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To determine the extent to which curb ramps in an urban area met a set of wheelchair accessibility guidelines.
For each of 79 intersections in an urban area, we collected data about eight accessibility characteristics, based on existing guidelines. A total score (0-8) was calculated for each intersection, based on the number of criteria met.
Of the...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... road intersections, existing guidelines suggest that there should be a means to ease the transition from the elevated sidewalk to the road for pedestrians and wheelchair users [19][20][21][22][23][24]. Among the options available, the curb ramp is a common one. Most often in a curb ramp, the surface gradually slopes downward from the sidewalk to the gutter level ( Figure 1). The curb ramp may be perpendicular, parallel or diagonal to the ...
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Wheelchair users are exposed to whole-body vibration (WBV) when driving on sidewalks and in urban environments; however, there is limited literature on WBV exposure to power wheelchair users when driving during daily activities. Further, surface transitions (i.e., curb-ramps) provide wheelchair accessibility from street intersections to sidewalks;...
Citations
... This is not the case in practice, as the latest Brazilian census [30] has shown that only 4.7% of the country's urban pathways have accessibility ramps. This lack of urban accessibility is not exclusive to Brazil, as it was shown to also be a problem in the US [31,32], Mexico [33], Ecuador [34], and several European cities [35]. Also, a review of 1331 studies about urban accessibility found a generally low quality thorough these studies, indicating a lack of attention to accessibility in the literature itself [36]. ...
Purpose:
Seat tilting wheelchair features can increase the comfort and safety of the user. Although many power wheelchairs have tilting mechanisms, they are often designed with a specific wheelchair model in mind. In this study, a design process for seat tilting mechanisms that can be applied to most rear-wheel drive wheelchair models is developed.
Methodology:
Equations were developed to describe the geometrical and load constraints that were used to size the electric actuator that powers the system and define its position. Finally, the equations were used to create the seat tilting mechanism of a prototype wheelchair, which was then tested.
Results:
The equations yielded coherent results which showed that advantageous actuator positions from a load minimization perspective usually require dimensions that cannot be found in commercial actuators. Also, there are positions in which the load increases exponentially, which should be avoided. The tests showed that the system was able to function properly on the prototype wheelchair and that the actuator position affected the time taken for the actuator to execute different parts of the tilting movement.
Conclusions:
The design process presented here was successful and modelled by general equations that can be applied to most front-wheel drive wheelchairs. It presents a low-cost option for the design of seat tilting systems, which can increase their accessibility.
... These individuals often struggle with different accessibility issues and many social and physical obstacles in their daily activities (e.g. going to work, school, and attending social activities) that restrict their mobility [4][5][6]. Indeed, even though PWMD are likely to be functionally limited, their engagement with their social and physical environments can shape their disability. According to the DCP model 2 , the interactions between personal factors of PWMD and environmental factors influence their life habits including their mobility [7,8]. ...
People with mobility disabilities (PWMD) often struggle with challenges in getting around independently for their daily activities. Mobility is one of the most important life habits which might be constrained by diverse environmental and social obstacles, limiting the social participation of PWMD. Upgrading the social integration of these people is a major challenge in Canada and internationally. Even though the advent of assistive navigation technologies improves the interaction of PWMD with their environments during their mobility, these tools mostly ignore the capabilities, capacities, and specific needs of this population. It is required to better understand PWMD’s navigational behavior in the environment to make these navigation tools adapted to their profile and specific needs. Hence, this research aims at using state-of-the-art technology (i.e., eye-tracking glasses) to explore the navigational behavior of PWMD. To do so, we designed and carried out an experiment in which a wheelchair user wearing eye-tracking glasses navigated a route following the instructions given by Google Maps. Several eye-tracking metrics for the collected eye movement data were computed and analyzed to explore the participant’s visual and mental activities while performing the navigation task. Artificial intelligence was used to automatically assign eye movement data to specific features in the environment during navigation. The preliminary findings of this research show that the highest level of fixation was assigned to the cell phone for receiving the route instructions, distracting thus the participant from his surroundings. In this sense, we have noticed that these route instructions were not sufficient and clear for wheelchair users in some situations. In addition, fixations on sidewalks and crosswalks were the second-highest amount because of the low accessibility level of several parts of the route. Some buildings as landmarks were also eye-catching for the wheelchair user during exploring the environment, and searching for the route, particularly when the route was accessible. In this way, it is required to help the wheelchair user to become aware of information on the accessibility of routes and salient environmental objects in advance to draw more attention to the environment, better orient in the environment, and make sure of following the correct route, therefore, upgrading wheelchair users’ spatial learning and being autonomous.KeywordsWheelchair users’ mobilityEye trackingArtificial intelligence
... PWDs need to be able to reach a safe shelter from home through an accessible evacuation route during an emergency (Schimthlien, 2011;Hemingway & Priestley, 2014;Landry et al., 2016;Verma et al., 2022). Specifically, PWDs need to have adequate accessibility through an accessible road network to reach shelters as well as accessible circulation space and the entrance of the residence and the temporary shelter (Bennet, Kirby, & MacDonald, 2009;Hemingway & Priestley, 2014;Landry et al., 2016;Tauhid, 2007;Zandt et al., 2012). Unfortunately, many previous studies reveal a grim situation of accessibility of PWDs in the built environment which negatively affects their safe evacuation (Bhuiya, 2019;Hashim et al., 2020;Hayati & Faqih, 2013;Keerthirathna, Karunasena, & Rodrigo, 2018;Newton, Ormerod, & Thomas, 2003;Nischit, Bharghava, & M Akshay, 2018). ...
