Current Issue
Design for people with disabilities in Japan - 28 May 2008
by Satoshi Kose
Read this article in Chinese (translated by Christina Li)
Introduction
Like many other countries, Japan has had difficulty in trying to integrate people with disabilities into the mainstream.
Looking into the chronological table of events in Japan, it is apparent that some issues associated with the needs of vision impaired people have been addressed, but that less progress has been made in addressing needs associated with other forms of disability, such as physical disability or hearing loss.
There is a historical reason for this, as explained by Kose (1998):
"People with visual disabilities in Japan established a role as minstrels who played lutes during the Heian Dynasty around the eleventh century, and their status was further reinforced during the fourteenth century with the establishment of a strong political impact. They also occupied in the society the role and status of specialists in acupuncture and massage (Hanada, 1997)."
Voting rights by Braille was legally established in 1925, a Library for Braille books was opened in 1940 (this was done by a privately rather than by the State), postal fees were exempted for Braille prints in 1961, tactile warning/guiding blocks for vision impaired pedestrians were invented/patented in 1965 and actually installed on the pavement in 1967 and local authorities accepted their installation along pedestrian routes. These kind of developments helped people with visual impairments to integrate fairly well into Japanese society. This is in sharp contrast compared most of other countries where mobility disability has been given higher priority.
Design for disability
Design for mobility began as a movement in about 1970, and design for hearing impairment is still in its infancy compared to design for vision impairment. A good example of the differences in attitude to hearing and visual impairments is the copyright laws governing the translation of materials into forms that are suitable for visually or hearing impaired people. Translations into Braille are exempt from copyright (this was designated by law in 1970), but to translate to sign language is still covered by copyright; even simultaneous transcription of voice into text is arguably a copyright violation.
These examples illustrate the current context within which designing for people with disabilities occurs. Because the difficulties of navigating the built environment in a wheelchair were fairly self-evident, special solutions were sought and fought in the 1970s and onwards. Special elevators for wheelchair users started to be installed in railway stations, and an escalator that can be converted to make three steps into a flat platform was later invented. These were installed however at the discretion of the owners/operators of buildings and facilities and were not mandatory.
In 1994 when Accessible and Usable Building Law was enacted, the importance of the issues became more widely recognized, which led to the enactment of the Accessible Public Transportation Law in 2000. Unlike buildings, the law made accessibility mandatory for public transport. These enactments accelerated the concept of universal design and its acceptance by the general public, particularly because the rapid emergence of aged society in Japan (see Kose, 2006). Design for disabled gradually changed its status, and there was a movement toward ‘universal’ or ‘inclusive’ design – which is the principle that all users (both disabled and non-disabled) should be considered when creating a design (Kose, 2007). This is complementary to more specialized barrier-free design (design for assistive technology and devices, or orphan technology – which is designed for a person with a specific disability and is vital to their quality of life).
Japanese examples
The following are some of the examples of designing for disabled people that became inclusive (i.e., everybody benefited).
- Tactile identifier on “5” of numeric keys (both computers and telephones).
- Tactile notch of various shapes on a magnetic card edge to tell the sides. (See figure 1. Among the three, two are IC chip cards, which in reality do not need an identification notch. They communicate with the system by themselves.)
Figure 1. Two IC chip cards and one magnetic card. - Ridges on side of a bottle to distinguish between shampoo and conditioner (see figure 2 and 3. One should note however that if the bottle shape or at least the cap design is different, it is easy to tell the difference with eyes closed.).
Figure 2. Shampoo and conditioner bottles.
Figure 3. Ridges on the side of shampoo bottle, detail. - Bidet toilet. (See figure 4 and 5. The former model has a control box on its left side, but usually we are given only the right side. More recent developments eliminated the box because the system is now triggered with wireless infrared signals.)
Figure 4. Bidet toilet with control box on the left side.
Figure 5. Bidet toilet with wireless remote controller on the wall.
Tactile warnings have not yet got general recognition as a universally acceptable solution because they cannot deliver information to people unless they are within touching distance of them. Besides, the standard application of tactile warnings in station platforms has been such that it is not easy to identify which side is the safe one (See figure 6 and 7). The more recent practice of adding linear warning tiles (with slip resistant rubber) along the edge of platform is less ambiguous as it means that being on tactile surfaces indicates one is near the edge (See figure 8). A more advanced solution is of course to install platform guard and doors, thus eliminating the risk of falls from the platform for everyone (See figure 9).
Figure 6. Yellow tactile warning strip does not clarify which side is safe.
Figure 7. The additional strip indicates clearly where the edge of the platform is.
Figure 8. Yellow tactile warnings and rubber stripped platform edge.
Figure 9. Platform doors eliminate the risk of falls.
The most recent attempt to solve the inherent problems may be the development of a ubiquitous information environment where various types of signal transmissions (infrared, FM, magnetic, etc.) are all handled with an integrated signal processing system, whose virtue is that the system will be universal if everybody has the receiver: People who are unfamiliar with the environment will benefit most. I came across a signage in the center of Ginza, Tokyo that suggests that of this nature is being initiated, although at this stage the details are still not clear (See figure 10). An issue associated with such approaches is that of the costs associated with keeping the data current.
Figure 10. This signage says that the “Tokyo Ubiquitous Project” is being carried out.
Conclusion
I would like to conclude this short article with the following observation. Design for people with disabilities sometimes works fine. However, without involving everyone, i.e., unless it will benefit everyone in the society, such design will remain as a kind of orphan technology and will eventually fail to be applied widely. The direction of design therefore should be universal/inclusive.
References
Kose, S. (1998) From Barrier-free to universal design: An international perspective, Assistive Technology, 10 (1), pp.44-50
Kose, S. (2006) Universal Design for the Aging. In International Encyclopedia of Ergonomics and Human Factors, (edited by W. Karwowski), CRC Press, pp. 227-230
Kose, S. (2007) Universal Design or Inclusive Design? The Future of Design for All. The 2nd International Conference for Universal Design in Kyoto 2006 Proceedings, pp. 23-26
Kose, S. Ed. (2007) The 2nd International Conference for Universal Design in Kyoto 2006 Proceedings. Revised and Updated. Yokohama, Japan: IAUD
Note: Regarding other papers written by the author, please see below.
http://homepage2.nifty.com/skose/
Satoshi Kose is Professor of Graduate School of Design, Shizuoka University of Art and Culture. Before joining the university, he has been with the Building Research Institute of Japan, where he worked for years to develop dwelling design guidelines toward the ageing society in Japan, and became among the first awardees of the Ron Mace Design for the 21st Century Award in June 2000. He was also given salutation during the Include 2003 conference in London in March 2003. He has published many papers on designing for the ageing society and universal design, including a chapter in the Universal Design Handbook from McGraw Hill. He graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1971, and later received his Engineering Doctorate on domestic stair safety.
More information about Dr. Satoshi Kose, (kose@suac.ac.jp) can be found at http://homepage2.nifty.com/skose/KoseHPE.htm
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