8-12 April 2019
Design for All (DfA) Week is a weeklong conversation about Design and its role in enabling social inclusion, equity and accessible everyday experiences for people living with disabilities.
Across three free events, researchers, artists, designers and thought leaders from Australia and around the world will share their insights on the creative and ethical challenge designers face in their critical responsibility to design for human diversity.
QUT Design Lab believes that Design is no longer just a noun, but a verb. It is not just an object, but an action. It is not just an artefact, but an approach. Design resists stasis: it enables, disrupts, innovates, mediates, and facilitates. Uniquely equipped to deliver social, cultural, political, economic and environmental impacts, design drives value creation and innovation in the 21st century.
It is through this lens that the following events have been curated.
This event would not be possible without the generous support and collaboration of our partners:
Symposium: visABILITY through Design
Monday 8 April
2:00pm – 5:00pm
Building Z9 Rooms 607 & 608
QUT Kelvin Grove Campus, Musk Ave, Kelvin Grove, Qld
BOOK HERE
Symposium Biographies
Emcee
Dr Janice Rieger
Senior Lecturer, School of Design, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Dr Janice Rieger has been advocating for people with disabilities for over twenty years and has been awarded a Mayor’s Access Recognition Award and a state level disability award for her leadership in promoting access and inclusion globally. Prior to her academic appointment at QUT in the School of Design, Dr Rieger spent a decade at Mount Royal University, where she taught one of the only Universal Design courses in Canada and was also co-founder of a national certificate program in accessible design. She is a member and editor of the European Society for Disability Research, and co-facilitated the 2018 international doctoral school, Disability Mundus in France. She is also an active member with the Centre for Universal Design, Australia.
Panel Moderator
Dr Lisa Scharoun
Professor and Head of School, School of Design, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Professor Lisa Scharoun is a multi-award winning teacher, researcher and designer with expertise in Visual Communications and Cross-cultural design. On completion of her PhD in Visual Communications from Griffith University, she was offered the role of Program Director of the Graphic Design discipline at Deakin University in Melbourne. Lisa is currently a Professor and Head of School – School of Design in the Creative Industries Faculty at the Queensland University of Technology. A highly awarded teacher and researcher, Lisa received six Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Awards for teaching and research at the University of Canberra along with the Australian Council of University Art and Design School’s “Distinguished Teaching Award.”
Keynote Lecturer & Panel Member
Jasmien Herssens
ZAP-track position, Faculty of Architecture and Arts, Hasselt University, Belgium
Dr Jasmien Herssens is an architect, a Designer for All, teacher and researcher. She studied architecture at the Faculty of Architecture, KULeuven and worked at Wim Goes Architectuur. In her PhD research, she worked together with people born blind considering them as experts in order to find design parameters supporting multisensory experiences. Currently, she teaches DfA to bachelor and master students at Hasselt University and conducts research on design methods and methodologies with a focus and interest on inclusion. In 2018, she received an FWO grant to start up an academic network as part an international collaboration action for EIDD-Design for All Europe. Jasmien is an Executive Board Member of EIDD-Design for All Europe and a Representative for EIDD-DfA Europe in the European Disability Forum (EDF). As President of the Belgian Design for All network, Dr Herssens founded the first DfA (UD)- Week in Hasselt, Belgium in 2016. For her work she received several Best Paper Awards and a Cera Senior Award (Engineers with a heart).
Mini-Keynote Lecturer & Panel Member
Kathryn Lyons
Co Founder Accessibili-T
Kathryn Lyons is an award-winning global disability advocate, a passionate leader, innovator, mentor, change agent and ambassador, focusing on universal inclusion for all. Her vision is to empower and enable people globally, beginning with better access for disabled patrons. Kathryn has overcome major barriers through her complex disability, a progressive degenerative unidentifiable connective tissue disorder, global in nature, which left her bedbound for nearly six years. By working with state and federal governments and global humanitarian organisations to change and create legislation, to improve regulations, to change building codes, to amend charters, and to create new Australian and world standards, Kathryn’s work is aimed at achieving global transformation and inclusive communities.