Although evaluation of the accessibility of people with disability (PWDs) is necessary to design effective transportation policy measures to ensure better mobility for PWDs, little empirical research are available on this subject. This study thus aims to address this gap by developing a methodological framework and applying this framework to assessing the accessibility of earthquake evacuation routes for people with movement-related disabilities (PMDs), one type of PWDs, in the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Specifically, this comprehensive accessibility index is composed of four components including accessibility from home to shelter, perceived accessibility of evacuation route, accessibility of entrance of the shelter, perceived accessibility of internal circular space and entrance of the residential building. Participatory GIS approach is employed in the data collection 455 PMDs were surveyed from 13 wards of Dhaka. Accessibility of each considered parameter and the overall indicator are poor in most cases. 45.2% of the wards are found to have relatively poor conditions of overall accessibility during evacuation. Relations of various accessibility components with socio-economic factors and level of disability are examined as well. PMDs with higher levels of disabilities and older PMDs perceive lower accessibilities of evacuation routes, circulation space, and entrance gate of residence, while male and more educated PMDs perceive circular space and entrance gate of residence to be more accessible.
... Access for people with disabilities is often prevented by poorly designed access points to green areas, such as curbs at sidewalk crossings, slopes of the paths, and ramps that prevent passage. With such an approach to planning and construction, we often suggest that wheelchair users and their caregivers should learn the wheelchair skills needed to overcome such accessibility barriers [14]. A good approach to alleviating this problem is the creation of applications that would provide users with information about the possibility of accessing certain locations and the conditions of the infrastructure necessary for wheelchair movement. ...
This research deals with the problem of the accessibility of urban forests and parks for people with disabilities in wheelchairs. Through an analysis of spatial data, trails were categorized on the basis of the measurements of the independent movements of eight subjects on six trails. The critical longitudinal slopes were determined for independent movement in wheelchairs, complex independent movement with certain risk, and categories of trails that are not suitable for wheelchair movement. The results indicate that a slope of 5.50% was the tipping point, after which all respondents experienced some uncertainty. In addition, a gradient of more than 9.01% was almost impassable for people in wheelchairs, with respect to the gravel trails examined in this study. Modern measurement technology was used in the field, including the mobile apps GAIA GPS and GNSS GPS, and a total (geodetic) station; the subjects’ heart rates were measured using a Garmin Fenix 6 Pro watch. In addition, people with disabilities were included in the implementation of the research through the Croatian Association of Paraplegics and Tetraplegics (HUPT). The results indicate the zones/trails that disabled people in wheelchairs can pass independently, the zones that can be accessed with a certain risk, and those that are not accessible, all according to the defined longitudinal slope zones using measurements of the movement of people in a wheelchair, their heart rate loads, and personal communication with the subjects regarding the insecurity they felt.
... MWC users daily face physical environmental barriers such as slopes, crossslopes, curbs, and uneven terrain that affect their access to buildings and urban areas. Yet, accessibility for people with disabilities is crucial for their social and professional integration [2][3][4]. Standards and regulations have been established to impose some architectural rules to make public buildings and squares accessible to everyone. However, the regulations are mainly based on the aspects of required space and maximum slope inclination [5]. ...
... Indeed, a larger number of studies may have demonstrated contradictory results, as is the case for the retrieved studies on slopes (due to different experimental setups, processing, or populations). The discrepancy of focus between slopes/ground types and curbs/cross-slopes cannot possibly be explained by the lack of cross-slopes or curbs encountered during MWC locomotion in urban areas, since the uneven ground usually encountered may present such environmental barriers, albeit of low grades [2]. Similarly, descending slopes and curbs, or technically challenging situations such as crossing a door threshold with or without a ramp [6] deserve to be studied. ...
