Abstract
The nature of the relationship between human behavior and proximate environment rules out any simple definition of “physical disability” or “good design.” A person’s physical disability is given meaning and value only when it is found to interfere with some desired activity. Furthermore, an environment may be said to handicap each of its inhabitants regardless of physical ability, to the extent that it interferes with desired activities. To understand the widespread potential of environmental handicapping one need look only as far as the modern kitchen, where most able-bodied women are significantly handicapped in reaching over-the-counter kitchen cabinets. Neither clinical definitions of physical ability nor architectural jury pronouncements offer useful measures of the handicapping potentialities of an environment-behavior interaction.
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Lantrip, D.B. (1999). Measuring Constraints to Inhabitant Activities. In: Steinfeld, E., Danford, G.S. (eds) Enabling Environments. Plenum Series in Rehabilitation and Health. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4841-6_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4841-6_7
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