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Designing for accessibility
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General principles of accessible design
Basic measurements
Ramps ||
Toilets ||
Lifts || Passages and doorways
|| Parking lots
Counters, tabletops ||
Door knobs, handles, taps, switches and controls ||
Furniture and kitchen equipment
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General principles of accessible design
Buildings and structures should satisfy the following basic
requirements of accessibility:
- Functionality: The mobility-
impaired user should be able to enjoy the basic functionality expected
of the structure, just as well as a valid person, and with the same
degree of comfort or convenience.
- Autonomy: The
mobility-impaired
person should not be required to seek the help of anybody for using
the structure.
- Safety: Usage of the structure
by
a mobility-impaired person should not compromise on his safety. In
general, objects designed for use by the handicapped must provide a
much higher level of safety than those designed for use by valid
persons
only.
To ensure safety, you should identify and eliminate
all hazards which exist in your building. For instance, you should:
- identify and eliminate all unnecessary
barriers
and obstacles e.g. furniture, partitions, sculptures, screens, potted
plants,
thresholds, steps etc. Where such obstacles are inevitable, the place
should be very well lit, and must be marked prominently or cordoned
off.
- take special care to see that there are no cables and
trailing wires (e.g. phone wires) which may get entangled and lead to
an accident.
- confirm that the flooring surface is non-skid in nature.
If you are using
carpets or any other form of floor-cladding, make sure that it is made
of
a non-woven material, to avoid frayed strands getting entangled in a
handicapped person's equipment.
- ensure that there are no open pits (e.g. open manholes, trapdoors
etc.)
or no soft or
slushy patches on the path of handicapped persons. Such traps should
be
clearly cordoned off.
- ensure that the possible passage ways are all
cleared of all hazards,
to respect the minimum dimensions mentioned in the earlier section
and that all essential devices and objects are kept easily reachable
(see Basic measurements).
- mark prominently the availability of handicapped accessible
facilities using signposts and indicators.
In addition to the above
general observations, we will see some specific requirements in the
paragraphs that follow.
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In the meantime, here is an exercise
for the
reader:
Take a tour of your premises and
check up how many of the above hazards exist around you.
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Basic measurements
Before planning any structure for accessibility, it is necessary to
understand limits of dimensions for comfort and safety.
A
person in the standing posture, and using
crutches will need a minimum width of 0.9 m for moving around.
There should be no obstacles within this width in all areas where the
person is likely to go or move around.
For him to reach out
for anything in the standing posture, things should be kept within a
maximum height of 1.6 m and a minimum of 0.6 m
as shown in this picture. This is particularly true for objects
like bookshelves, stores, wardrobes, cupboards, etc.
A person
in a wheelchair needs unrestricted clearances for moving around,
turning and manoeuvrability (see these pictures
). And for reaching out to objects, they should be placed, not
more than 1.30 metres above ground level or lower than 0.70 metres
above ground level as shown in these pictures
.
If these dimensional limits are not respected, the
structure becomes extremely inconvenient for handicapped persons.
General principles of accessible design
Basic measurements
Ramps ||
Toilets ||
Lifts || Passages and doorways
|| Parking lots
Counters, tabletops and controls ||
Door knobs, handles, taps, switches and controls ||
Furniture and kitchen equipment
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Ramps
Ramps play a very important role in enhancing the accessibility of
buildings. They need to be designed with great care.
Remember the following points:
- Where a difference of level is unavoidable (e.g. door frames,
thresholds), keep the difference to less than 30 mm.
Whenever a change of level of more than 30 mm is encountered, a ramp
must be provided.
- Ideally, the slope of the ramp must not exceed 6 % and it
should not be more than three metres long. If it is not
possible to construct a single ramp
to respect this limitation in slope and limitation in length, you can
make a
ramp with more than one run.
- The surface of the ramp must be made of a
rough and non-skid material.
- Keep adequate landing space at the start and the end of every
ramp.
- If the ramp is more than three metres long, split it into a
ramp with more than one run. Each run should
not be longer than three metres. Ensure that there is
adequate landing space at each end of each
run of the ramp. This landing
space is necessary in case the person wants to stop and take rest, or
wants to turn back and return midway.
- If the person has to open a door, provide
adequate space for the
door to be opened.
- For ramps longer than 1 m, a balustrade/ hand rail is essential.