During manual wheelchair (MWC) locomotion, the user’s upper limbs are subject to heavy stresses and fatigue because the upper body is permanently engaged to propel the MWC. These stresses and fatigue vary according to the environmental barriers encountered outdoors along a given path. This study aimed at conducting a systematic review of the literature assessing the biomechanics of MWC users crossing various situations, which represent physical environmental barriers. Through a systematic search on PubMed, 34 articles were selected and classified according to the investigated environmental barriers: slope; cross-slope; curb; and ground type. For each barrier, biomechanical parameters were divided into four categories: spatiotemporal parameters; kinematics; kinetics; and muscle activity. All results from the different studies were gathered, including numerical data, and assessed with respect to the methodology used in each study. This review sheds light on the fact that certain situations (cross-slopes and curbs) or parameters (kinematics) have scarcely been studied, and that a wider set of situations should be studied. Five recommendations were made at the end of this review process to standardize the procedure when reporting materials, methods, and results for the study of biomechanics of any environmental barrier encountered in MWC locomotion: (i) effectively reporting barriers’ lengths, grades, or heights; (ii) striving for standardization or a report of the approach conditions of the barrier, such as velocity, especially on curbs; (iii) reporting the configuration of the used MWC, and if it was fitted to the subject’s morphology; (iv) reporting rotation sequences for the expression of moments and kinematics, and when used, the definition of the musculoskeletal model; lastly (v) when possible, reporting measurement uncertainties and model reconstruction errors.
... In the particular case of people moving with a wheelchair, some studies address the issue of accessibility from the perspective of an enumeration of obstacles and facilitators that exist in the environment (Meyers et al., 2002;Bennett et al., 2009;Welage & Liu, 2011). Other studies have addressed accessibility by focusing on skills developed by wheelchair users' in order to handle obstacles (Manoeuvring, Obstacle negotiating, Wheelie, Making transfers, …) ...
... In the following, we present the list of obstacles and facilitators that formed the basis for the development of our experimental protocol. This master list mainly draws on the work of Matthews et al. (2003), Mackett et al. (2008), and Bennett et al. (2009) and the practical guide of universal accessibility developed by Quebec City (2010). ...
... The presence of crosswalks is one of the key issues in the accessibility of outdoor urban environments. People navigating with wheelchairs often need to move from an elevated sidewalk to an intersecting crosswalk in order to safely cross the street (Bennett et al., 2009). The characteristics that help assess the accessibility of a crosswalk are the following: ...
The quality of life of people with disabilities strongly depends on their ability to access urban spaces and conduct their daily activities without any restriction. Unfortunately, there is a significant gap between traditional urban design and the way people with disabilities live in urban environments, which significantly limits their mobility and hence their social participation. In recent years, several governments and administrations have issued norms and guidelines that aim to ensure the construction of environments that are accessible and barrier-free in order to facilitate the mobility of these people. However, the goal and the means to improve mobility and quality of access to urban environments are still misunderstood by the public authorities and the actors involved. In order to help people with disabilities overcome the existing environmental barriers, we need to better understand how they perceive the accessibility of an urban environment while taking into account the heterogeneity of their profiles. In this paper, we present a theoretical framework of a new approach to assess accessibility of urban environments centered on users’ perception. To take into consideration the diversity of users’ profiles, the proposed framework combines the principles of the Disability Creation Process model and ‘Cognitive Design’. These two paradigms provide a solid background for the definition of experimental protocols for assessing the level of accessibility of urban spaces that may contain diverse obstacles and facilitators. In addition, this paper illustrates the importance of geospatial technologies for the implementation of such protocols.
... In terms of mobility and accessibility, EPW users are exposed to various terrains and barriers both indoors and outdoors, which may include stairs, curbs, and uneven surfaces [6,7]. Bennett et al reported that only 2.6% of all road crossing intersections analyzed met all 8 accessibility criteria based on existing US guidelines [8]. In another study about wheelchair accidents, 87% were reported to be due to falls and 34% of these were due to a difference in ground level (e.g., a curb) and the remaining were due to insufficient stability over uneven surface conditions, and collisions with obstacles [9]. ...
Robotic wheelchair research and development is a growing sector. This article introduces a robotic wheelchair taxonomy, and a readiness model supported by a mini-review. The taxonomy is constructed by power wheelchair and, mobile robot standards, the ICF and, PHAATE models. The mini-review of 2797 articles spanning 7 databases produced 205 articles and 4 review articles that matched inclusion/exclusion criteria. The review and analysis illuminate how innovations in robotic wheelchair research progressed and have been slow to translate into the marketplace.
