ABSTRACT

In this chapter, a broad understanding of the term is adopted. It is based on the defi nition in the context of the eEurope initiative, which puts focus on the integration of older people and people with disabilities in the information society. is approach to DfA consists of three principal strategies (EDeAN, 2004):

Design of products, services, and applications, that are • demonstrably suitable for most of the potential users without any modifi cations Design of products that are easily adaptable to diff erent • users (e.g., by incorporating adaptable or customizable user interfaces) Design of products that have standardized interfaces, capa-• ble of being accessed by specialized user interaction devices

56.1 Introduction ...........................................................................................................................56-1 56.2 Levels of DfA Management ..................................................................................................56-2

56.3 DfA as a Process .................................................................................................................... 56-4 DfA User Requirements • Intended Result (Quality of the Product)

56.4 Approaches to DfA ............................................................................................................... 56-6 Direct Access • Adaptation and Adaptability • Compatibility with Assistive Devices

56.7 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................56-10 References .........................................................................................................................................56-11Christian Bühler

DfA is seen as an important complement to assistive technology. e basic underlying idea is to produce products and services in a way that as many people as possible can use them directly or with the help of assistive technology. is concept contains already an important management issue. In a quickly changing world, with a very high innovation speed of mainstream products, product development time and product life cycles can become very short. erefore, products are replaced very quickly in the market. Adapting all products and services for those who cannot operate them is time consuming, diffi cult to achieve in the short time cycles, costly, and may lead to discrimination. Designing and producing for as many as possible is the more economic strategy (fi rst strategy). e second strategy is to create easily adaptable user interfaces, if the fi rst strategy seems inappropriate. As a minimum requirement, the existence of standardized interfaces to other products (third strategy) tries to support the compatibility with special products (assistive technology). e management problem is to decide what is appropriate in each specifi c case and which of the three strategies should be followed. Obviously there exists no simple, general answer.