Mini-Keynote Lecturer & Panel Member
Jane Bringolf
Founding Director, Centre for Universal Design Australia (CUDA)
Dr Jane Bringolf has a background in community services spanning more than thirty years. Her experience ranges from direct service provision to senior management roles. A recipient of a Churchill Fellowship in 2004, Jane travelled overseas to investigate organisations pursuing universal design, accessible environments and assistive technology. She then went on to do a PhD in Urban Studies specifically looking at industry barriers to universal design in Australian housing. Jane’s nine years as Executive Director with the Independent Living Centre NSW, and more recently as Liveable Communities Project Manager with Council on the Ageing NSW, adds to her experience of working in the aged and disability sectors.
Mini-Keynote Lecturer & Panel Member
Megan Strickfaden
Professor, Department of Human Ecology, University of Alberta, Canada
Dr Megan Strickfaden is a Professor in Material Culture Studies, in the Department of Human Ecology at the University of Alberta, Canada. She is a design anthropologist who focuses on complicated problem solving through design environments and products for older adults, caregivers, and persons with disabilities. She is in her twenty-fifth year of teaching and has hundreds of scholarly outcomes including publications, patents, designed products, exhibitions, and films. Recently she was awarded with ALES Teacher of the Year (2013, 2015), the Award of Excellence in Education from the Premier’s Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities, Government of Alberta (2016), and the University of Alberta Great Supervisor Award (2018).
Panel Member
Margaret Ward
Co-convener, Australian Network for Universal Housing Design
Dr Margaret Ward was awarded her PhD in 2013 in the School of Design at Queensland University of Technology. Originally an architect, Margaret has been an advocate, public servant and service provider in the areas of housing and disability. Margaret has spent much of her career working towards the adoption of housing design which includes everyone regardless of age and ability. Her thesis explored the notions of voluntariness and responsibility in providing inclusive housing within a framework of distributive justice. Margaret Ward co-convenes Australian Network for Universal Housing Design, which seeks regulation of access features in all new housing construction through the National Construction Code.
Panel Member
Lena Belin
Director, Community Insights, Queensland Public Service Commission &
Co-founder of Public
Dr Lena Belin is a Director at the Queensland Public Service Commission as well as Co-founder of research and design practice Public. Prior she founded a CX- consultancy that specialised in working with people from “diverse” backgrounds. She brings 15+ years experience in social science research and human-centred design to the innovation of social infrastructure, services and environments. Her work has included service-and experience design projects for Australia’s largest organisations, and has helped them understand people in environments as diverse as schools, museums, hospitals and retail. Her focus at PSC and Public is to bring the people that use or are impacted by services and built environments into the design process. In doing so, better outcomes can be achieved for people and organisations.
Keynote Lecture and Exhibition Program
Wednesday 10 April
5:00pm – 8:00pm
The CUBE, P Block
QUT, Gardens Point Campus, 2 George Street, Brisbane, Qld
BOOK HERE
International Inclusive Film Screening
A Film Screening + Panel Discussion
Co-creating visABILITY through Film
Friday 12 April
6.00pm – 8.00pm
The Hall, Building Z2
QUT Kelvin Grove Campus, Musk Ave, Kelvin Grove, Qld
BOOK HERE
Film Screening Biographies
Emcee
Jasmien Herssens
ZAP-track position, Faculty of Architecture and Arts, Hasselt University, Belgium
Dr Jasmien Herssens is an architect, a Designer for All, teacher and researcher. She studied architecture at the Faculty of Architecture, KULeuven. In her PhD research, she worked together with people born blind considering them as experts in order to find design parameters supporting multisensory experiences. Currently, she teaches DfA at bachelor and master students at Hasselt University and conducts research on design methods and methodologies with a focus and interest on inclusion. Jasmien is an Executive Board Member of EIDD-Design for All Europe and a Representative for EIDD-DfA Europe in the European Disability Forum (EDF). As President of the Belgian Design for All network, Dr Herssens founded the first DfA (UD)- Week in Hasselt, Belgium in 2016. For her work she received several Best Paper Awards and a Cera Senior Award (Engineers with a heart).
Panel Moderator
Janice Rieger
Senior Lecturer, School of Design, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Dr Janice Rieger is a curator, designer, educator and researcher and has been advocating for people with disabilities for over twenty years. She has been awarded a Mayor’s Access Recognition Award and a State Level Government disability award for her leadership in promoting access and inclusion globally. Janice’s research looks at the relationship of disability to art, design and culture. She is a member and editor of the European Society for Disability Research, and co-facilitated the 2018 international Disability Mundus doctoral school in France. Her research focuses on creating cultures of inclusion and her recent publication was featured in The Routledge Handbook of Disability Arts Culture and Media (2018). Her new film Wandering on the Braille Trail (2018), will be featured this evening.
