ABSTRACT
Accessibility is a compensatory strategy conceived to prevent discrimination while universal design seeks to change the consciousness of those who create the built environment to address a broader conception of the human body. Both concepts are united by the common goal of social inclusion, and both are necessary to achieve that goal. The Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD) explicitly emphasizes the former but implicitly acknowledges the value of the latter. The physical environment is a dynamic and charged reality incorporating and integrating conceptions of space, perceptions of space, and the lived experience space. A case study of the implementation of accessibility and universal design in the United States helps to understand how these three aspects of space contribute to the production of disability and the realization of social inclusion. The main lesson from the case study is that space, such as disability, is culturally determined and thus the path toward social inclusion will vary from one cultural context to another.
