Meta tags:
description=The Accessible Icon Project is an ongoing work of design activism. It starts with a graphic icon, free for use in the public domain, and continues its work as a collaboration among people with disabilities and their allies toward a more accessible world.;

Headings (most frequently used words):

sign, accessible, you, is, the, activism, it, icon, project, an, design, what, this, as, don, sticker, 25, 30, trails, about, on, contribute, info, by, sara, hendren, why, do, of, or, their, identify, disabled, use, that, just, be, like, change, verb, notes, feb, 2016, 2015, think, well, street, art, not, everyone, wheelchair, athlete, people, who, push, chairs, with, own, arms, but, chair, should, symbol, speak, for, all, kinds, accessibility, image, isn, political, correctness, shouldn, using, your, efforts, something, more, worthwhile, real, so, goal, here, universal, worry, will, shallow, washing, are, ally, does, matter, wow, re, opinionated, anything, else, want, to, say, buy, stickers, and, stencils, support, triangle, social, media, contact, team, press, read, square, reflective, 10, figurines, 275, parking, stencil, no, access, boating, camping, picnicking,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (179), and (104), that (67), icon (58), for (41), #project (36), with (33), this (32), accessible (29), new (28), work (25), our (22), about (21), design (21), disability (20), sign (19), #people (19), like (18), you (17), but (16), more (14), symbol (14), one (14), are (14), who (14), icons (14), disabilities (13), public (13), 2013 (12), art (12), activism (12), triangle (11), from (11), its (11), not (10), have (10), street (10), way (9), make (9), over (9), their (9), indicate (9), political (9), graphic (9), started (9), use (8), wheelchair (8), access (8), signs (8), has (8), get (8), can (8), see (8), world (8), question (8), would (8), parking (7), why (7), city (7), they (7), standard (7), been (7), other (7), all (7), used (7), rights (7), what (7), image (7), activist (7), original (7), boston (6), 2012 (6), gets (6), handicapped (6), june (6), how (6), 2014 (6), media (6), recreation (6), trails (6), both (6), stickers (6), don (6), better (6), here (6), shows (6), just (6), old (6), now (6), self (6), february (5), symbols (5), december (5), words (5), team (5), questions (5), social (5), through (5), was (5), right (5), sticker (5), free (5), domain (5), some (5), any (5), different (5), know (5), conditions (5), also (5), among (5), many (5), when (5), change (5), action (5), look (5), first (5), own (5), campaign (5), advocates (5), events (5), these (5), read (5), were (5), inc (4), than (4), moving (4), motion (4), press (4), tim (4), support (4), employment (4), show (4), white (4), brown (4), blue (4), will (4), doesn (4), those (4), want (4), identify (4), disabled (4), others (4), direct (4), seen (4), cultural (4), important (4), speak (4), think (4), never (4), final (4), formal (4), inclusive (4), wanted (4), coverage (4), graffiti (4), most (4), same (4), where (4), already (4), minute (4), space (4), 2011 (3), makeover (3), local (3), malden (3), news (3), accessibility (3), control (3), matter (3), york (3), education (3), into (3), forward (3), does (3), international (3), ferguson (3), sauder (3), brian (3), sara (3), hendren (3), send (3), your (3), stories (3), contact (3), adults (3), individuals (3), five (3), two (3), community (3), please (3), arrow (3), direction (3), left (3), covers (3), color (3), allies (3), stencils (3), collection (3), years (3), effort (3), create (3), forms (3), kinds (3), stand (3), something (3), nothing (3), without (3), should (3), efforts (3), much (3), really (3), glad (3), site (3), itself (3), history (3), long (3), using (3), lot (3), things (3), beginning (3), similar (3), appears (3), easy (3), chair (3), between (3), asking (3), replace (3), brought (3), clear (3), knew (3), instead (3), politics (3), debate (3), around (3), cities (3), contexts (3), globe (2), ablevision (2), august (2), october (2), taking (2), planning (2), disabilityscoop (2), company (2), birth (2), isotype (2), guerilla (2), need (2), love (2), museum (2), jeff (2), brendon (2), hildreth (2), epic (2), glenney (2), hear (2), info (2), instagram (2), twitter (2), facebook (2), service (2), residences (2), services (2), award (2), winning (2), school (2), young (2), training (2), called (2), center (2), staffed (2), small (2), lead (2), lives (2), began (2), grew (2), picnicking (2), camping (2), boating (2), bring (2), spaces (2), stencil (2), figurines (2), well (2), square (2), always (2), buy (2), editable (2), jpg (2), contribute (2), told (2), endorse (2), understanding (2), gotten (2), another (2), beyond (2), had (2), matters (2), said (2), connections (2), audiences (2), including (2), worry (2), status (2), shallow (2), real (2), emphasize (2), town (2), isn (2), provisions (2), guarantees (2), web (2), harder (2), symbolic (2), practices (2), hard (2), makes (2), difference (2), shape (2), form (2), governments (2), individual (2), citizens (2), language (2), power (2), certainly (2), consider (2), standardized (2), signal (2), high (2), them (2), there (2), interviews (2), literal (2), talk (2), continuum (2), artifact (2), ordinary (2), live (2), ongoing (2), graphics (2), got (2), eventually (2), wholesale (2), organization (2), line (2), places (2), least (2), back (2), version (2), altering (2), collective (2), nearly (2), projects (2), groups (2), toward (2), wishes (2), features (2), very (2), artifacts (2), ends (2), 1515 (2), notes (2), moma (2), couldn (2), photo (2), early (2), advocate (2), find (2), global (2), hundreds (2), partner (2), shown (2), event (2), since (2), 2010 (2), importantly (2), able (2), advocating (2), needed (2), anyway (2), time (2), idea (2), loved (2), editing (2), built (2), environment (2), figures (2), organic (2), edit (2), wheel (2), cutouts (2), professional (2), backed (2), figure (2), top (2), existing (2), closely (2), marshalls (2), body (2), 910 (2), images (2), verb (2), against (2), enabling, wicked, unveils, statewide, salem, gordon, college, adds, wcvb, redefining, november, gov, huffington, post, powerful, verge, progressive, chronicle, higher, academics, redesigns, facelift, fast, guerrilla, gave, nyc, printmag, revamps, famous, yailabs, npr, july, rolls, colleen, roberts, oct, bern, supports, cnn, iconic, page, revamped, scope, moves, minutes, memories, traditional, navigator, january, nerd, pop, invisible, slate, redesign, max, fame, march, featured, modern, gentry, leah, serao, lafata, cyndi, mcmahon, kim, izar, keith, jones, crystal, evans, pradhan, finn, bullers, hector, del, valle, travis, talbot, lindgren, william, annabel, consilvio, aaron, greiner, home, message, email, address, name, today, serves, 000, 170, communities, throughout, southern, england, operates, six, centers, ten, danvers, beverly, braintree, brockton, lynn, reading, waltham, described, detail, homepage, include, career, program, comprehensive, television, medical, manufacturing, facility, contract, fulfillment, café, trainees, founded, 1971, group, believed, could, learn, independent, dignified, serving, developmental, next, decade, provide, opened, green, includes, help, awareness, inaccessible, pavement, 275, plastic, approx, inches, height, vary, width, reflective, operated, partnership, run, non, profit, purchase, proceeds, supplies, entirely, addition, downloadable, formats, above, part, font, awesome, available, webfont, format, eps, svg, wise, adviser, necessarily, close, off, ability, being, ways, fully, culturally, limited, journalistic, treatment, story, overwhelmingly, positive, response, reached, out, last, evidence, recognize, hope, true, wow, opinionated, anything, else, say, immediate, family, members, workers, course, having, allyship, ignorable, irrelevant, experience, larger, conversations, happen, whose, yet, politicized, ally, sure, big, handing, exercise, traction, trying, elsewhere, substantive, easily, shiny, washing, happy, write, wants, formally, adopt, politicians, officially, success, located, ubiquity, funding, policies, overall, track, document, progress, goals, goal, universal, counterpart, creative, quantify, cognitive, hence, meaning, good, ill, institutions, protestors, dictators, persuade, force, bottom, expanding, balancing, tradition, sensitive, pitfalls, excessive, emphasis, attention, material, interested, understood, multiple, publics, aware, agitating, decades, correctness, shouldn, worthwhile, importance, highly, internationally, recognizable, availability, accommodations, wherever, reliable, combination, scale, spot, crowded, airport, contrast, reason, readily, visible, anyone, anywhere, interesting, might, supplement, spoken, designers, challenge, thought, talked, length, almost, included, cut, arm, pushing, representations, speaks, general, primacy, personhood, notion, person, decides, navigate, broadest, metaphorical, terms, evokes, mantra, demands, everyone, athlete, push, chairs, arms, transparent, fact, single, span, set, letting, along, allows, term, useful, simple, phase, radar, likeminded, wish, infrastructural, everywhere, far, wide, heard, nature, solution, debated, arrived, which, once, wouldn, enough, enigma, sustaining, collaborations, writing, exhibitions, heartbeat, because, knowing, mildly, transgressive, property, engage, potential, legal, interest, legality, then, agenda, inclusion, artist, noticed, deserving, goods, especially, merits, subject, invisibility, echo, chambers, minority, too, targeted, ideas, reach, wider, ignore, successful, cases, journalists, rarely, microphone, wochenklausur, assume, ours, actually, fraction, informally, redesigned, times, weren, precisely, noticing, differences, existence, inspired, number, historical, campaigns, kissing, kill, actup, uses, solving, problems, manner, industrial, organizing, creates, series, proposals, unresolved, provoke, experiment, search, point, contestation, tidy, fix, 2015, place, watch, download, file, screenshot, pages, full, size, thrilled, flabbergasted, dreamed, accession, permanent, settings, even, department, treasury, photos, showing, tiny, stenciled, curb, echoes, spirit, every, week, someone, submits, somewhere, registration, information, booth, conference, painted, giant, christofu, yang, hospital, delhi, india, sent, doctor, named, satendra, singh, advocacy, means, locales, minded, activists, genuinely, towns, private, organizations, million, anticipated, growth, gratifying, belongs, speaking, slide, behind, him, start, seeing, iterations, edited, versions, replaced, belong, originally, authored, become, kind, megaphone, partners, friends, users, metaphor, agency, dimensional, often, themselves, bodied, counterparts, physical, act, painting, faded, based, bringing, together