The challenge of inclusive design in the US context

The paper considers the evolution of thinking and practice of inclusive design in the United States since 1993, the year of the first special edition of Applied Ergonomics on inclusive design. It frames the examination initially in terms of the US social mores that substantially influence behavior and attitudes from a defining individualism to legal mandates for accessibility to the nation's ingrained obsession with youth and delusional attitudes about aging. The authors explore the disparate patterns across the design disciplines and identify promising linkages and patterns that may be harbingers of a more expansive embrace of inclusive design in the years ahead.