... PWDs need to be able to reach a safe shelter from home through an accessible evacuation route during an emergency (Schimthlien, 2011;Hemingway & Priestley, 2014;Landry et al., 2016;Verma et al., 2022). Specifically, PWDs need to have adequate accessibility through an accessible road network to reach shelters as well as accessible circulation space and the entrance of the residence and the temporary shelter (Bennet, Kirby, & MacDonald, 2009;Hemingway & Priestley, 2014;Landry et al., 2016;Tauhid, 2007;Zandt et al., 2012). Unfortunately, many previous studies reveal a grim situation of accessibility of PWDs in the built environment which negatively affects their safe evacuation (Bhuiya, 2019;Hashim et al., 2020;Hayati & Faqih, 2013;Keerthirathna, Karunasena, & Rodrigo, 2018;Newton, Ormerod, & Thomas, 2003;Nischit, Bharghava, & M Akshay, 2018). ...
To develop a sustainable, resilient, and more inclusive city for persons with disabilities (PWDs), their rights should be guaranteed to access a safe shelter in the event of disasters. To design effective policy measures to ensure better accessibility for PWDs, their current accessibility situation needs to be evaluated. Despite its importance, little empirical research is dedicated to determining the accessibility of PWDs using a defined framework previously. This study thus aims to address this gap by assessing the accessibility to earthquake evacuation routes for movement challenged persons (MCPs) in the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Required data for the study has been collected through questionnaire survey of 455 of MCPs. This comprehensive accessibility index is composed of four components pertaining to accessibility from home to the shelter, perceived accessibility of internal circular space, and entrance of the residential building, perceived accessibility of evacuation route, accessibility of entrance of the shelter. Perceived impedance reported by MCPs is integrated with Link to Node Ratio (LNR) to evaluate the accessibility of evacuation routes (networks). Accessibility of each considered parameter as well as the overall indicator is found poor in most cases. Relations of various accessibility components with socio-economic factors, and level of disability is examined as well. This study presents an integrative approach to constructing accessibility for MCPs, and this approach can be adapted for other groups of subpopulations with their unique needs for accessibility.
... When performing activities of daily living, EPW users are often exposed to environmental barriers such as uneven terrain and inaccessible sidewalks especially when curb-cuts are not available, blocked, or in bad condition [2]. For example, Bennett et al. reported that only 2.6% of all street intersections met accessibility guidelines [3]. Driving over such environmental barriers may damage the EPW and injure users [4]. ...
Common electric powered wheelchairs cannot safely negotiate architectural barriers (i.e., curbs) which could injure the user and damage the wheelchair. Robotic wheelchairs have been developed to address this issue; however, proper alignment performed by the user is needed prior to negotiating curbs. Users with physical and/or sensory impairments may find it challenging to negotiate such barriers. Hence, a Curb Recognition and Negotiation (CRN) system was developed to increase user’s speed and safety when negotiating a curb. This article describes the CRN system which combines an existing curb negotiation application of a mobility enhancement robot (MEBot) and a plane extraction algorithm called Polylidar3D to recognize curb characteristics and automatically approach and negotiate curbs. The accuracy and reliability of the CRN system were evaluated to detect an engineered curb with known height and 15 starting positions in controlled conditions. The CRN system successfully recognized curbs at 14 out of 15 starting positions and correctly determined the height and distance for the MEBot to travel towards the curb. While the MEBot curb alignment was 1.5 ± 4.4°, the curb ascending was executed safely. The findings provide support for the implementation of a robotic wheelchair to increase speed and reduce human error when negotiating curbs and improve accessibility.
... The characteristics of study evaluations of the mentioned research was location, sample of buildings, design, instruments. Another study tried to determine the extent to which curb ramps in an urban area met a set of wheelchair accessibility guidelines [28]. Plos et al. [29] presented an approach called EMFASIS as an integrated strategy for removing stigmatization issues from Assistive Technology as an urgent way to become aware of the powerful lever for integration offered by industrial design. ...
This study focuses on the exploration of wheelchair users' expectations from portable ramps and their adoption factors, then correspondingly offers a smart mass customization design tool. Briefly, portable ramps are generally used by wheelchair users, and provide a temporary solution to increase accessibility in their daily lives. In this research, a rollable ramp was examined as this prototype was developed in a prior funded research and thesis study. Our aim in this study is to explore the critical factors of satisfaction of users' and potential users' of portable ramps. To maximize the usability of portable ramp in various outdoor/indoor spaces and physical structures, an efficient permutation of flexible/adjustable components is offered. The research includes flexibility and customization and many external factors effective for adoption of portable ramp. In this context, three research methods were applied; semi structured-face-to-face interviews, observation, and experimental study. The constructs of the survey were extracted from literature and patent reviews then refined during observation and interviews. Wheelchair users answered a web-based survey with multiple constructs. The survey uncovered that personalization, flexibility, extension capability, and cost is critical. As well, users prefer the chance to try the model before purchasing. The effort needed to carry and learn how to use the ramp seems to be one of the key factors. It is also found that the user's life style and product match has an effect on adoption. At the end of the study, a smart mass customization design tool will be developed, which potential users or sales representatives are able to easily interact with in order to customize the portable ramp.
