A Brief Guide to Accessible Design

Around 61 million people in the United States alone suffer from some form of disability. Disabilities have an impact on people’s lifestyles, but by no means is it the end of someone’s story, only a challenge that many face everyday. Accessible design is how spaces can be made more accommodating to all people.

What Accessible Design Really Is

Accessible design involves design solutions that focus on those with any illness, disability, or medical condition related to their physical attributes or mental capacity. It is an inclusive solution that meets the needs of people suffering from one or many conditions.

Accessible design isn’t mainstream yet. But increased awareness is leading to a focus on making existing solutions and their future iterations more useful. The market is generally becoming more aware of the disabled community and targeting their products towards them.

Benefits of Accessible Design

Increasing Self-Sufficiency

The major need and greatest benefit of accessible design is that it’s primary focus is helping those with disabilities become independent to some degree with their tasks. Accessible design takes on some of the challenges the disabled go through and comes up with innovative solutions for it.

Common examples would be a visual doorbell that lights up to alert people with hearing impairments or a touch- and feel-based dial with auditory cues that helps the user understand which setting a specific appliance is set to.

Convenience

Accessible design isn’t limited to appliances and electronics, but it takes various aspects of architectural design and morphs it in a way that others benefit from it. Buildings and public places will often use ramps instead of stairs, as they are more accessible to those using wheelchairs or people with mobility impairments. Ramps are generally much safer than stairs for everyone if designed with a manageable incline.

Another example includes handlebars spread across the home. The elderly and those with balancing problems can rely on them to move across rooms fairly easily.

Ease of Access

Another major consideration in accessible design is making access to things generally easier. It doesn’t have to cost a lot for a person to get around the house more easily in a wheelchair, as proper furniture and space management can assist in movement by freeing up space.

You can also move existing furniture to lower heights in order to increase reachability for those in wheelchairs or with a limited ability to get up properly.

Accessible design takes a lot of thought and consideration, but it’s a great step to provide proper care for yourself and your loved ones. ADA compliance contractors at Access Built can make the best adjustments according to your requirements upon first inspection. We help with building a house for disabled persons, offering handicap remodeling and home modification for elderly and disabled users. 

We believe in empowering people to be more self-sufficient and attending to the needs of others. 

Access Built is a universal design build platform dedicated to connecting residential and commercial property owners with resources they need to create more accessible spaces. For more information or to schedule your FREE consultation, click here.