Diversity in Communication vs Universality

I plan to write a series of posts about addressing the diversity of people when communicating.

I use “diversity” here to mean much more than racial or ethnic variety. What more I mean will be disclosed over the series.

For a framework, lets take the goal of communicating our intended meaning to all or our readers or listeners or viewers. That may be a goal that can never be reached. It would require uniformity and humanity expresses diversity.

In the fields of architecture and design, there is a movement called Universal Design. Here is the description offered by the Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University:

“Universal design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design.
–Ron Mace

“The intent of universal design is to simplify life for everyone by making products, communications, and the built environment more usable by as many people as possible at little or no extra cost. Universal design benefits people of all ages and abilities.

Wikipedia defines Universal Design”

Wikipedia offers these principles for Universal Design:

1. Equitable use
2. Flexibility in use
3. Simple and intuitive
4. Perceptible information
5. Tolerance for error
6. Low physical effort
7. Size and space for approach and use

So the series I will offer will explore the multitudinous diversity in people that we must address to do our best to reach universal communication.