Author: Jane Bringolf

Emergency awareness and universal design

A smartphone with a map and wording of Fires Near Me. It is the app of the NSW Rural Fire Service. It helps with emergency awareness.

Why do some people appear unable to take in what is happening around them in an emergency? Being able to act quickly requires a good sense of the situation. However, not everyone has a sense of emergency awareness. Consequently they find decision-making difficult and fail to act appropriately. A Norwegian study has investigated a universal design approach to mitigate this lack of awareness.

In an emergency, sight, hearing, use of hands and ability to concentrate can all be impaired. Smoke, dust, cold, noise and paralysis from fear can affect anyone’s ability to think clearly. Smart phone apps are a good way of reaching people quickly with important information, but do they account for likely cognitive and physical changes?

The issues and solutions for “situational disability” are outlined in a technical paper from Norway. It raises our awareness that individuals are likely to behave in unexpected ways during a disaster. With an increased rate of climate-based disasters, and the move to digital information systems, this is a timely study. The underlying concern of how people respond is an important one. The paper shows that universal design principles can guide the way in compensating for a lack of emergency awareness.

The full title of the article is, Towards Situational Disability-aware Universally Designed Information Support Systems for Enhanced Situational Awareness.

Emergency Design: Designing as you go

A woman is sitting on the ground and is being helped by a person in protective clothing and a hi vis vest. The woman looks distressed.

Designing FOR an emergency IN an emergency requires a different design approach to existing tried and true methods. When urgency is the driver of design, processes and methods need a re-think. COVID-19 is a clear case of designing for an emergency during the emergency. So how can “designing-as-you-go” be done?

Designs for emergencies, such as wars or an earthquake, are usually devised before the event. Or they are designed after the event in preparation for future events. The COVID pandemic arrived without notice and few countries were prepared. Hence the need to design for the emergency while it is happening.

A different approach

A case study from Brazil shows how a totally different design approach was required. Rather than using standard methods the researchers took an organic approach to the problem. It was basically designing on the run. The process encouraged the inclusion of people who are often marginalised. While history tells us that Brazil is has not fared well during the pandemic, the study still has value for future situations.

Their approach is based on qualitative techniques. They relied on the knowledge of local people and processes of working together in a horizontal rather than hierarchical format. This approach also allowed participants to see how they could deal with the current situation as well as improvements for the longer term. 

“As a path, we point out the importance of identifying areas of convergence of interests, the creation of win-win policies and the daily encouragement of a culture of collaboration at the differing levels.”

The title of the paper is Design amid Emergency. It charts what they did, how they did it and what they learned from the process. Identifying areas of common interest and developing win-win policies to encourage a culture of collaboration was key. In summary, they found the co-creation design process the key to success. It can lead to improved quality of life in both the short and longer term. It also helps to embed resilience within the population. 

The government saw the value of co-design with citizens. It remains to be seen if they actually follow through on this networking approach to solving issues.

From the abstract

This article presents the process for the “Design of services under the COVID19 emergency social protection plan”. It was drawn up by a team of researchers and designers from Porto Alegre in collaboration with the Porto Alegre City Government.  The focus was on the provision of essential benefits to homeless and other vulnerable people during the pandemic.

The process was developed for the designers involved: without prior notice, within very short time frames and completely remotely, using only digital platforms. As such, the process was developed to respond to the emergency and amid the emergency. The objective of the article is to discuss how to design amid emergency.

The experience was guided by the methodological principles of action research and research through design. In addition to presenting the design results solutions aimed at the short, medium and long term. This article highlights the need to aim for the recognition of difference, the suggestion of alternative views, social innovation, the systemic transformation of society and sustainability.

Walking for everyone guide

Making walking and wheeling more inclusive is the aim of the Walking for Everyone Guide. At 122 pages the online guide sets an ambitious and inclusive agenda for the future of walking across diverse communities. Community-led engagement is important to ensure changes meet the needs of residents. This is how you get local place-based needs met – there is no one-size-fits all.

Walking is often ignored in transport policy. Even when it is, the budget allocation takes it from the top of the hierarchy to the bottom. Consequently, basic elements like footpaths are not delivered. Despite almost every journey beginning and ending with walking and wheeling, streets are not inclusive.

Front cover of walking for everyone guide with a collage of a diversity of people.

