SAT-C01: Advocacy Through Design: Leveraging Existing Design Strategies Through a More Inclusive Lens

Saturday, October 11, 2025

3:45 PM – 5:00 PM CT

1.25 PDH, LA CES/HSW

Speaker(s)

Benjamin Jensen, Assoc. ASLA

Landscape Designer
AECOM
Arlington, Virginia
Naomi A. Sachs, ASLA (she/her/hers)

Assistant Professor
University of Maryland Dept of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture
WASHINGTON, District of Columbia
Alexa Vaughn, ASLA (she/her/hers)

Landscape Designer, Accessibility Specialist, PhD Student
UCLA / Sasaki / DeafScape
Cerritos, California

Accessibility is more than compliance. By leveraging intentionality through design, landscape architects can put empathy into action to become advocates for the disabled community. In this session, learn how to incorporate techniques and strategies to push the boundaries of accessibility and make places more inclusive, welcoming, and joyful.

Learning Outcomes:

Learn methods and strategies to systematically approach designing for accessibility and inclusion.
Explore strategies for teaching inclusive design above and beyond ADA and universal design.
Understand that not every strategy will work for every individual; experiences and needs can be nuanced, so our design strategies should be too.
Provide tools and design strategies that are specific and adaptable to facilitate more inclusive design practices.