| Functional Limitation |
Key Design Issues |
| Difficulty walking |
- Alternatives to stairs
- Safe and supportive stairway design
- Safe walking surface
- Short distances between origins and destinations
|
| Inability to walk -
use of wheelchairs |
- Clear openings, passageways and doors large enough for wheelchair passage
- Alternatives to stairs
- Space for wheelchair access next to controls, fixtures and appliances and
in front of doors
- Space to turn a wheelchair around in rooms
- Controls, hardware and storage brought within reach
- Knee and toe clearances to approach fixtures and equipment
- Protection for knees that have no feeling
|
| Reaching limitations |
- Controls, hardware and storage brought within reach
- Enough space to approach close to objects that need to be reached
|
| Limited gripping
ability |
- Devices sized to allow a firm grip - not too small and not too large
- Low force required to activate a devices
- Activation method that does not require twisting the wrist
- Activation that can be accomplished with an open hand or balled fist
|
| Low stamina |
- Short distances between origins and destinations
- Elevators instead of stairs or ramps
- If ramps are necessary, the shallowest slope possible
- Low force required to activate devices
|
| Partial loss of
sight |
- High contrast on signs
- Low reflectivity on sign surfaces
- Large size type
- Highly visible warning signs and symbols
|
| Complete loss of
sight |
- Hazard protection in path of travel
- Raised characters and symbols on signs
- Braille text as an alternative to standard text
- Audible or tactile warning signs and signals
|
| Partial hearing loss |
- Strong signal to noise ratio for alarms and telephones
- Text as an alternative media
|
| Total hearing loss |
- Availability of alternatives to telephones
- Visual warning devices and signals
- Alternative media where sound is used for communications, e.g. captioning
on monitors
|