The balustrade /hand rail is also useful
as a protective barrier, to avoid falling off the ramp.
- A ramp is not very appropriate or convenient when a
mobility-impaired person has to move from one floor to another. Think
of constructing a lift whenever such a situation
occurs.
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Toilets
Many of us do not realise this: toilets fulfil a very important and
indispensable role in our lives. Just
try to resist entering one whenever you feel the urge, and you will
realise how difficult it is to live
without one. Yet, we often neglect providing this minimum amenity in a
form suitable for handicapped persons.
Remember the following points:
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Lifts
When there is more than one floor in the building, it is strongly
recommended that a lift be provided. A
ramp is extremely painful and tiring for the wheelchair-bound for
moving between floors.
When selecting a lift, ensure that:
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Parking space
Every public building must have a sufficient number of places
reserved exclusively for parking of vehicles by handicapped persons.
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Take care of the following:
- The parking space must be at least 3.50 m wide, to let a mobility-
impaired person enter and leave from the car. Make sure that there is
enough free space available for movement with
a
wheelchair.
- The parking space must not be on an incline.
- Mark prominently that the place is
reserved for parking by
handicapped persons.
- Make sure that there are no obstacles on the way to the parking
space, or that no other vehicles can block the way.
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Counters, table tops, door handles, taps, and control switches
Counters as well as table tops which the mobility-impaired should
use (such as in banks, post offices, schools and other public places)
must be designed with the basic measurements in
mind.
The basic measurements also apply to all kinds of
control devices like: doorknobs, door handles, window latches, electrical
switches, taps and valves, telephones,
audio /video entertainment equipment, cooking ovens, post boxes,
computer keyboards, and all other similar appliances or devices which
need to be operated by hand. You must also ensure that there is
enough clear passage available for the handicapped person to reach
these devices and objects.
Not only is the placement of these devices important, they should also
be easy and safe to operate. Door and window handles, pulls, latches,
locks, and other operating devices on accessible doors shall have a
shape that is easy to grasp and operate with one hand. They should not
require tight grasping, tight pinching, or twisting of the wrist to
operate.
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Furniture and kitchen equipment
Special care must be taken to design furniture adapted to the needs
of mobility-impaired persons.
- Place furniture such that they do not restrict free movement of
mobility-impaired persons.
- Avoid furniture with sharp edges and pointed accessories.
- Furniture should be sufficiently heavy or protected by non-skid
feet (or even fastened to the floor or wall), so that they do not
slide
away when a handicapped person uses
them (transfer from or to wheelchair). Sometimes, mobility-impaired
persons
tend to lean on furniture, or use them as a support. So it is
important
that furniture should be made immobile.
- Sofas and seating furniture should not have armrests, so that the
mobility-impaired person can easily slide into (from a wheelchair) or
slide out (to a wheelchair).
- Computer furniture must be specially designed considering the basic measurements given earlier. They should also
allow the person to work directly from the wheelchair. Accessories
like
printing paper, diskettes etc. should be easily accessible from the
wheelchair.
Kitchen equipment (e.g. stove, sinks, shelves and
cupboards) should be
laid out for easy and safe access.
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Passages and doorways
All passages, doorways, corridors and alleys must be:
To be able to ensure easy movement, a
few simple guidelines must be followed.
Provide
adequate space in front of the door, for the
door to be opened comfortably.
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Special provisions for the blind and
vision impaired
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Designing accessible structures for the blind and for persons with
very weak vision is a very great challenge. It requires the greatest
care and thoughtfulness. The following guidelines will be helpful:
- Take extreme care to ensure that there are no
obstacles in the
passage which start from above the ground level. Take special care
about heights of indicator signs, staircase
landings etc. which may not be sensed by a blind person using a cane.
- If you are placing any object temporarily, which may come in the
way of a blind person -- make sure that the object is cordoned off.
This situation occurs often when there are repairs or temporary
reorganisation (e.g. shifting of furniture, ladders, temporary
scaffolding). A blind person gets used
to the positions of fixed and permanent obstacles, he cannot
anticipate
when new obstacles come up.
- Whenever there is an abrupt change of height, or the possibility
of
entering a hazardous area, or an unavoidable obstacle, give enough
tactile warnings sufficiently in
advance.
- Provide a barrier or railing to
prevent the blind person from
straying away inadvertently.
- For the weak sighted, lighting can provide an important
directional cue.
