Virtual and Augmented Reality Awareness Tools for Universal Design: Towards Active Preventive Healthcare

Universal Design

Trying to mitigate some of the challenges disabled people face, the concept of Universal Design (Mace et al., 1991) have been gaining special importance, especially in the last decade. It has been defined as “…simply a way of designing a building or facility at little or no extra cost so it is both attractive and functional for all people disabled or not.”. Universal design is not a specific field of design practice but rather an approach to design and engineering, a mental reference, a mindset leading to the idea that objects, environments, systems, or services should be planned and idealized as equally accessible and experienced by all persons or at least by the largest number of individuals possible. This attitude has also been explored in accessible design, usable design, barrier-free design, and inclusive design, all adjacent concepts that, despite their normative differences and distinct implications, provide similar ethical guidelines and propose compatible development frameworks.