The background
1987: At the joint conference of the International Design Councils (ICSID – International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, Icograda – International Council of Graphic Design Associations, IFI – International Federation of Interior Architects) held in Amsterdam, the Irish designer Paul Hogan (and Vice-President of the European Multiple Sclerosis Society) presents a motion to commit the three councils to work in the field of design and disability. The motion is approved, but nothing further happens.
1992: Paul Hogan secures European funding from the European Union’s Horizon 3 framework programme to organise a series of exploratory meetings about the interfaces between design and disability. The result is the foundation of the Institute for Design and Disability, an Irish association based in Dublin. EIDD.
1993: Following on the successful launch of IDD in the previous year, Paul Hogan opens the discussion to the other member states of the European Union, with the result that EIDD is founded at a meeting held in Dublin on 3 April as the “European Institute for Design and Disability”. Founder Paul Hogan is elected President and serves until 1996.
1994: Bonn Symposium: EIDD adopts the Design for All approach; the first National Member Organisations join EIDD (Ireland, Italy, Portugal).
1995: EIDD gives its patronage to the Barcelona Declaration, the Final Act of the international conference “The City and the Disabled”.
1996: EIDD holds the international conference “Teaching for Tomorrow” in Bologna. Professor Jim Sandhu is elected the second President of EIDD and serves until 1998.
1997: EIDD is a founder member of the European Disability Forum.
1998: EIDD gives its patronage to the international conference “Design for All: Towards the Mainstream”, held in Barcelona; Francesc Aragall is elected the third President of EIDD and serves until 2001.
2000: EIDD publishes four issues of a magazine Crisp & Clear and wins the Ron Mace Award.
2001: Paivi Tahkokallio is elected as the fourth President of EIDD and serves until 2003.
2002: EIDD holds the international conference “Design for All in Higher Education” at the Royal Academy, Brussels.
2003: EIDD holds the international conference “Design for All and Equality” in Dublin Castle, marking the tenth anniversary of the organisation. Pete Kercher is elected the fifth President of EIDD and serves until 2007.
2004: EIDD develops and publishes the fundamental Stockholm Declaration, clarifying and defining the nature of Design for All. It also launches its lobbying activity to promote Design for All to the European institutions by holding its first official meeting with a European Commissioner, Erkki Liikanen.
2005: EIDD holds the international conference “Culture for All” in the German Federal Government’s Press and Visitor Centre in Berlin.
2006: EIDD holds the international conference “Work for All” in Waterford, Ireland. At the Annual General Meeting, also held in Waterford, EIDD changed its name from “European Institute for Design and Disability” to “EIDD – Design for All Europe”.
2007: EIDD holds the international conference “Tourism for All” in the Triennale, Milan. At the Annual General Meeting, also held in Milan, Finn Petrén is elected the sixth President of EIDD and serves until 2013.
2008: At Torino World Design Capital 2008, EIDD holds an international communication competition for posters, videos and guerrilla marketing projects about Design for All, with the patronage of the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda, now ICoD). In autumn, EIDD holds the international conference “Housing for All” in partnership with the Cité du Design, Saint-Etienne, in the framework of the Saint-Etienne International Design Biennale.
2009: EIDD holds the second edition of the international conference “Culture for All” and a one-week workshop in Vilnius, Lithuania, in the framework of Vilnius European Capital of Culture 2009. This is the first time that a design event is included in the agenda of a European Capital of Culture.
2010: EIDD holds the regional international conference “Design for All in the Balkans” in the National Bank of Serbia, Belgrade. At the end of the year, EIDD and the Zamek Cieszyn together establish the “Michal Ozmin Design for All Archive and Research Centre”, with the Design for All pioneer Michal Ozmin in attendance, shortly before his death of cancer.
2011: EIDD holds the international conference “Tallinn for All”, launching a one-year programme of activities, in partnership with the Estonian Association of Designers, in the framework of Tallinn European Capital of Culture 2011.
2012: EIDD holds the international conference “Cities for All” in the Helsinki Music Centre, in the framework of Helsinki World Design Capital 2012, while also launching the travelling exhibition “Cities for All”, which visits cities all over Europe and is also translated into Italian and Serbian versions.
2013: EIDD is a partner in the international conference on Cultural Heritage organised by Fundacion ONCE in Avila, Spain. At the General Assembly, also held in Avila, Ewa Golebiowska is elected as the seventh President of EIDD and
serves until 2017.
2014: At the General Assembly held in Berlin, EIDD launched its current website at www.dfaeurope.eu and its Academic Network.
2015: EIDD holds the international conference “Food for All” in the Milan Expo, whose theme is “Feeding the Planet”.
2017: At the General Assembly held in Saint-Etienne, Onny Eikhaug is elected as the eighth President of EIDD and serves until 2021. EIDD also decides to move its base from Ireland to Austria.
2018: EIDD holds the international conference “Cultural Heritage for All” in the Aurum Centre in Pescara, Italy, as its contribution to the European Year of Cultural Heritage.
2019: At the General Assembly held in the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, Poland, EIDD admits its first non-European member, the Queensland University of Technology, in Brisbane, Australia. In September, EIDD holds its first Summer School in the city of Viana do Castelo, Portugal.
2020: To tackle the sense of isolation suffered by its members everywhere during the strict lockdown imposed to counter the Covid-19 pandemic, EIDD organises Members’ Forum, an informal online event held once every two weeks in English, with the intervening weeks occupied by another Member’s Forum, held in Italian, to cater for EIDD’s nine members in Italy, one in Croatia and one in Switzerland, who all share the language. The Member’s Forum lasts until the end of the Covid-19 lockdowns, when activists have to use their time to catch up with events in the real world.
EIDD holds its first-ever online international conference, “New Paths for Design for All: Social Aspects of European Capitals of Culture”, in partnership with Rijeka European Capital of Culture 2019-2020, and welcomes its first members from Asia (SG Enable, in Singapore) and North America (the University of Guadalajara, in Mexico).
2022: EIDD welcomes its first member from Africa, the Attyseer consultancy from Libya.
