Special Needs
Designing autism-friendly & barrier-free environments
Inclusion involves creating true accessibility.
It is not the same as simply providing accommodations.
It involves designing products and environments to be useable to the greatest extent possible by everyone, regardless of age, ability, or status in life.
People with physical and developmental differences are often pathologized and expected to conform to the built environment instead of other way around.
Canadians significantly underestimate how common disability is.
Most people surveyed pegged the prevalence of people with disabilities
at just 1 in 25 or fewer — but the official estimate is closer to 1 in 5.
If you’ve ever thought…
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The world doesn’t have a place for me/my child
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Why do I feel like I don’t fit anywhere?
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I wish I wasn’t so “extra”.
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Why isn’t there a recipe for parenting an ASD kid?
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I feel so isolated
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Am I putting enough thought and energy into helping my kid?
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Why can’t I do anything easily? Why is it so hard?
You are not alone
I’m a designer, but I’m really a problem solver for kiddoes and families. I make design enhancements that improve sensory experiences and remove barriers.
My design services are customized for your sensory and physical needs.
You and your loved ones deserve a safe haven, a refuge, a place that feels nurturing, not exhausting. Let’s alleviate the overwhelm. It feels good to be taken care of.
Contact me to alleviate the overwhelm.
Services
Design Services for Autism (ASD) and Sensory Regulation
If you or a loved one has ASD or experiences discomfort due to sensory processing (such as lighting, colors, sounds, patterns, and textures), I’ll customize your home or workspace to alleviate those triggers.
What I do: I give neurodivergent clients a space that feels like a sanctuary and looks like a dream. I’ll design a unique space customized to meet their needs and support their emotional and physical wellbeing.
Design Services for Barrier-free Accessibility
We all deserve to feel comfortable and safe in our home.
If you or a loved one has diverse accessibility needs and abilities, I’d love to meet with you and hear about the parts of your home that you’d like to improve.
What I do: I’ll review the functionality and flow of the home, the safety concerns, the unique opportunities for customization.
Design Services for Special Education Facilities, Clinics and Retail Spaces
The first step in the design process is to establish your goals, whether it be for children, patients, employees or customers, and whether it be to support those with physical or cognitive disabilities. I’ll design your space to optimize the individual experience of the people who will be there.
Examples are:
– schools for children and young people with sensory impairment and complex learning needs
– daycare facilities that care for a range of neurodivergent children
– medical clinics and wellness centers that want to improve their patients’ user experience
– retail shops that strive to be more accessible
Want to read more?
There’s an infinite variation of neurocognitive functioning and physical ability within the human species.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Sensory Regulation
Neurodiversity describes the idea that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways. There is no one “right” way of thinking, learning, and behaving. Differences are not viewed as deficits.
The built environment is comprised primarily of sensory elements – textures, colors, patterns, acoustics etc. According to the sensory definition of autism, these elements play an important role in autistic behavior. The sensory world provides sensory overload for some people, People with ASD often struggle with processing, filtering and managing sensory input. Architecture is the main source of almost all man made sensory endpoints, so altering the architecture and built environment would facilitate life, learning and function.
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution when designing for the neurodiverse population. In commercial or institutional settings, the best design considers the greatest number of people. In a residence the design is 100% customized for the member(s) of the family.
When possible, approaches to inclusive design shouldn’t be one-size-fits-all, as all individuals will have different goals, desires, and needs.
Designing for divergent minds looks different depending on the individual and the environment. There are different considerations for the home environment, the learning environment, and the work environment. Regardless of the environment, it involves designing for the senses.
Call me and we’ll discuss how I can help.
Disability and Barrier-free Access
Barrier-free design, inclusive design and universal design are terms that are sometimes used interchangeably
According to the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design, universal design is the design and structure of an environment so that it can be understood, accessed, and used to the greatest extent possible by all people regardless of their age or ability.
When we break it down, disability is a complex phenomenon occurring between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which they live. It can be exhausting living in a world that’s not designed to accommodate you.
A barrier is anything that stops, impedes, prevents or causes difficulty for a person with a disability from fully participating in all aspects of society. An obstacle is a partial impediment or limitation to an activity. Obstacles may not stop a person with a disability from full participation, but they do make participation unnecessarily difficult.
CONTACT
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