In this assignment I’m going to talk about how universal design is done in Norway. First of all what is universal design? Picture yourself walking in the streets of Norway. You are on your way to the store to buy some groceries. On the way you have to cross a road full of cars, and walk up a small staircase to access the store. For most of the norwegian population this doesn’t seem to be any problem, but then imagine if you’re in a wheelchair, on croches or are blind. Then all of a sudden this easy task of getting across the road and up that small staircase seems alot more difficult. That’s where universal design comes in. Universal designs are used so that people with these kind of dissabilities can get by in the society by themself, without the risk of injury. Universal designs could be in the form of an elivator to access different floors, a ramp so that a wheelchair easily can get up stairs, or some kind of signal for the blind that they are close to a pedestrian crossing or a small edge. All of these adaptations in the society are crucial for a large part of the community so that everyone can go about their day with ease.
The picture in this assignment shows an universal design for the blind. The picture is taken at Oslo central station at a tram stop. Here you can see dots/holes in the pavement. These holes are an indicator for the blind that they are close to the edge, and this is to prevent accidents where they could fall in front of an incoming tram. You can also find these kind of holes at pedestrian crossings to indicate where the pavement stops, and the road strarts. This perticular design is a crucial factor to prevent injuries for the blind. I chose this puctures because I feel that this kind of universal design easily gets forgotten. That’s probably because they are very subtle. But even though they are subtle for the larger part of the community, they are a crucial addition for the people that are blind.
Luckily in Norway we have laws and regulations when it comes to universal designs. For example in the buliding act and regulatins § 12.1 it says that the layout should be built according to the buildings function and that building for the public should have an universal design (forskrift om teknisk krav til byggversk, 2017, §12). By having these kind of laws and regulations we get much more equality in the society by securing that no one gets excluded. Even though there of course are some examples where there is no universal design, most of the common building such as stores, schools, sport facilities, etc, have got an optimal layout for eveybody.
There is of course some economical factors here aswell. It’s expensive to build all of these universal designs all around the city. The way that the goverment is paying for these structures, is trough taxes. Taxes is something everybody with an income is paying in Norway, and there is of course own laws for this too. In Norway it’s called the taxlaw. We have different taxes in Norway such as income taxes, wealthtaxes and economic rent taxes (lov om skatt av formue og inntekt. 2017). These taxes goes to benefits for society such as Schools, hospitals, treatments, police departments, recrietion areas, parks, new buildings and of course so that we can get universal designs in all the cities in Norway.
References:
Skatteloven (2019) lov om skatt av formue og inntekt (LOV-2018-12-20-102). Obtained from https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/1999-03-26-14/KAPITTEL_2#KAPITTEL_2
Byggteknisk forskrift (2017) forskrift om tekniske krav fir byggverk. Obtained from https://lovdata.no/dokument/SF/forskrift/2017-06-19-840/KAPITTEL_12#KAPITTEL_12
One thought on “Eirik Hellevik Universal designs in Norway”
Hi there Eirik!
Wow, it was so interesting to learn about how the Norwegian government caters for the needs for someone with disability such as the blind using that kind of universal design. I tried looking at the picture first to take a guess on what you would be reflecting on, but had no idea until you explained it in your assignment then only I knew what I was looking at. You made your main point of what you were going to speak about quite clear which made me better understand why you chose the specific picture. With that being said, it proves your point of the greater community overlooking it like I just did now but I cannot imagine how crucial it is for that blind person who needs it to ultimately stay out of danger. In the Cape Town CBD, of what I know there has been an adaption made on the streets. At the major traffic lights and pedestrians crossing, there is a device that beeps at different frequencies so that the blind knows when its is safe to cross the road or when it isn’t.
With regards to the reflection, I would have liked to read more about what it might be like to be that patient with the disability , taking into account the people, places and things that might influence how they interact with the system and with you. Perhaps more about what the health system is also doing about it besides just the government . We are so accustomed to just our health system and how things are down in South Africa but I would love to learn about how it is in Norway with regards to the health system.
Back to your reflection. I liked your interpretation of the assignment and the picture you created at the beginning, it immediately grabbed my attention. With regards to the literature , it backed your points clearly . I would have loved to also see literature based on the struggles that these disabled people endure, this will also add more personality and real-life examples that relate to real-life people in Norway where there are not universal designs. In closing, well done! I enjoyed reading your assignment and it made me even more interested to learn more and especially see more when I come to Norway in August.
greetings