Universal design: everyone has special needs

Despite high profile discussions of user-centered design in the CHI community, until recently a substantial population of users has been largely ignored. Users who have restricted or no use of hands, eyes, ears, or voice due to environment, task context, repetitive strain injury, or disability constitute a diverse and significant user population, but these users receive relatively little mention in mainstream HCI conferences or literature. Design considerations for users with vision, hearing, or movement impairments overlap with those for the general population across a variety of tasks and contexts (e.g., high workload tasks, automobile systems, phone interfaces). Following on this theme, the panel will promote discussion of so-called “Universal Design” -design for the broadest possible range of users.