Investigating perceptions of manufacturers and retailers to inclusive design

Dong, Hua; Clarkson, P. John; Ahmed, Saeema; Keates, Simeon

Abstract

This paper describes a study into industry perceptions of barriers and drivers for inclusive design. The study investigated perceptions of manufacturers and retailers of consumer products in the United Kingdom (UK) and compared their perceptions with those of companies in the United States (US) and Japan. It was found that the perceptions of major drivers for inclusive design were similar for manufacturers and retailers in the UK, but the perceptions of barriers to inclusive design differed between manufacturers and retailers. Industry attitudes towards legislation or government regulations in the UK differed from those in the US and Japan. The study concluded that ?perception barriers' form the majority of the barriers and were the most significant, followed by ?technical barriers? and then ?organizational barriers'. Consequently, strategies should focus on raising awareness to overcome perception barriers and providing supportive tools to overcome technical barriers.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Apr 28, 2015
• Publication Date: 2004
• Deposit Date: Feb 1, 2019
• Journal: The Design Journal: An International Journal for All Aspects of Design
• Print ISSN: 1460-6925
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 3-15
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.2752/146069204789338398
• Keywords: Investigating perceptions of manufacturers and retailers to inclusive design
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1497037
• Publisher URL: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/12689/