Introduction
With a growing trend towards human based and purposed design today, most of researchers and designers are focusing on special groups or individuals. Designing for disable kids is an obvious example of that. However, when discussing this subject the first thing a designer comes up with is the design parameters for PHYSICALLY disabled people. That’s because it’s the stereotype of disabilities and also more familiar for ordinary people. Although even with this familiarity, physically disable people still get unnoticed trough out the design process. For instance: the main issue that physically disabled people are facing today is the access issue, they don’t have enough available areas in society where there are many buildings that are not accessible for disabled public.
Another problem that disabled people are facing nowadays is the lack of awareness, which basically means there isn’t enough open acknowledgment. Usually, the circle of people who know about disabilities comes to the person who got the disease, the people who work with patients and of course the family and friends or basically anybody who has a close contact with these kinds of people. In other words if you don’t know anybody with a disability then you simply don’t know anything about it. Not to mention that mental and neurological disabilities often are the most severe cases in such situations.
Learning difficulties and neurological disabilities are usually put in the same category as mental disabilities. And even with that in mind there aren’t any proper spaces designed for their education. Normally these educational spaces for kids with learning disabilities are mistaken and misunderstood with just a normal daycare for them. Designers for these kids often forget that they need a space to actually function as a kind of school not just a place to manage the kids and get them through the day. In my opinion this is due to the fact that designers sometimes forget that these kids may not be able to have complete individual function in the society but with an accurate educational guidance they will be able to cope and survive. Another reason for such ignorance is that most of the designers don’t have an updated resource and knowledge of current diseases, while most of these diseases are newly discovered. AUTISM is a very common instance in that area.
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These sign all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize; how this occurs is not well understood. It is one of the three recognized disorders in the autism spectrum (ASDs), the other two being Asperger syndrome, which lacks delays in cognitive development and language, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (commonly abbreviated as PDD-NOS), which is diagnosed when the full set of criteria for autism or Asperger syndrome are not met.
Autism has a strong genetic basis, although the genetics of autism are complex and it is unclear whether ASD is explained more by rare mutations, or by rare combinations of common genetic variants. In rare cases, autism is strongly associated with agents that cause birth defects. Controversies surround other proposed environmental causes, such as heavy metals, pesticides or childhood vaccines. The vaccine hypotheses are biologically implausible and lack convincing scientific evidence. Parents usually notice signs in the first two years of their child's life. The signs usually develop gradually, but some autistic children first develop more normally and then regress. Although early behavioral or cognitive intervention can help autistic children gain self-care, social, and communication skills, there is no known cure.
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