Designing Beyond the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA): Creating an Autism-Friendly Vocational Center

Abstract

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has been effective in establishing building standards that create accessible spaces for people with physical impairments. These guidelines have not addressed the needs of people with mental, emotional, and/or developmental disabilities. With the increase in autism diagnosis, designers/architects need to expand their planning to include more universal solutions. The purpose is to demonstrate ways of designing beyond ADA to address needs of people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To design effectively, designers/architects must identify sensory issues that influence these children in establishing a regulatory state enabling effective interaction with neurotypical peers. Design is also important for teachers, therapists, and parents of children with ASD to enable more successful interactions. If the environment is overstimulating for a child with ASD, then a parent/caregiver/therapist will struggle to achieve their goals. Mostafa recommended seven design criteria known as ASPECTSS™: Acoustics, Spatial sequencing, Escape spaces, Compartmentalization, Transition spaces, Sensory zoning, and Safety, when designing for people with ASD. These classifications lay the groundwork for the established guidelines. As designers/architects, we have a responsibility to create inclusive environments. To help, the authors highlighted a vocational center showing one plan that meets ADA guidelines and another that illustrates additional environmental features addressing the needs of people with ASD. These criteria originated from evidence-based solutions derived from a literature review and personal interview. These recommendations demonstrate that sensitivity to the needs of people with autism creates a solution that is better for all people.

Prioritising public spaces architectural strategies for autistic users

“…Autistic children often have different needs, regardless of their position in the spectrum (Bell, 2017). Not all the sensory stimuli should be eliminated in a room instead; flexible spaces should be considered such that each child can tolerate the environment (Clouse et al , 2020). A range of diverse special features in a defined space encourages different autistic children to use the space easily while this diversity should not cause spatial disturbance leading to overwhelming.…”

“…6-3-Escape/calm space (Q). The concept of the scape is to provide a breath time for autistic children when they have become overloaded to recover themselves (Clouse et al, 2020). Accordingly, each space should have its own escape space with no defined the function for children to refresh and control their tensions in critical moment (Scott, 2009).…”

“…Besides their different environmental perception from others, the challenge of difference between each autistic individual is another major problem to be tackled especially as each autistic child struggles with one or more sensory sensitivities in varied states (McAllister, 2010). The difficulty in generalisation is known as one of the important challenges in autism deigns (Clouse et al , 2020). Thus, addressing common fundamental issues in autistic children in design strategies facilitates many autistic children in public environments (Issa, 2017).…”

“…Although in universal design (UD), many design strategies have been implemented for people with physical needs to encourage them to be more active in society and public places (such as considering ramps instead of stairs for paralyzed people), lack of proper cognitive or mental strategies supporting people suffering from autism in public places can be still seen (Clouse et al , 2020). Indeed, individuals with developing nervous systems should cope with the environmental challenges they face like sensory inputs (Kanakri et al , 2017a).…”

For a real job? Views on the teaching of competence in working life by students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

“…The pedagogical approach is examined in this study from an autism-friendly perspective. An autism-friendly perspective means adapting the environment (Clouse et al, 2020) and interaction to the person with ASD, as well as teaching essential skills and leveraging strengths (Hayward et al, 2019).…”