ABSTRACT

Actions to improve the circumstances of persons with disabilities have to come to terms with multiple stake-holders and their various perspectives. For persons with disabilities and the organizations that represent them, the situation is clear-cut: accessibility actions are a question of human rights and designing systems and services that meet the needs of diverse users. For other stakeholders who often have a more focused understanding of the issues, accessibility actions are relative matters, requiring pragmatic trade-offs. One approach that aims to identify common ground addresses contexts in which persons with disabilities have challenges in common with those who do not. This entry discusses the conceptual and ideological differences that shape the perceptions of various stakeholders and provides a number of cases where work on the design of solutions for persons with disabilities can have broader implications in society. With case studies ranging from consumer electronic products to human–machine interaction in automotive and aviation environments, we argue for inclusive design that considers the full spectrum of user ability range rather than focusing narrowly on a specific disability.