Mapping Meaning, the Journal (Issue No. 2)

Placing Inclusion Ahead
Ileana Rodríguez
and acknowledged throughout the entire
project’s development and execution. What
happens when we look at design through a
lens having too narrow of a focus? Where
we only yawn when we see, and then
ploddingly follow, the rules and regulations
for our building? The result is a lost design
opportunity that serves, at best, a few
people. It becomes a place where diversity is
not found.
level. Design can drive inclusion and change
perceptions. I perceive inclusion as an
attitude, a state of the mind that is made
manifest only with the right effort of melding
creativity with rules. Design, when looked at
through the lens of inclusion, has the power
to change the attitudes of people, from the
individual level to the wider community.
I urge you to put and hold in your minds the
possibilities of what can be accomplished
when design is the all-inclusive bridge that
brings people and abilities to the same
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