, repaint, approached, changing, updating, watching, aren, signaling, future, put, made, money, appropriation, iso, dot, elevators, restrooms, limbs, rounded, mimicking, human, bodies, adheres, logic, complementary, legible, keep, scheme, worked, extended, iterate, various, possibilities, strewn, table, paper, making, outpaced, expectations, hundredfold, newfound, collaborators, ones, partnered, designer, standards, conversation, quite, occasion, largest, sense, physically, yes, moreover, meaningful, citizenship, framing, allowed, rather, resolved, proposition, outset, applying, less, pose, provocatively, rendered, professionally, existed, feels, heart, newer, red, orange, leaning, italicized, while, underneath, ended, transposed, simultaneously, tried, placing, sticky, vinyl, heads, prototype, collaborating, suggested, alter, his, background, immediately, mind, spray, paint, options, decided, mess, decals, experiments, striking, believe, second, wasn, commonly, sliding, doors, riding, lines, movement, designed, 1960s, susanne, koefoed, historic, profound, rectilinear, geometry, rest, collecting, integrity, rare, present, museums, businesses, cambridge, massachusetts, abler, marking, designating, spots, thrive, feb, 2016, rebranding, placebo, ablersite, org, foregrounded, suggest, logo, starts, continues, collaboration,

Text of the page (random words):
hysical act of painting over faded parking lot stencils makes the project an event based one not just a graphic since the start of the work in 2010 we ve started seeing our icon in hundreds of different iterations and contexts some edited versions and some replaced wholesale with the new one the project doesn t belong to us now it s way beyond what we originally authored and we re glad most importantly for us we ve seen the icon become a kind of megaphone for our partners and friends who are self advocates with disabilities not just wheelchair users but people who see this image as a metaphor as a symbol of their own wishes for agency and dimensional action in the world most gratifying to us is how the project belongs to others like our self advocate partner brendon hildreth shown here speaking at an event with a slide of the icon behind him the icon is genuinely global now in hundreds of cities and towns at private and public organizations used by governments and by individual citizens we never not in a million years would have anticipated its growth when we first started a sign at a hospital in delhi india was sent to us early in the project by a doctor and self advocate named satendra singh disability advocacy means very different things in different locales we re glad the icon is one way that like minded activists can find one another nearly every week someone submits a photo from somewhere in the world that the icon appears like at this registration information booth at a conference painted with giant accessible icons photo by christofu yang others send us photos like these showing a tiny stenciled icon on a curb it echoes the original street art spirit but with the new icon image the icon now appears in formal settings even the u s department of the treasury and we couldn t have dreamed that moma would accession the work for its permanent collection this screenshot of moma s collection pages shows the icon full size we re thrilled and flabbergasted social media is now the place where people send the project their stories you can download a free file here watch the project on facebook twitter and instagram or contact us notes on design activism by sara hendren 2015 6 minute read 1515 words what is design activism design activism uses the language of design to create political debate instead of solving problems in the manner of industrial design or organizing forms as in graphic design activist design creates a series of questions or proposals using artifacts or media for unresolved ends to provoke or question or experiment in search of new political conditions the point of these artifacts is contestation not a tidy fix we re inspired by design activism like actup kissing doesn t kill or any number of historical street art political campaigns why do you think of this project as activism it s easy to look at our icon and assume that it s a graphic design project we get a lot of questions about the features of the icon itself and why ours is better than any other but the graphic is actually a very small fraction of the work as we ve said from the beginning the icon has been informally redesigned many times we weren t the first to change it our project began precisely by noticing the differences among icons already in existence our project is an activist work because we started as a street art campaign knowing that the mildly transgressive action of altering public property would engage potential media coverage about the legal status of graffiti we used that media interest in graffiti s legality to then shape our interviews to our own agenda the politics of disability access and inclusion like the artist activist collective wochenklausur we ve noticed that the most deserving social goods stories don t get nearly the same press coverage as cultural projects especially where audiences can debate the cultural merits of a work disability is subject to the same political invisibility and echo chambers as that of other minority groups and too much direct activist work around disability is targeted toward people