Universal Design: Gorilla Marketing

We are GUILTY when we pretend that our current designs don’t foster a class of OUTLIERS. We pretend that THREE CUPS OF TEA will make it go away. But let me tell you THE SECRET: the DREAMS OF MY FATHER and the dreams of all our fathers wasn’t WHY WE SUCK, it was about us as the AMERICAN LION, it was about THE AUDACITY OF HOPE, it was THE LOVE DARE! Would we have a society that cared for all, would we design in a way that says, WHAT’S AGE GOT TO DO WITH IT? Would we design in a way that didn’t marginalize?

For universal design to be BROKEN OPEN, we don’t need another lecture or even THE LAST LECTURE; what we need is a TEAM OF RIVALS who’s ambitions and commitments are to look after us all, even old MARLEY & ME. However, if instead what we hear is, HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU, we fall back to not caring for each other and seeking out some thrill like a HIGH VOLTAGE TATTOO to take us away from our experience of isolation, boredom and suffering. If young and vain, our attention focuses on distractions like our FLAT BELLY DIET. In the end, you just don’t know WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING. Sadness replaces hope and even SUZE ORMAN’S ACTION PLAN fails to elicit passion; even DEWEY the cat, ceases to matter.

Welcome to the blog Universal Design 2010 and the website Universal Design Resource. Please forgive my clever ploy to interrupt your search for a non-fiction New York Times best-seller. But now that you are here, do you know what universal design is? It’s an approach to designing in a way that doesn’t marginalize someone with a physical limitation - could be eyeglasses, pregnancy, arthritis, a recent hip operation or living with wheels.

Are you able-bodied? Will you always be able-bodied? Do you know people who struggle with basic life activities? Read, or bookmark and come back. The information here makes a huge difference either for you now, for you one day, or for someone you know. Learn a little, share what you discover and see a world that’s a little brighter because some guy used an opportunistic marketing strategy to put something new under your nose.

Konrad Kaletsch
February 5, 2009
Universal Design Resource
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