To Table of Contents and find solutions . We bring experts and resources together , incubate pilots that are tested and then we start to roll them out . We have a vision of these solutions being globally relevant and portable . Ultimately , we work hard as best we can to add value . What we saw in the world of people with disabilities is that there are lots of barriers that are fundamental , but we ' re a small group so we asked ourselves where can we put our precious energy and try to move the bar ? We then felt that the built environment was an area that needed a lot of attention , for two reasons :
( 1 ) There has been progress in the built environment , but the progress was based largely on pockets of legislation and code which were very limited in terms of their viewpoints at the time , and very prescriptive . They did not take into consideration the functionality of a building , after all , buildings are meant for people .
( 2 ) Secondly , there was a heavy focus on relying on people with disabilities and advocates to somehow parachute in on the backend to vote in their perspective , which was by then already too late , and so there was disappointment , human rights lawsuits , compliancebased issues , costly tax on very valuable investment of money and ultimately energy , and conflict to try to fix what should have been done at the beginning .
We researched groups out there to find out if there were any that operated in other sectors that impacted change and yes , there were - energy efficient buildings . They leaped way ahead . Energy-efficient , ‘ green ’ buildings are now being constructed and their sustainability benchmark is top of the mark for incentives and accolades – way ahead of accessibility in their buildings , built for people . They took the knowledge that was embedded in the energy advocacy groups and created a universal standard and a curriculum , and then they started getting the curriculum out of just the hands of the advocates and they pushed it upstream into the industry , government and policy . They normalized it and then every architect , engineer or planner that ' s coming through universities , or is in a big company must be designated in these fields otherwise , they ' re not relevant .
But if you look at the schools of architecture , there are very few architects being certified in universal inclusive design , and this is a disconnect . As a result , there are systemic barriers due to big misses . It works both ways because when are so prescriptive on code , you can ask for bells and whistles and very specific modifications , but it may sit there and not be