who already think disability rights are important we wanted ideas about disability to reach a wider public to be a matter of debate that s harder to ignore and in the most successful cases we got journalists to talk to self advocates with disabilities who rarely get a microphone for their wishes the design of the first graphic itself was also activist in nature not a new solution at least at the beginning we debated long and hard about what the icon should look like for the first street sign campaign and we eventually arrived at the clear back version which shows both the old and new icons at once we knew that it wouldn t be enough to make a change to a better icon instead we wanted to have a graphic that was an enigma or a question sustaining that question in the form of collaborations events writing exhibitions and more has been the activist heartbeat of the project well is it street art or is it design it s both we started as a street art campaign and that phase of the work is what got us on the radar of likeminded advocates but eventually people started asking us for a formal new icon one that would replace old icons wholesale and be a public signal about an organization school company s wish to be inclusive in its practices that s why tim ferguson sauder brought our icon in line with other formal infrastructural symbols you ll see in public spaces everywhere our design is in the public domain so now it s used far and wide in places we ve never seen or heard about when we talk about this work we re transparent about the fact that a single project can span a continuum between a new artifact and a new set of conditions between ordinary graphic design and design activism letting the work live along that continuum allows it to be both an ongoing long term activist work and a free artifact that s useful for simple graphics not everyone is a wheelchair athlete what about people who don t push their chairs with their own arms right we ve talked about this at length in all of our interviews and it almost never gets included in the final cut the arm pushing a chair is symbolic as all icons are symbols not literal representations our symbol speaks to the general primacy of personhood and to the notion that the person first decides how and why s he will navigate the world in the broadest literal and metaphorical terms to us this evokes the disability rights mantra that demands nothing about us without us i identify as disabled but i don t use a chair why should that symbol speak for all kinds of accessibility it s certainly an interesting question to consider how other symbols might stand in for or supplement the international symbol of access we ve spoken to designers about taking up that challenge as a thought project but consider the importance of a highly standardized and internationally recognizable symbol it guarantees that its use will signal the availability of similar accommodations wherever it appears and its reliable color combination and scale make it easy to spot on a crowded city street or in an airport icons are standardized 2d and high contrast for a reason to make them readily visible to anyone anywhere there s power in that it s just an image isn t this just political correctness or shouldn t you be using your efforts on something more worthwhile like real change we get this question a lot and we re certainly sensitive to one of the pitfalls of design work an excessive emphasis on the way things look without attention to other material conditions from the project s beginning we ve been interested in political and cultural change in the way disability is understood by multiple publics and we re aware that many people have been agitating for disability rights through direct activism for many decades we see this work as a counterpart to that history of direct action and we think that symbolic activism creative practices that are also political do a work that can be hard to quantify but that also makes a difference history shows that the shape and form of what we see and hear does work on our cognitive understanding of the world and hence the meaning we make of it for good and for ill governments and institutions and protestors and dictators and individual citizens have long been using the language of symbols to persuade to question to force we want to be on the bottom up rights expanding power re balancing tradition of that history so what s the goal here universal sign change we re happy when people write to us that their town or city wants to formally adopt the icon and from news that politicians officially endorse its use but success for us isn t really located in the ubiquity of the icon itself we want to see the icon stand for funding rights provisions and guarantees policies and overall better conditions for people with disabilities and we want this web site to track and document the progress of those harder goals don t you worry that this will be shallow activism like sign washing sure this is a big worry for us our icon is in the public domain and that status is important to us so we can t really control when it gets used as a shallow glad handing exercise that has no real political traction but we re trying with this site and the way we speak elsewhere about the work to emphasize the substantive efforts of people who don t make the news as easily as a shiny new symbol do you identify as disabled are you an ally does it matter we ve always had