Inclusive School Desk

The Inclusive School Desk Project is aimed at developing a school desk that serves all students, disabled or not, in the school environment and furniture according to the concept of Universal Design, supporting the inclusion in schools and providing a suitable placement, stability and intellectual safety when carrying out tasks in the classroom. Developing the school desk project demanded more than one research method, allowing for the questioning and refinement of collected data. The teams, composed of educators, social scientists, designers, architects, physiotherapists and occupational therapists, had the role of evaluating and discussing the school furniture, the architectural and attitudinal accessibility of schools, as well as collecting anthropometric data from children. It was found that the school furniture is inappropriate for all children. The Universal Design paradigm was considered for the product development. Thus, a socially contextualized object was created which would not enhance human diversity, prejudice and difficulty in accepting the differences, being also a responsible, consistent and feasible solution through Universal Design.