Challenging prevailing boundaries in design

Abstract

Conceptions of disability tend to be dominated by a medical discourse, which considers disability as an individual, physiological, disorder to be treated or cured. Critiques of such conceptions place the body in a socio-material context by recognizing the interplay between physiological condition and features of the society in which one lives. The cultural model of disability embraces both the medical and social dimensions of disability, and yet moves a step beyond by acknowledging the potential of disability to question normative practices and prevailing frames of reference in society. This paper aims to demonstrate this potential of disability in the context of design. Using a range of empirical material, we point out how the perspective of people living with a disability may question categories that tend to be taken for granted in design, and how this questioning may lead to reshuffling boundaries in between categories. Subject to this reshuffling are boundaries within the material environment (e.g. between building elements), boundaries between the material environment and people, and boundaries between (groups of) people. Our findings reveal the relativity of prevailing frames of reference in design, and challenge designers to broaden their horizon.