- It is important to clearly mark transparent glass partitions and
doors. Use markings and indications
which are visible even in very
poor lighting conditions.
A few other suggestions for assisting visually-impaired persons:
- Use labels printed in Braille, to indicate floors, on the
control panels of lifts. Stick a Braille label next to each floor
button. The person can then select a floor by feeling
the corresponding Braille label. Similarly, a Braille label near the
landing door will help the blind person recognise the floor he has
reached.
- Use audible warnings and announcing devices wherever possible.
- Put up clear warning signs (for the visually healthy) wherever
blind persons are likely to be moving in the vicinity, so that they
(the visually healthy)
can take care not to cause any harm to blind persons.
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Special provisions for the deaf and
hard-of-hearing
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Deaf and hard-of-hearing persons suffer the disadvantage of not
being able to follow aural cues, and instructions. A few points to be
kept in mind for assisting this class of persons:
- In public places, announcements and messages should be provided
not just by voice
(e.g. public address systems, pagers, sirens, alarms), but also by
visual indicators.
Textual messages are best displayed using some large screen displays.
Other kinds of
indications may be given with bright red lamps, and annunciators
panels.
- Telephones should be provided with an indicator lamp which shows
when they are ringing. A special telephone with built in amplifier for
use by hard-of-hearing may be provided.
- Special-purpose telephones with voice-to-text display, and
keyboard inputs may be
provided.
- Valid or healthy persons have an automatic mechanism of being able
to orient themselves
with noise. Thus they can realise when they are getting dangerously
close to some moving machinery.
Special precautions must be taken to ensure that deaf persons are
protected from such dangerous sources.
- The availability of such facilities and their location must be
indicated prominently with well-lit signboards.
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Transportation for the handicapped
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Design of transport vehicles for the handicapped is a very
specialised subject, and is NOT covered in this web page. However, all
facilities and buildings from where the handicapped will take a
transportation should be made accessible according to the guidelines
given in the earlier sections of this web page. This precaution
applies
to: railway and subway platforms, bus stops, porticos, driveways,
sidewalks, footpaths, zebra-crossings etc.
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The figures used in this web-page have been reproduced
from
"SN 521 500 Standard and Guide"
. The following organisations
have very kindly granted us permission to use the material:
This document has been prepared and put up on the
world-wide-web by
Algologic Research & Solutions.
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- In accordance with international practice, all measurements shown
in the diagrams are in metres.
- Please note that the measurements are official Standards in
Switzerland, and may differ from standards of other countries. Consult
your local
standards organisation.
- This document gives only a few guidelines
and that too in a highly simplified and informal form. You should
refer to, and follow, more formal and
official documents and standards, for legal conformance.
- You can also get plenty of information
from the world-wide-web. A good starting point would be:
the
resources page for the handicapped, created by
Algologic.
- You are encouraged to add HTML hyperlinks
to the present top-page from your web-pages. The URL of this page is:
https://shellclub.tripod.com/handicap/index.htm
You will then be sure that your visitors get access to the most recent
and updated version of this document.
- This document is likely to be updated regularly. Please make sure
that you have the
latest version of this document. The date of last update to this
document is given in the Administrivia
section.
- Rights:
- All the rights for the diagrams are held by:
You should not copy or reproduce the diagrams, without the
express and formal permission of the above agencies.
- All rights to this web-page and related web-pages (created by
Algologic) are reserved by Algologic Research & Solutions.
You should not copy or
reproduce these documents, without the
express and formal permission of Algologic Research & Solutions.
- Disclaimer:
- Please read the
disclaimer and warning notice of Algologic
- The
Ingenieur-and-Architekten Verband
(SIA) and the Schweiz Invaliden-Verband (SIV),
do not assume any responsibility for the contents of these web-pages.
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- You can
obtain plenty of
information from the
resources page for the handicapped, created by
Algologic.
- Contact Algologic Research & Solutions at
drpartha@gmail.com
if you need further assistance, or have any specific queries.
- Know the author :
http://drpartha.googlepages.com
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- Inform all your friends, colleagues and relatives, about this web
page. Make them feel responsible for ensuring accessibility.
- Act
today ! Do your best, to improve accessibility at your home, at
your place of work, at all public places.
- Add HTML hyperlinks
to the present top-page from your web-pages. The URL of this page is:
https://shellclub.tripod.com/handicap/index.htm
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