Access allows us to contribute to society's diversity.
Access enriches everyone.
The best way of ensuring access is through Universal Design, that is, planning, building and maintaining our environment for the needs of all citizens, thus making them feel welcome as integral parts of the whole and encouraging them to participate in all of society on equal terms. Universal Design minimizes the dependency of people with disability on others - a dependency that is not inherent in the nature of their disability but imposed on them by the cumulative countless actions and omissions of generations of policymakers, planners, builders and designers. The Institute on Independent Living is committed to compiling a collection of key documents on Universal Design as part of its full-text online library. Below, we draw your attention to resources which you might find useful in your work. But we also need to ask you for your help.