What Is Great Universal Design?

What is universal design? Universal design is design that helps all people be able to use all facilities. For example, having a ramp in addition to stairs for people who use a wheelchair is universal design. There are many buses in America and Japan. However, in America most buses have a lift for wheelchairs. How about in Japan? In Japan, some buses have a lift for wheelchairs, but such buses are more popular in America than Japan. Why do Americans have more universal design than Japan?

In America, I was impressed with Americans on the bus because some passengers on the bus stood up and moved to another seat when they saw a woman who is using a wheelchair trying to get on the bus. They moved so that she had a place to sit. If the same situation happened in Japan, Japanese people may hesitate to move for the woman because there are not so many buses like that in America, and therefore there are not many people in wheelchairs on the buses. I think American consciousness about disabilities is higher than the Japanese because American people value individuality and diversity, so they want to make the public places accessible to all people. Recently, however, universal design has increased in Japan, especially at train stations. Most Japanese always use a train for commuting or shopping, and to get on a train they usually have to use stairs, so many elevators have been installed in train stations, so many facilities have become more comfortable in Japan. In junior high school and high school, some students go to nursing homes to study universal design, and they learn what old people and people who have handicaps need.

In America and Japan, the consciousness of people is different, but more and more, Japanese consciousness is changing. In the case of Japan, there are many more elevators for the wheelchairs in the stations and in the case of America, people have been awhere of trying to help people with disabilities for a lot longer.