Valuing and promoting lived experience enables transport planners to understand different experiences especially where they conflict. The Guide reminds us that solutions will sometimes require compromise, but marginalised groups should come first. After all, their needs will improve experiences for other walkers.

The Guide presents a framework of recommendations targeted national and local governments. There are three key themes:

  1. Improving governance, planning and decision making
  2. Creating better places for everyone to walk and wheel
  3. Supporting everyone to walk and wheel
A woman wearing bright blue clothing is holding a white cane while walking along a residential street.

Each of the themes is dealt with in detail. In Theme 2, Creating better places, they tackle road safety, air quality and physical severance by roads. In the UK, cars are allowed to partially park on the footpath in narrow streets, but Living Streets recommend this practice end. This is because it often limits the movement of people using assistive mobility devices.

Close the mobility gap

A key point in Theme 3 is to close the mobility gap by making walking and wheeling inclusive. This includes ensuring everyone who needs a mobility device can get one. These devices include assistance dogs, personal assistants and support workers as well as equipment.

The Guide is well presented with attractive photographs depicting a diverse population of pedestrians. It includes a socio-economic context and next steps which is a call to action for government, business and community sectors to work together. There is a useful list of reference documents at the end.

The title of the guide is Walking for everyone: Making walking wheeling more inclusive and was developed by Living Streets. Images are from the Guide.

Tools for Inclusion

Living Streets Scotland also has a useful Tools for Inclusion publication. This one is a guide on devising an Equality Impact Assessment at local government level. The report looks at the use of Equality Impact Assessment in delivering the obligations of the public sector to address the inclusion of people with disability. The findings of their study show there is still a long way to go. The report has several useful recommendations.

Infrastructure for everyone

Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) commissioned a project to map walking infrastructure for people with disability. The aim was to collect information to help planners create footpaths and crossings for everyone. “Walking” includes people using a mobility device such as a cane, frame or wheelchair.

The mapping project collected data from wheelchair users using technology to assess footpath surface, effort to push, barriers and kerb ramps. The technology also collected data on shade and signage.

“People with disability can be left stranded by a missing section of footpath or kerb ramps. Providing infrastructure suitable for people with disability means everyone benefits: people with prams, children, people with an injury, older people and anyone who wants to walk beside someone else comfortably.”

Image from the TMR Action Plan for Walking showing for people walking four abreast. Three women, one using a power wheelchair, and one tall blck man. There is a bus in the background. The context is a bus interchange.

TMR’s Action Plan for Walking is part of their plan for walkable communities and places. Other parts of the Plan are Walking for Transport, and Greening Streets. Mapping the best routes for walking was another project. The aim was to identify the best routes for walking to and from important places such as public transport and shops.

As a result of these mapping exercises, TMR funded network walking plans for 11 places in south-east and northern Queensland. The plans include works programs that have actions to make the network a reality. These include building missing footpaths and convenient crossings.

There is more on planning walkable communities and places on the TMR website.

Images from TMR website

Graphic with text reading: On average every $1 invested in walking interventions returns almost $13 in benefits with decongestion, health and environment.

The 2 minute video below explains how the mapping technology works. Three key aspects were identified, effort, connectivity and the risk presented with the network.

Access and inclusion for transport in Queensland

Different government departments are responsible for different aspects of transport services and infrastructure. Consequently, not only do we “mind the gap” at the platform, we have to mind the gaps elsewhere in the system. And these gaps are sometimes just too wide for some people with disability. Queensland’s department of Transport and Main Roads seeks to overcome these gaps with their Access and Inclusion Strategy.

Queensland is a popular tourist destination and accessible tourism needs accessible travel to support this sector. Queensland is also hosting the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games and this has provided an extra reason to get things right.

A boy in a powered wheelchair is mounting the ramp into the Queensland Rail train. A woman stands behind him and the station guard looks on. A man with a baby stroller and boy wait nearby to enter the train carriage. The image is from the Access and Inclusion webpage.

The Access and Inclusion Strategy aims to create a single integrated network accessible to everyone. The Strategy was developed in consultation with customers, employees and partners, and it covers services, products, information and infrastructure.

The Accessibility and Inclusion Plan 2023-2024 supports the Accessibility and Inclusion Strategy. The Plan has 27 actions across three key pillars: strategy, culture and process.

The web pages for the Strategy and the Plan have a summary and links to alternative formats of the documents including Auslan and a narrated version. There are alternative language summaries and video transcripts as well.

