Burton Blatt Institute Chairman Peter Blanck and partners will highlight the Global Universal Design Commission’s effort to build support for the voluntary adoption of universal design at a global conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Blanck said.

Blanck, also a professor in the Syracuse University College of Law, co-founded the GUDC, a nonprofit organization that works to build voluntary standards about how buildings should be accessible or designed for people with disabilities, he said.

‘It’s a very interesting group coming together in a consensual, voluntary way to try and say, ‘Maybe there are innovative ways we can suggest to build buildings so that everybody can enjoy them,” Blanck said.

The commission aims to build structures in a way that makes them accessible to the largest number of people, he said. For example, Blanck said, while many ramps are specially built for people who use wheelchairs, they are also utilized by people pushing baby strollers and those loading equipment.

Many of the standards, such as ramps, need not ‘stick out like a sore thumb,’ Blanck said. Most can be developed into the concept of the building itself, he said.

Blanck was asked to speak about how these standards might be useful to Brazilians while planning to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Olympic games, he said. He said he hopes the country will use the design commission to assist in signage, physical structure and the way in which they approach people with disabilities in the facilities.

This will also bring international attention to the importance of the commission’s standards, Blanck said.

Blanck will deliver the keynote address on ‘Universal Design in the World’ at the third International Meeting on Technology and Innovation for Person with Disabilities held Oct. 24-26 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, according to a Thursday BBI news release.

James Schmeling, interim executive director of the GUDC and managing director of SU’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families, will present on ‘Universal Design in the Civil Construction Industry,’ according to the release.

BBI and the GUDC are working with other university, corporate and government leaders to promote adoption of the standards, according to the release. Ernie Davis Hall has adopted these standards, and the SU College of Law’s new building committee is considering them, Blanck said.

‘Our position with the GUDC is that these approaches can not only be beneficial to everybody,’ he said, ‘but they can be cost effective and actually increase benefits as well.’

egsawyer@syr.edu

Published on October 10, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Liz: egsawyer@syr.edu | @3sawyer