Requirements
Environmental Barriers – What that Means for Learning Environments
We can identify the physical access features such as door handles or size of doors that limit physical access to classrooms, the building, or different rooms in the school / campus building. Some of these can be easily modified, some will require extensive retrofitting.
A Good Example
One of the most fascinating building designs is The Lighthouse in New York City , specifically designed for high access of use. Their building features audio announcements in the elevator for each floor, carpeted walkways to all doors surrounded by tiling (so a person with a cane hears the tile and stays on the carpet), color contrast on door frames (e.g. white walls with dark colors on the frames) for low visibility visitors, and Braille on every sign.
Many of these features can easily be retrofitted to a building. The remaining features are easy to build into original plans but can be tough and expensive to retrofit, such as widening doorways or walkways.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Bathroom …
"The mustard yellow of the fixtures, tile and paint says it all – this bathroom was designed and built in the 70s – prior to ADA regulations. Not only was it 70s yellow, but the stalls were so thin. I was pregnant at the time – and when I entered a stall in the building where I was taking college courses, I couldn't get turned around to actually use the bathroom if I had my backpack on my back along with my protruding belly in front. I had to back out of the stall, take my backpack off, turn around, back into the stall, and then use the restroom.
Widening bathroom stalls is usually considered an “accessibility” feature. However, this is a great case where, had they made it beneficial, it would have benefited a lot of us on campus – including me. I didn't think of it before, but once I was pregnant, those stalls became painfully small!" -- University Student, Colorado
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