Subtitles for slide shows

What if you could turn your slide notes into automatic subtitles during your presentation? That would be good for everyone. The advantage is that you can write out the presentation and then deliver it perfectly without having to use lots of text on your slides. As you give your talk you click through the subtitles (captions) in the same way as you click through your slides. Best part, this subtitles for slide shows tool is free from the Cambridge Inclusive Design Team.

The audience gets a better experience with the actual words, because there’s no reliance on speech recognition and no time delays.

Screenshot of the Cambridge PowerPoint slide ribbon showing the subtitles for slide shows option.

Presenting from pre-made subtitles is great for presenters who are prone to lots of ‘ums’ and ‘ers’. It’s also good for speakers who:

  1. Have to give a presentation in a language other than their native language
  2. Have a quiet voice, or substantial accent
  3. Need to customise the length of a presentation to an exact time slot
  4. Want to make a video of their presentation
  5. Have to deliver a presentation that was written by someone else
A young woman sits in an audience and is applauding the speaker.

How do the subtitles work?

The Cambridge Subtitles for PowerPoint tool splits the text in your slide notes into short subtitles and adds these to the slide as animated text boxes. The tool adds a new toolbar to your ribbon which adds subtitles to your slides from the slide notes. The tool is offered free until the end of 2024 and available separately for Windows and Mac. You can download from the links on their webpage.

This tool is now part of the Cambridge Inclusive Design Toolkit.

Pedestrian slips, trips and falls

The UK has an ambitious target that 50% of journeys are walked or cycled by 2030. However, for some groups the quality of footpaths is a major deterrent to walking. According to a Living Streets report, 48% of older adults say they would walk more if footpaths were better maintained. Their fear of slips, trips and falls is enough to put them off. And there is a health cost for this – not just the falls, but the lack of incidental exercise.

The number of trips and falls due to poor footpath maintenance is difficult to establish due to lack of data. Living Streets has done their best to gather what information there is to find out the state of play.

Hospital admissions and insurance claims are two obvious sources of information, but even this is patchy.

Front cover of the trips and falls report showing a man walking on a footpath using two walking sticks.

Pedestrian falls happen to people of all ages, but as people age they are more likely to fall and to sustain an injury. As a consequence they are more likely to find themselves in institutional care.

One finding is that the number of hospital admissions from pedestrian falls was three times the number from pedestrian-vehicle crashes. So, if we had better data on pedestrian falls, it could change the priorities for road maintenance spending.

The Living Streets report uses 10 observational case studies to gather more information on footpaths and falls. In the UK vehicles are allowed to park over kerbs onto the footpath. This not only blocks the path of travel, it degrades the quality of the footpath. Local authorities had different ways for people to lodge complaints about footpath maintenance.

Can things be improved?

The bottom line is that budgets decide priorities, but whose budget? In the UK, falls cost the national health service more than $2.3b per year. This figure is set to rise as the population ages. However, the focus of this cost is falls indoors and unreported falls outdoors is still a problem. Using proxy figures, Living Streets estimates there could be more than one million outdoor falls among older adults each year.

The role of road strategies and plans

In the UK, the Highways Asset Management Plan allows for local authorities to claim they they taken reasonable care to make sure the road was not dangerous to pedestrians. Is this still valid in 2024? The focus on the cost to highways is not accounted for in the cost of hospital and social home-based care. Both these costs are borne by local authorities yet there is no connection between the two.

The title of the Living Streets report is Pedestrian Slips, Trips and Falls: An evaluation of their causes, impact, scale and cost. There are several suggestions on how matters can be improved. The three key ones are: Standardise data collection, Integrate costs of transport and health budgets, and Provide prompt treatment after a fall.

Universal design, ethics and the workplace

The problem with trying to apply the classic seven principles of universal design everywhere is that they don’t apply universally. This becomes apparent in an article about ethics and the workplace where some of the principles cannot apply. The seven principles are to help people think about inclusion, not use them as a checklist.

  1. Equitable Use
  2. Flexibility in Use
  3. Simple and Intuitive to Use
  4. Perceptible Information
  5. Tolerance for Error
  6. Low Physical Effort
  7. Size and Space for Approach and Use
A bold red figure seven.

A paper published in Journal of Business Ethics explores the seven principles in relation to workplaces and people with disability. It soon becomes clear that it isn’t that useful especially if trying to apply all seven. Consequently, businesses will struggle to apply the seven principles and likely discouraged from taking action.