Panel Member
Megan Strickfaden
Professor, Department of Human Ecology, University of Alberta, Canada
Megan Strickfaden, PhD, is a design anthropologist and migrant who has lived in seven countries. She currently makes a home in Edmonton’s University of Alberta at the Department of Human Ecology (Canada). As a professor Megan solves complicated problems for people who live without sight, move around speedily on wheels, and/or process the world differently from others. She uses ethnographic and co-created film to explore with and provoke change. Megan has directed/produced 21 films including Light in the Borderlands (2013), Dementia Care by Design (2015), and Smoke Break (2019). Her films are used to teach concepts related to caregiving, engineering, nursing, and design in Canada, USA, China and Europe.
Panel Member
Jennifer Cullen
Chief Executive Officer of Synapse Australia Limited
Jennifer is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Griffith University and James Cook University and was appointed as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of the MJD Foundation in 2017. She is the Chief Executive Officer of Synapse Australia Limited and has been with the organisation for 14 years. Jennifer is a descendent of the Wakka Wakka and Bidjara people and has extensive networks with Indigenous people and communities across Australia. Jennifer is also a graduate of QUT
Panel Member
Bree Hadley
Associate Professor in Drama, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Bree Hadley is Associate Professor in Drama at Queensland University of Technology. She is editor of The Routledge Handbook of Disability Arts Culture and Media (2018, with Dr Donna McDonald), author of Theatre, Social Media and Meaning Making (Palgrave 2017) and Disability, Public Space Performance & Spectatorship: Unconscious Performers (Palgrave 2014), and has published more than two dozen articles in Disability & Society, CSPA (Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts) Quarterly, Performance Research, Australasian Drama Studies, Brolga: An Australian Journal About Dance, and other journals.
Panel Member
Sean Maher
Senior Lecturer, Film, Screen & Animation, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Dr Sean Maher is Higher Degree Research Training Coordinator, School of Creative Practice and Senior Lecturer, Film, Screen & Animation, Creative Industries Faculty, QUT. He is a Steering Committee member for British Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Grant, a former Scholar-in-Residence at the UCLA Film, TV Archives, and 2013 President of ASPERA (Australian Screen Production Education and Research Association). He has held positions at Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS), University of NSW and the Communications Law Centre (UNSW). His films have received official selection into Brisbane International Film Festival and distributed across Brisbane Times, Sydney Morning Herald, and The Age online.
Panel Member
Sarah Boulton
Disability Advocate, Public Speaker, Filmmaker, Canada & Australia
Sarah Boulton is a public speaker who talks about her journey towards vision loss and promotes independence for people with visual impairments. Sarah lost the majority of her eyesight at the age of 25 due to having Type 1 Diabetes since the age of 3. Sarah was born in Brisbane, Australia but grew up in Calgary, Canada where she, after losing her eye sight, was heavily involved in the blind & low vision communities and was an advocate for the rights of people with all disabilities. Sarah has produced and directed several films and her photographs are currently on exhibition at the QUT Art Museum.
Panel Member
Phoebe Hart
Senior Lecturer, Film, Screen & Animation, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Dr Phoebe Hart is a writer, director and producer of documentaries, factual content and children’s television. Dr Hart is Principal of Hartflicker, a video and film production company. She is known particularly for her autobiographical road trip movie, Orchids: My Intersex Adventure. Hart completed her film studies at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in 1995. She has worked for Network Ten and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In 2009 Hart was awarded her doctorate of which Orchids was a central element of her doctoral studies. This documentary took six years for the principal documenters (sisters Phoebe and Bonnie Hart) to film, using a variety of cameras including semi-professional digital cameras, domestic VHS camcorders, and Super 8.
Exhibition of touchABLE Imageries
Exhibition
Pictures by children born blind curated by Jasmien Herssens
Monday 8 April until May 20
Level 1, Z9
QUT Kelvin Grove Campus, Musk Ave, Kelvin Grove, Qld
Design for All (DfA) Week – Program
Design for All (DfA) Week – eBook