people on our team who identify as disabled and others of us who are immediate family members or direct co workers of people who identify as disabled it matters of course that we do this work and any work in disability as a nothing about us without us effort having said that allyship also matters and this project should be seen as one among many efforts to make new connections among new audiences who ve seen disability as ignorable or irrelevant we know from experience that we need much much larger cultural conversations about disability to happen including among people whose lives disability has not yet politicized wow you re opinionated anything else you want to say a wise adviser told us some years into this project that any effort to create new and different forms of access will necessarily close off access of other kinds we know that a wheelchair icon doesn t stand for all kinds of ability we know that our icon is being used in ways we don t fully endorse we know that this project s birth in the us conditions our understanding in a way that s culturally limited and we know that we can t control the journalistic treatment of this story but the overwhelmingly positive response we ve gotten from those of you who ve reached out to us in the last five years is evidence that you see something in this work that you recognize we hope that s true for another five and beyond contribute use the icon get blue jpg get b w jpg get editable svg get editable eps in addition to the downloadable formats above the icon is available in webfont format as part of font awesome s accessibility icons collection buy stickers and stencils the accessible icon project is operated by people with disabilities and their allies and is a partnership run in boston at triangle inc a non profit education and employment center for adults with disabilities the icon has always been free for use in the public domain purchase proceeds from stickers and supplies go entirely to support the work of triangle 3 square sticker 7 in x 7 in covers standard parking signs 8 reflective sticker 7 5 in x 7 5 in covers standard parking signs 10 figurines plastic figurines that are approx 2 75 inches in height and vary in width as well as in color 275 parking stencil covers standard pavement parking sign 5 no access sticker includes 20 stickers 2 in x 2 in help bring awareness of inaccessible spaces to your community 25 accessible boating sign 8 in x 8 in brown recreation sign to indicate accessible boating 25 accessible camping sign 8 in x 8 in brown recreation sign to indicate accessible camping 25 accessible picnicking sign 8 in x 8 in brown recreation sign to indicate accessible picnicking 30 accessible trails sign 12 in x 18 in brown recreation sign to indicate accessible trails please indicate arrow direction left right both 30 accessible trails sign 12 in x 18 in white recreation sign to indicate accessible trails please indicate arrow direction left right both 30 accessible trails sign 12 in x 18 in green recreation sign to indicate accessible trails please indicate arrow direction left right both support triangle triangle was founded in 1971 by a small group of individuals who believed that people with disabilities could learn to lead more independent and dignified lives it began serving five people with developmental disabilities and grew over the next decade to provide employment training for over 80 individuals and opened two community residences in malden today triangle serves over 3 000 people from 170 communities throughout southern new england it operates six employment service centers and ten residences in malden danvers beverly braintree brockton lynn reading and waltham their services are described in detail through triangle s homepage they include an award winning school to career program for young adults with disabilities comprehensive employment training and planning services for individuals with disabilities an award winning television show called ablevision a medical manufacturing facility a contract fulfillment center and café that is staffed by trainees support the work social media facebook twitter instagram info contact questions stories we d love to hear from you name email address your message send team sara hendren brian glenney tim ferguson sauder jeff gentry leah serao jeff lafata brendon hildreth cyndi mcmahon kim izar keith jones crystal evans pradhan finn bullers hector del valle travis talbot tim lindgren william lu annabel consilvio aaron greiner triangle inc the home of epic press new handicapped symbol featured at museum of modern art disabilityscoop march 6 2014 the wheelchair icon gets a makeover and museum fame love that max february 20 2014 does the international wheelchair symbol need a redesign slate february 19 2014 icon for access 99 invisible february 18 2014 moving forward pop up art nerd new york february 14 2014 the accessible icon project the navigator january 23 2014 the accessible icon project s new way to re make a traditional symbol minutes for memories december 22 2013 in motion accessible icon project moves forward scope december 17 2013 disability icon revamped by guerilla art project page one of the boston globe december 14 2013 iconic symbol gets moving in makeover cnn december 2 2013 city of new bern supports accessible icon project colleen roberts oct 17 2013 new handicapped sign rolls into new york city npr july 07 2013 the accessible icon p...