No matter how much universal design thinking goes into making workplaces inclusive, there will always be jobs that some people cannot do. The aim is to find or create jobs that suit people with different disabilities. That’s where ethics come into play.

In the article, the authors argue that inclusive and ethical workplaces involve both organisational and spatial choices. The key is cross-fertilization between organisation studies and universal design. This will improve understanding of the ethical issues when thinking about including people with disability in the workplace.

Cross-fertilising organisational and spatial studies with a universal design approach allows for more ethically sound and inclusive workplaces. This is useful for discovering what is possible and what is not. This also requires abandoning any notion of a perfect productive body. We are all collectively vulnerable and interdependent within workplaces.

Abandoning the Notion of a Perfect and Productive Body

Universal design invites organizations to rethink inclusion in the workplace, neither as a special accommodation nor as a recognition of the specialness of impairment. Disability is a natural and ubiquitous condition of being human.

A crowd of lots of different coloured heads.

Rethinking inclusion at work

Universal design also prompts a paradigm shift from deficit to diversity. The focus shifts to embracing the needs and abilities of all workers and ensuring equal opportunities for participation. The scope of universal design also encompasses all facets of organisational structure and power dynamics.

The title of the article is, Universal Design for the Workplace: Ethical Considerations Regarding the Inclusion of Workers with Disabilities and is open access.

From the abstract

This paper examines the ethical issues of the inclusion of workers with disabilities in the workplace. It takes a cross-fertilization approach between organization studies, the ethics of care, and universal design.

It explores how organizations can use universal design to develop more inclusive workplaces. First by applying universal design principles to workspaces. Second by showing how universal design takes understanding of inclusion from the workspace to the workplace.

The paper discusses the ethical challenges and complexities of applying universal design across diverse organisation and industries. Finally, inclusion requires abandoning any notion of a perfect, productive body. Therefore, we share vulnerability and interdependence in the workplace.

Dubai Universal Design Code

The Dubai Universal Design Code covers everything you need to know about accessibility in the built environment. It’s a good example of joining dots between the accessible built environment, accessible transport and wayfinding. This is a very detailed document and appears to be a collation of standards documents from around the globe.

This document brings together all the elements of the Australian access standards with those that are missing but also essential. Under the three headings of built environment, transport and wayfinding are details of every design feature.

Front cover of the Dubai Universal Design Code. There is a graphic depicting the Dubai skyline in shades of purple, green and red.

Built environment

The section on the built environment covers the usual elements such as ramps, doors, and sanitary facilities. In addition, it includes details such as glass surfaces, tables and chairs, and window hardware.

Public spaces

The section on public spaces is about urban design, pedestrian crossings, parking bays, restaurant terraces, construction works, bus shelters, and playgrounds. The buildings section includes a note for gender equality, stages and backstage, hotel rooms and mosques. Housing is included in this section along with libraries, schools, laboratories and car parking buildings.

Transport

The transport section includes details for urban buses, metro trains, trams, marine vessels, school buses, accessible taxis, and accessible websites and apps. Service details are covered with signage, seating, announcements, fares and ticketing. Accessible taxis have their own sub-section including vehicle design, and pick up and drop off points.

Wayfinding

The wayfinding section has a similar amount of detail: typography, symbols, layout and line spacing, Braille, and tactile maps. There are more than 300 pages to this document which indicates the level of detail. The document includes 3 annexures: drawings, anthropometrics, and required accessibility for each building type.

The Dubai Universal Design Code is in plain English language and as such it can serve as a basic design guide to check for forgotten details on any project. A valuable contribution to the literature on standards, codes and guides for accessibility in one document.

Expo 2020 Dubai – a review of accessibility

This study gathered the experiences of people with disability and accessibility experts at the Expo 2020 with a view to making future large events accessible to all. One of the findings is that the efforts of access consultants was patchy because they were not involved from the start of any project. As a consequence, it was not possible to correct design errors.

While the provisions for people with disability were better than expected, they were incomplete or disconnected. Some lessons for the 2032 Brisbane Games?

Logo of the Expo 2020 Dubai UAE. Features a daisy type design with lots of circles forming a circle in brown orange and yellow.

The title is, Accessibility of large events: an empirical study of the Expo 2020 Dubai.

From the abstract

Event management is a growing sector in the tourism industry and one of the fastest growing industries in the world. The sector contributes significantly to global economies and provides substantial employment opportunities.

