Inclusive Design Premises, Policies, Protocols, and Practices: From Usability to Empowerment

This book provides a comprehensive overview of Inclusive Design as a framework for developing products, services, environments, and learning experiences that enable the diversity and differing abilities of human populations. It examines the influence of international legislation, standards, and policies on accessibility practices and offers practical guidance for effectively integrating inclusion in higher education, research, and business contexts. Readers will find strategies for equitable teaching and assessment, participatory and mixed-method research involving people with disabilities and older adults, and frameworks for embedding Inclusive Design into organizational models, including an adaptation of the Business Model Canvas. Case studies and practical exercises illustrate implementation challenges and opportunities, with attention to emerging technologies such as AI and XR. Emphasizing collaboration, equity, and innovation as drivers of social and economic value, the book will be of interest to researchers, educators, and business leaders seeking evidence-based strategies for inclusive practice.

Deborah Fels, P.Eng., Ph.D. (1994), Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, has over 35 years of experience in the areas of Inclusive Design, Human Factors, and Human-Computer Interaction with a specific focus on designing, developing and evaluating technologies for people with disabilities. Her research interests involve inclusive design, access to media and technology for people with disabilities, and inclusive business. She has published over 190 articles and received three patents.

Shital Desai, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Interaction Design in the School of Arts, Media, Performance & Design and the York Research Chair in Accessible Interaction Design at York University. Her work examines how emerging technologies such as XR and AI can support everyday activities, communication, and relational closeness by understanding people’s needs, habits, and rituals, and by adapting to these dynamic contexts of use. She has published over 35 articles.

Margot Whitfield, MMSt, is a researcher and accessibility consultant dedicated to advancing inclusive access to arts, culture, and information. A Master’s student at the University of Toronto, her interest in human factors and critical disability theory stems from a decade of user studies with blind, Deaf, wheelchair users and neurodivergent participants. She has co-authored 11 publications.

Peter Pennefather, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto, has over 40 years’ expertise in neuroscience, cellular biophysics, and data science. In recent years his scholarly activities have focused on the need for and utility of authenticating and qualifying data values. He has published over 130 articles. He is also President of gDial Inc, which holds several patents on technical solutions for generating self-referencing, self-authenticating data files.

Evan Hibbard, Ph.D. (ze/he), is a Deaf academic and accessibility advocate with over 20 years of diverse teaching experience. He co-founded the Deaf, Crip, Mad Faculty and Staff employee resource group at California State University, Sacramento. Born Deaf and culturally Deaf, he is active in Deaf communities and advises Deaf graduate students and their professors on strategies for building inclusive graduate-level learning environments. His research explores Deaf media, accessibility, captioning and online teaching to identify issues for Deaf and disabled users.