The Scandinavian Roots of the International Symbol of Access

Abstract

Although the International Symbol of Access (ISA) has undergone a sustained critique in recent years, its roots in Scandinavian design are largely ignored. This article argues that much of the tension around the symbol today can be traced to the vexed circumstances surrounding its creation and adoption. It traces its invention to a Scandinavian design scene in the late 1960s that was itself undergoing profound change under a variety of influences, including educational reform, a growing commitment to design for the disabled, and the ongoing intervention of reformers like the Austrian–American theorist Victor Papanek.

Keywords:

• International Symbol of Access (ISA)
• Susanne Koefoed
• Scandinavian design
• Victor Papanek
• disability

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The symbol’s official title, the International Symbol of Access, was formally adopted in 1974 when the symbol was acknowledged by the United Nations.

2. The debate surrounding this symbol has existed since its inception (e.g. Kneebone 1969). Much of the current critique has taken place in news, accounts, and blogs. The most critical scholarly treatment remains Liat Ben-Moshe and Justin J. W. Powell’s “Sign of our Times? Revis(it)ing the International Symbol of Access” (2007). But the symbol has also been the subject of several substantive revisions. In 1994, Brendan Murphy revised the symbol to depict a more athletic figure who actively propels a wheelchair forward (Busch 1995; Pierson 1995). More recently, designer Sara Hendren worked with collaborator and scholar Brian Glenney to develop an even more active figure (Baker 2011). The pair initially developed the figure as a form of street or graffiti art. Using stickers and spray paint, they began covering the officially recognized ISA with their informal revision. Their action sparked considerable interest and more formal moves to replace the current ISA with this newer form. To date, the newer symbol, renamed the “Accessible Icon Project”, has been adopted in a series of municipalities in the United States (“Accessible Icon Project” 2013).

3. The architect and critic Selwyn Goldsmith reports that the “first practical use” of this symbol was “to identify wheelchair w.c. compartments at Stockholm (Arlanda) airport” (Goldsmith 1969a, 8).

4. For further information on this effort, see Francke and Francke (1967).

5. The organization was founded in 1922 as the Society for Crippled Children; in 1939 it became The International Society for the Welfare of Cripples. After World War II, in 1960, in an attempt to include veterans and other adults, it was retitled The International Society for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled. In 1972, it was renamed Rehabilitation International.

6. Papanek’s training continues to remain understudied, but Alison Clarke notes that although he claimed affiliation with Wright, there is no concrete evidence to support this assertion (Clarke 2014).

7. For more on this argument, see Coleman et al. (2007) and Stone (1997).

8. The SDO formed in February 1966 at a Stockholm meeting of student council representatives from across design programs in Scandinavia. The original participating member schools were from Oslo’s Statens Håndverk- og Kunstindustriskole (SHKS), Bergen’s Kunsthåndverksskole, Kunsthåndværkerskolen i København, the Konstindustriella Läroverket in Helsinki, Gothenburg’s Konstindustriskolan, and the Konstfackskolan in Stockholm. Later, Beckmanns in Stockholm and the Kunsthåndværkerskolen of Kolding would join (Lie 2014, ch. 3).

9. For more on the education reforms at Konstfack, see Widengren (1994).

10. In “Schools Are Not for Teaching”, Hans Bergman argued that design education should not be limited to specialized studies in specific professional fields. Instead, he argued, “it is just as important for students to be encouraged and trained to question premises and think along independent lines” (Bergman 1968, 319).

11. These included a Swedish typographer Bo Berndal; William P. Cooper of the World Veterans Foundation; Manfre Finke of the Fédération Internationale des Personnes Handicapées Physiques (FIMITIC), Educational Rehabilitation Professor Alexander Hulek of Poland; the British cartoonist Peter Kneebone, representing the International Council of Graphic Designers Associations (ICOGRADA); the Finn Esko Kosunen of the Krigsinvalidernas Brodraforbund; William P. McCahill, head of the US President’s Committee on Employment of the Physically Handicapped; French physician Alain Rossier representing the RI’s International Committee on Technical Aids itself; and Austrian architect Karl Schwanzer for the International Union of Architects

12. Indeed, the SDO seminars encouraged a new and outspoken generation of Scandinavian designers to study ergonomics and disability. Best known is the group Ergonomi Design, founded in 1969 by students deeply influenced by Papanek’s workshops and lectures.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elizabeth Guffey

Elizabeth Guffey is a professor of art and design history at SUNY Purchase College. She is the author of multiple books, including most recently Posters: A Global History (2015) and the forthcoming Inventing Disability: History of a Mis-Fit Design (2016).