As part of Arts Council England (ACE) funding, DisOrdinary Architecture has been able to develop a prototype compendium that explores how to engage with built environment accessibility in ways that take us beyond conventional checklists, templates, design guidance and legal regulations.

Called Many more parts than M! Re-imagining disability, access and inclusion beyond compliance, the publication aims to offer a rich catalogue of alternative concepts, stories, artistic work and architectural details, led by the creativity of disabled artists and architects, that can critically inform design thinking and practice. Rather than relying on either conventional disability categories (blind, wheelchair-user, deaf) or standard accessibility terms (wayfinding, tactile paving, platform lifts), it is organised around an alphabet of key terms, mostly drawn from disability arts, activism and scholarship. The catalogue can be read in any order, enabling some immediate creative thinking as well as offering connections to more in-depth information.

We have now produced a short hard copy print run, with copies given away for free, at launches in January and February 2024, in Manchester and London; thanks to funding from RIBA North West, Ibstock Brick and RIBA London.

The online version, which is screen readable including alt text, is now available here, along with some supporting resources, including video interviews with some of the contributors.

This project builds on the competition-winning project for co-creating equity in the public realm, additionally developing, sharing and amplifying excellent examples of truly creative accessibility. Seats at the Table was a collaboration between The DisOrdinary Architecture Project and Refabricate for the London Festival of Architecture (LFA) in June 2023. The ACE funding enabled additional activities and artworks as part of that project called Disabled Artists Make Truly Accessible Spaces as well as this publication. The team for Many More Parts was Jos Boys (Project Lead), Scarlett Barclay (production assistant and graphic designer), Francesca Perry (editor) and Tim Copsey (filmmaker).