Why should I join EIDD?

If your organisation (association, school or university, foundation, town, city or region, architecture or design office, consultancy…) is interested in exploring innovative applications of design methodology as practical methods for tackling the challenges that are thrown at us every day by a rapidly changing society, EIDD is the place for you.
While the focus is on the social inclusion of human diversity ("Design for All is design for human diversity, social inclusion and equality", EIDD Stockholm Declaration, 2004), there is no limit to the relevance of this holistic approach.

The Covid emergency, earthquakes and other natural disasters, the ongoing refugee crisis, tackling wartime emergencies and coherent post-war reconstruction are all recent examples whose validity is on a par with the continuing challenges of inclusion of people with disabilities and the ageing population in such fields as architecture, product design, town planning, communications and services in culture, work and tourism. Accessibility, in this respect, is always interpreted to assign equal importance to cognitive and not only physical domains.

Organisations join EIDD – Design for All Europe not in search of a service, but to contribute their experience and voice to a network that employs its critical mass (both geographical and in covering the many different fields listed above) to influence the policymaking at EU level that determines the tone adopted and contents requested in European calls for tender. If Design for All is a buzzword in European project calls and a plus point in project proposals, it is because of 30 years of relentless work by EIDD – Design for All Europe, undertaken to educate and persuade policymakers and decision
makers to ensure that European funding is available for your work.

EIDD – Design for All Europe also provides the unique platform where organisations can share and exchange their experiences, learning from each other and building domestic and international partnerships. In this sense, it also offers a ready-made de facto partner search facility among its members, which has been used repeatedly to build successful
European project consortia.

EIDD – Design for All Europe strives to hold ground-breaking international conferences to stimulate the use of design methods among communities that often have no idea of what design is and what contributions it can offer.

EIDD was the first to introduce design to the field of culture (Culture for All, in the Bundestag, Berlin, 2005; the first design event in a European Capital of Culture in Vilnius in 2009), to that of work (Work for All, Waterford, 2006) and to that of tourism (Tourism for All, in the Triennale, Milan, 2007). It was the first to discuss Design for All in Academia (at the Royal Academy, Brussels, 2002) and to launch the now-popular slogan "Cities for All" (at Helsinki World
Design Capital, 2012).

EIDD – Design for All Europe is a founder member of the European Disability Forum and has active partnerships with the other international design organisations (Cumulus, ICoD and BEDA).

What does it cost to be a member?
In EIDD – Design for All Europe, we keep our membership fee low, at €400 per year. We are a streamlined organisation based almost entirely on voluntary work, so do not have to ask our members to contribute to the major costs of a
full-time secretariat. If you have resources, we prefer you to spend them on your practical field work in Design for All in your own communities.
Please pay your first membership fee when you make your application.
Need an invoice? No problem! Please just provide the information we need to issue it.

What do I have to do to join?
It couldn’t be easier: download the Application Form at this link, fill it in and send it to the e-mail addresses specified.
Your application will be taken by the next meeting of the Executive Board or by the next General Assembly, whichever comes first. You will then be invited to attend the next General Assembly to present yourself and your organisation
and start networking with our other members.
What are you waiting for?

Current membership includes:

  • Design for All associations
  • designer associations
  • design promotion centres
  • innovation centres
  • schools and universities
  • associations of people with disabilities
  • foundations
  • cities
  • design museums

How to join EIDD – Design for All Europe

  1. Download the membership application form here.
  2. Fill it in.
  3. Make a bank transfer of the membership fee for the first year, as specified in the membership form. This fee will be returned in the unlikely event that your application is not approved.
  4. Send the application form, together with a copy of the bank transfer, by mail to the President, Vice-President Administration and Vice-President Finances.
  5. If you are located in a country that already has one or more members of EIDD – Design for All Europe, please inform them of your intention to apply for membership.
  6. You will receive notification that your application has been received.
  7. Your application will be considered at the next meeting of the Executive Board and will be ratified at the next Annual General Assembly.
  8. You will then receive notification that your application has been accepted or rejected.

Application form