Grabowska-Pałecka H
Katedra Kompozycji Urbanistycznej, Instytut Projektowania Urbanistycznego, Wydział Architektury, Politechniki Krakowskiej.
Przegl Lek. 1998;55(4):203-6.
The paper contains in its introductory part a short analysis of the problem of disability giving the proposal of the strategy for solving the problem of opening the built environment to the disabled people in Poland in the light of experiences of the countries with accessibility legislation. Promoting the idea that all people have only one thing in common--that they are different. To the present time, in the world and in Poland, the amenities provided to disabled persons could be regarded as being minimal in nature, satisfying basic needs. The necessity of disabled persons on the dependence on others, and the lack of independence has created a problem, whereby the disabled persons is unable to fully participate in social and public life, as well as partake of cultural amenities. Universal design is the architectural design philosophy in which the needs of all environment users irrespective of their physical abilities, are recognized in the natural way. At the end of this paper some interesting examples of the German designs for disabled people are presented. The main focus of the E. Feddersen & W. Herder Office is on the social aspect of architecture, especially on the designing of tenements, schools, kindergartens, hospitals and homes for the disabled, retarded and elderly people.