The objective of this paper is to contribute to understanding the accessibility of large events in an increasingly technology-dependent industry.

We evaluated the accessibility of the Expo 2020 in Dubai. Expos are attended by millions of visitors and showcase the latest technologies and innovation. These factors make these events the ideal breeding ground for the implementation of advanced technologies.

The study draws on data from observation, in-depth interviews and online, qualitative questionnaires. The participants are people with disabilities (PwDs), the organizations in charge of the accessibility of the Expo and staff that worked at the event—some of whom were also PwDs.

We discuss the experiences of PwDs at the event, the accessibility provision in place and the challenges and insights of accessibility experts involved, as well as the implications and recommendations for managing the accessibility of large events.

Evaluating cognitive accessibility

Taking a cognitive perspective to architectural design is something architect Berta Brusilovsky Filer is passionate about. So she has written a book about it, Evaluating Cognitive Accessibility. Her free book is open access with the help of La Ciudad Accesible with the hope of reaching more people.

Cognitive accessibility is a fundamental aspect in the design of public spaces in the urban environment. At last this topic is receiving more attention in schools of design. The concept takes in easy reading, spatial orientation, signage and processes of interaction.

We rely on our brains to process information to make sense of the environment around us, but we don’t all process information in the same way. Consequently, if we design in a way that assists attention, perception, memory and problem solving, everyone benefits. Reducing cognitive load (too much going on) and maximising comprehension are key principles for independent movement around urban environments.

The book draws on the disciplines of architecture, social science and neuroscience, and presents an evaluation methodology for designers. However, it also provides a recent history of neuroscience and the role our brains play (or not) in making sense of things.

Lots of examples and photographs enhance this PDF publication. The chapter on recommendations covers the many elements of spatial orientation. The concluding chapter addresses the importance of involving people with cognitive conditions in the design process.

The full title of the free book is Evaluating Cognitive Accessibility: Scientific keys to strengthen the role of the evaluator with functional diversity.

Accessibility Statements for schools

Accessibility statements are appearing in the tourism sector, so is it time to have accessibility statements for schools and universities? Well, why not ask staff and students? That’s just what two educational researchers did in the UK.

Teaching materials were checked for accessibility including digital media. Classroom delivered lectures came out best. The pandemic forced improvements for accessible online material.

Teacher and students are in black silhouette looking at a board with an mathematical equation for physics. Accessibility statement for schools.

The research on the accessibility statements was carried out at the University of Birmingham.

Captioning videos turned out to be a problem for staff because the microphones didn’t always work in the lecture rooms. This led to a lot of time being spent on re-doing captions. Some staff preferred to wait until they were asked for special interventions rather than do them automatically. However, the aim should be to remove barriers before someone finds them.

Students were given the opportunity to comment on the accessibility statements as they were being devised. However, no comments were received. Once published they were circulated by email and received positive comments. Many thought it was good for the school to provide these and that they were well thought out and clear. Some students felt the same as some staff – wait until someone needs the extra access features.

The researchers countered the reactive approach by saying that in the long run, making everything accessible saves time and prevents barriers and negative attitudes. As other research has shown, not everyone is keen to disclose a hidden disability. This is in line with the Principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

From the conclusions

“Creating School-level statements allows a Department to demonstrate how accessibility is embedded in their teaching philosophy. Over time, this willingness to be demonstrably open and to proactively address differences among students can hopefully boost student recruitment.

“We found that misunderstandings still exist and they tend to weaken efforts to enhance accessibility in teaching and learning. For instance, some staff believe that accessibility only concerns individuals with specific learning needs. Or that student concerns should only
be acted upon when they request support or particular adjustments.

Next steps involve focusing on raising awareness of accessibility statements across the School communities and providing extra staff training.

An easy to read paper that highlights the need for accessibility statements as a given rather than an exception across all educational institutions. The title of the paper is, Example of practice: Accessibility statements for inclusive education.

From the abstract

This paper provides an example of practice that outlines the benefits and challenges of creating School or Department level accessibility statements. Like all methods of improving accessibility, there is no one-size-fits-all statement. Through demonstrating one possibility, we show how to create an accessibility statement.

The discussion is informed by the results of a staff and student evaluation of accessibility statements issued by two Schools at the University of Birmingham. These Schools issued accessibility statements to show their commitment to accessibility. They created open dialogue around students’ varying requirements, and explained the accessibility features/limitations of their teaching and learning resources.

