Accessibility, usability and universal design – still confusing? Harmonisation of key concepts describing person-environment interaction to create conditions for participation

PURPOSE: To contribute to an in-depth understanding of how the concepts accessibility, usability, and universal design interact and can be harmonised to create conditions for participation in the 21st century. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Ideas, empirical research, and selected literature from health science, engineering, and design constituted the material for a scientifically grounded analysis. RESULTS: are tools for operationalising and translating universal design into practice, applicable at the individual, group, and societal levels. CONCLUSION: Intended for implementation at all these levels, we propose a harmonised model where the concepts are explicitly defined and closely connected, with each other and the conditions to reach participation at scale.