, and relational accountability. Part 2 is grounded in my own discomfort navigating graduate school: I critique how citation mechanics, disciplinary boundaries, and academic notions of “rigour” work to exclude systems of knowledges. By connecting these everyday academic operations that sustains the university, I aim to shed light on how epistemicide and further systems of oppression persist within university walls and are continually reproduced on stolen Indigenous lands. Part 3 moves outward. I collect stories, reflections, and pieces that continue to untangle colonialism and ableism from the knowing of our shared material worlds, while practicing and telling stories of alternatives to dominant practices. Finally, Part 4 extends these discussions beyond the university, asserting that true liberatory change must emerge through collective, community-based efforts rather than institutional reform alone.
By centering my lived experience and location, alongside rigorous critique, this thesis challenges the authority of academic objectivity and empiricism, advocating instead for an approach that honours embodied knowledge, storytelling, and relationality as legitimate and necessary modes of inquiry that will move us towards a critical consciousness for liberation and self-determination. Through this work, I offer a cautionary tale of how universities can distract us from our own knowledge, while also affirming the possibilities of resisting and reimagining knowledge beyond colonial frameworks and ableist practices. For myself, I continue to hold hope throughout this document. Sometimes in the university, but always on the ground
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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