Making spaces accessible for people with sensory sensitivities—including highly sensitive and neurodivergent individuals—improves productivity, customer experience, inclusivity, health and learning outcomes. When designing sustainable developments, understanding the sensory aspects of those spaces makes a significant impact on their long-term usability. This discussion will explore the many different types of neurodivergence, debunk some myths about the needs and capabilities of autistic people, and illustrate the benefits of sensory accessibility for all people. We will outline specific processes for including sensory accessibility in sustainable design projects, as created by autistic and highly sensitive designers.
Defining Sensory Accessibility: Participants will learn why sensory design cannot be reduced to a set of universal standards, and learn how to participate in sensory design as an evolving process.
Principles of Sensory Accessible Design: Panelists will outline a process for analyzing and adapting the sensory features of a design, to accommodate the most inclusive range of users.
How Sensory Accessibility overlaps with green building design: Participants will assess how sensory accessibility aligns with their goals in designing, building and maintaining sustainable developments.
We will be sharing slides and handouts of of neuro-inclusive projects, principles, and processes.
Stephanie is a highly sensitive person, and the founder of Practical Sanctuary, Sensory Interior Design. Her book, The Eccentric Genius Habitat Intervention: Interior Design for Highly Sensitive People, is launching in fall of 2024.
Rachel Updegrove is an autistic woman, laboratory planner at HERA laboratory planners, and an adjunct faculty member at Thomas Jefferson University. Her neurodiversity journey began her freshman year of college with an OCD diagnosis, and then an ADHD and Autism diagnosis a few months after graduating college. Rachel shares her neurodivergent journey so no one feels alone, as she often feels like an “other” to autistic stereotypes. She believes that good neuro-inclusive design allows individuals of all sensory profiles to be able to coexist within the same space.
