Beyond reasonable adjustment: autistic-friendly spaces and ‘Universal Design’

A reasonable adjustment is considered to be an alteration made to enable a disabled person to carry out normative responsibilities, such as the duties of a job role. In practice the idea of alterations to cultural norms often make such adjustments exceptions rather than the rule. In contrast to this, the concept of ‘Universal Design’ (UD) suggests that environments need to be designed to be accessed, understood and usable to the greatest extent possible by people of all ages, sizes and abilities. Rather than making ‘special requirements’ to meet the perceived needs of a specified grouping of people, UD is based on the premise that environments that are accessible, usable, convenient and pleasurable lead to benefits for all. This presentation considers whether the theory of ‘Universal Design’ could potentially help in making the case for why creating autistic-friendly environments could simply be considered as ‘good design’ practice.