Valerie Fletcher is Executive Director of the Institute for Human Centered Design (IHCD) —a non-profit international educational and design company based in Boston, MA. In this work, she oversees a wide range of projects focused on making the world and the web inclusive and accessible to all.
Valerie started as a textile designer, creating clothing for women as they age. She now applies design principles to physical spaces as well as to communication, information, policies, and attitudes. Valerie’s focus is international, serving as an advisor to the Singapore government as well as to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. In this podcast, she talks with Helen Osborne about:
- What is universal design? How does it apply to health communication?
- How universal design helps people of all functional limitations, not just those with disabilities.
- Practical strategies to improve health communication in person, in print, and on the web.
More Ways to Learn:
- Valerie Fletcher is the Executive Director of the Institute for Human-Centered Design in Boston, MA. You can email her directly at vfletcher@HumanCenteredDesign.org
- Institute for Human-Centered Design, www.humancentereddesign.org
- Bright, Keith and Geoffrey Cook. The Colour, Light and Contrast Manual: Designing and Managing Inclusive Built Environments. London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
- Keates, Simeon and Clarkson, J. Countering Design Exclusion: An Introduction to Inclusive Design. London: Springer – Verlag, 2003.
- Norman, Donald A. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books, 2002.
- Preiser, Wolfgang, Editor in Chief; Korydon Smith, Senior Editor. Universal Design Handbook, 2nd Edition. Columbus, OH: McGraw Hill, 2010.
- Osborne H, “In Other Words…Communicating Across a Life Span…Universal Design in Print and Web-based Communication, On Call magazine, January 2001. Available at http://healthliteracy.com/article.asp?PageID=3812
- World Wide Web Accessibility Initiative, http://www.w3.org/WAI/
Health Literacy from A to Z: Practical Ways to Communicate Your Health Message, Second Edition (Updated 2018), by Helen Osborne. Relevant chapters include: 4, 10, 37.
Read a transcript of this podcast.
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