If you were around the architecture and interior design profession in 1990, the passage of the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) was a very big deal. Passed by the U.S. Congress with bipartisan support and signed into law by President George H.W. Bush (a later amended version was signed in 2008 by his son, President George W. Bush). The ADA was modeled, not at all insignificantly on the earlier Civil Rights Act and was designed to protect citizens with disabilities from discrimination in public places. However, it went further than the Civil Rights Act in that it requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities and also imposes accessibility requirements on an array of public accommodations.
Nearly 40 years later, an array of professionals from diverse disciplines continue to go beyond the fundamental requirements of the law and instead seek to explore how to more effectively design and furnish spaces that reflect its true spirit. It’s that aspiration and intent that powers Absolutely Accessible West Michigan, a workshop event now celebrating its 8th anniversary. This year’s gathering took place in Grand Rapids, Mich. recently and drew an impressive lineup of speakers and a capacity crowd of practitioners, sponsored jointly by Disability Advocates of Kent County, Disability Network Lakeshore, and Disability Network West Michigan. It is deliberately called a workshop, not merely a conference, to reflect the distinctive action-orientation of the content and the spirit.
Dave Bulkowski has been the executive director of Disability Advocates of West Michigan for over 30 years, and he has seen the steady growth and increasing stature of this annual event, highlighted by the exceptional quality of this year’s presenters. “We could not be more excited about the wealth of knowledge and experience represented in this year’s lineup,” he said.
Most impressive to Bulkowski, however, is the maturing focus of the attendees. “There is a perceptible movement from focusing on the ‘why do this’ and ‘what is required’ to deeply caring about the ‘how.’ How can we design and build spaces that are truly inclusive?” And the speakers and messages this year centered on just that.
The keynote presentation was delivered by the renowned Valerie Fletcher who has been the executive director of the Institute for Human Centered Design (IHCD) since 1998. Fletcher writes, lectures and works internationally and her current research focus is generating data to inform inclusive designing for the Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPoC) and low-income communities. She is the former deputy commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health where she oversaw the largest participatory planning process ever undertaken in a state mental health system. Fletcher has a master’s degree in ethics and public policy from Harvard University. The Boston Society of Architects awarded her the Women in Design award in 2005. The Helen Hamlyn Research Centre at the Royal College of Art in London named her Inclusive Design Champion in 2022.
Fletcher provided a broad and robust foundation for considering inclusive design, from the vocabulary that is used to the fundamental principles of inclusive design to the vision that emerges from asking the most basic question, “who are we not thinking about?” Her presentation enlivened the attendees.
Four breakout sessions gave the attendees at Absolutely Accessible West Michigan a robust portfolio of actionable knowledge, more ways to implement the “how” of inclusive design.
Kate Dailey, a licensed architect and inclusive design advisor at Perkins + Will, focused her presentation on architecture and the built environment. During her career, she married a wheelchair user, opening her eyes to the realities of inclusivity within our environments. She is a key resource for accessible and inclusive design within her firm and throughout the country.
“Disability affects us all,” she said. “Whether we are born with a disability, develop a disability, or age into the wisest of elders, our lives will be affected by the fascinating, overarching idea of ‘disability.’ With this disability inevitability, we can look at inclusive design as a form of resilient design. Inclusive design aims to consider as many potential users as possible — their needs, preferences, identities — and create a space where all users can feel comfortable. Basically, we create resilient designs.”
A session on the implications of accessibility on the real estate market was delivered by Sarah Takens, a licensed real estate broker, interior designer, and emergency management responder whose work sits at the intersection of housing, design and real-world life transitions. She has a background in pre-law and 15 years as a bankruptcy paralegal. Takens has seen firsthand how quickly life circumstances can change and how often homes are unprepared to support those changes. Her session explored how disability, fair housing and inclusive design intersect to shape the future of real estate.
A breakout session on residential design was presented by Judi Siegert, an occupational therapist with over 35 years of experience, and a certified aging in place specialist (CAPS). A graduate of Western Michigan University’s department of occupational therapy, Judi is fulfilled by leading a strong team of occupational therapists at Disability Advocates of Kent County. Her workshop presented the Disability Advocates’ Zero Step Guidelines — a practical, universal design framework that goes beyond minimum code to create step-free, usable and welcoming spaces. Real-world examples and actionable guidance helped attendees identify barriers and apply Zero Step principles in design, construction and renovation projects. In addition, some sample floorplans and room layouts were on display to bring to life all the useful ideas she shared.
The final breakout session took an even more expansive view on inclusive design. It was delivered by Suzanne Schultz, the Urban Planning Practice Leader at Progressive Companies. Her practice focuses on innovative land use and transportation planning projects in communities, facilitating development, and creating systemic change. Suzanne is the former planning director and managing director of design and development for the City of Grand Rapids, where she initiated the city’s hiring of test pilots from Disability Advocates of Kent County to assist in the review of development projects and to share their lived experiences with the Michigan Street Corridor Plan’s steering committee. She also served as chairwoman for the State of Michigan’s Complete Streets Advisory Council for 7 years and currently serves as a commissioner on the State Transportation Commission. She brought experience-tested insights to the challenge of collaborating to build trust and consensus among a variety of disciplines, elected officials, advocates and the public to achieve more equitable and accessible inclusive designs.
This year’s Absolutely Accessible West Michigan also looked ahead to the future of inclusive design, calling attention to the impact of the current heightened focus on neurodiversity and the important normalization of paying attention to the neurosciences and their role in again answering the crucial question, ‘who are we not thinking about’ in our designs? Bulkowski, seasoned from his decades of dedication to accessibility, delivers the bottom line: “This is far beyond checking a box on a list of legal ADA criteria. It’s about inclusive design.”