Students from Boston University’s Exceptional Educators Club met last night at Adaptive Environments, a Boston-based nonprofit focused on improving design for people with disabilities, to discuss what steps should be taken to improve the design and accessibility of public spaces.

Adaptive Environments, soon to be renamed the Institute for Human Centered Design, is an international nonprofit organization that focuses on universal design for places, things and information geared toward a person’s range of abilities — with or without disabilities, Adaptive Environments Executive Director Valerie Fletcher said.

Fletcher said BU’s accessibility “could be better,” urging students to “be bold” and push for universal design.

“The crisis gets solved, but unless the culture changes . . . We need to get over the ‘Just tell me what I have to do’ mindset,” she said.

“Our world is designed to fit those who are ‘able-bodied,'” Exceptional Educators Club President Lauren Kelly said.

At the meeting, students were asked to think about BU’s campus in a new way. Adaptive Environments project coordinator Christopher Hart, who focuses on urban planning, asked students how they liked crossing Commonwealth Avenue, but was then quick to point out how the university emphasizes beautification over safety on the street. Students reflected on the short times lights allow for crossing and the bumps and holes along Commonwealth Avenue.

“They made good points that no one thinks about,” College of General Studies freshman Alex Ketner said. “Now, when you think about it, it’s dangerous.”

Adaptive Environments’s space in the North End combines retail space, office area and a public library in a format that is accessible to everyone. Adaptive Environments showcases sustainable and accessible products, from reusable grocery bags to energy efficient cars.

The Exceptional Educators’ Club targets those interested in the field of special education, and focuses on advocacy and awareness of disabilities, Kelly, an SED junior, said. Kelly planned the fieldtrip as a way to raise awareness.

Students expecting to learn about accommodating to those with disabilities said they were struck by the way Adaptive Environments aims to make life more convenient for everyone.

Fletcher said the group stresses that variation in ability is a “natural part of the human experience,” adding that disabilities are contextualized by one’s environment. Nearly everyone will experience a time when they are functionally impaired, members said.