Last week I spent the day with no hearing as part of an "Impairment for a Day" event. I'd like to think that these exercises make me a better architect, but even if they don't, I fairly confident that they make me a better person.

Last year I was in a wheelchair so I wanted to experience something different this year … how about being deaf"On Thursday, May 5th, 2015, the Americans Institute of Architects of Dallas organized a day of awareness and celebration on the impact the ADA has had on the built environment and the disabled community and I was asked to participate by spending my entire day with no hearing. I’ll admit that heading up to this point I wasn’t too concerned with how my day would go … it had to be easier than spending a day in a wheelchair, right"Wrong. It was a lot worse. The only similarities between spending the day as a deaf person, or last year’s day as someone in a wheelchair, was that they both opened my eyes to new considerations. I’d like to think that these exercises make me a better architect, but even if they don’t, I fairly confident that they make me a better person.Last year I received a lot of emails and comments about the time I spent in a wheelchair – most were positive but some where very negative. The negative comments centered around the idea that spending one day in a wheelchair couldn’t begin to open my eyes to the real challenges and hardship truly disabled pe...