Radical inclusion for urban transformation

Victor Santiago Pineda reflects on the Burning Man community which recognises that everyone has something valuable to contribute. It challenges the idea that some people are worth more than others. This in turn introduced him to the concept of radical inclusion. Pineda discusses this concept in relation to cities and Amartya Sen’s Capability Model.

Much of the chapter covers well trodden ground with the seven principles of universal design and more statistics to show the imperatives of inclusive practice.

A cityscape with a foreground of parkland and woodland.

Can we universally design a whole city?

Pineda relates his conversation with Kat Holmes the inclusive design champion at Microsoft. In her book she talks of the “Mismatch” where people who design society determine who can participate and who’s left out.

The tail ends of the population bell curve become invisible when governments aggregate figures. It’s at the local government level where planning is more nuanced with more of a focus on “outliers”. They are in a better position to take a universal design approach to their plans and actions. By definition, national policies are played out at a local level. That is, in communities where people live, not in a national or state policy document.

An easy to read chapter that includes discussion on climate change and examples and images of successful urban transformations.

The title of the book chapter is Radical Inclusion: The Key to Urban Transformation.

From the abstract

Fifteen percent of the global population has a disability, which will only increase with population ageing. Half of the world’s population live in cities and this is where we need to promote inclusion to address a rapidly changing demographic.

Disability is becoming increasingly common and cities must be transformed to be inclusive of everyone. The Capability Model argues that disability is created by barriers in the social environment and therefore requires social change. When barriers exist, inclusive communities work to transform the way they are organized to meet the needs of all people.

The radical inclusion is a framework aims to eliminate barriers that hinder individuals and communities from reaching their full potential. It goes beyond full participation to create inclusive systems that promote equity and resilience. Their aim is to remove barriers that perpetuate poverty, inequality, disempowerment, isolation, and exclusion.

Building the inclusive city

Front cover of the book.

Most academic writing about inclusion, disability and urban design is based on Western culture and traditions. Building the Inclusive City, an open access book, covers a recent history of disability in city planning and the cultural context of a middle eastern approach. It brings together social sciences, politics and disability studies for an integrated approach to policy. There are three underpinning themes are:

  • disability research needs a contextual position
  • access and inclusion is both local and global
  • planning education should apply a disability lens to the field
Victor sits casually and smiles at the camera. It looks as if he is sitting in a wheelchair.

The book by Victor Santiago Pineda is downloadable in full or by chapter. It’s good to see this important book has free access. Pineda is based in California.

The full title of the book is, Building the Inclusive City Governance, Access, and the Urban Transformation of Dubai. Published in 2020.

From the introduction to the book:

This book is an anthropological urban study of the Emirate of Dubai, its institutions, and their evolution. It provides a contemporary history of disability in city planning from a non-Western perspective and explores the cultural context for its positioning. Three insights inform the author’s approach.

First, situate disability research in a particular place. Second, access and inclusion forms a key part of both local and global planning issues. Third, 21st century planning education should apply a disability lens to the empirical, methodological, and theoretical advances of the field.

By bridging theory and practice, this book provides new insights on inclusive city planning and comparative urban theory. This book is a story of how equity and justice are central themes in building the cities of the future and of today.”

Picture of towering buildings in the Dubai skyline with river in the foreground
high rise buildings in Dubai

Editor’s note: I travelled to Dubai in 2015 and found much of the new infrastructure very accessible. Air conditioned bus stop shelters were a nice surprise. 

Virtual tours and accessible tourism

Virtual tours using 3D photography is being used more frequently by tour companies to sell their experiences. For example, most cruise ships have virtual tours of their staterooms (cabins) so you can see what it looks like before you book. But virtual tours are a necessity for people who need to know exactly what a place looks like before they set out.

Visiting an unfamiliar location is a challenge when you have a disability. Will I be able to get in? Will there be loud noises? Is there be someone to help me? An interactive virtual tour can answer these questions.

Image of Hamaren Activity Park, Norway.

A man sits in a bike taxi which is being driven down a section of the boardwalk.

Google Maps got onto the digital image idea quickly and now Street View is accepted as normal. However, once you leave the street to enter a place or space the vision ends. The rest of the journey becomes a visual magical mystery tour. For some people, photographic information is essential to give them confidence to make the journey in the first place.

When it comes to accessible tourism this type of imagery is a really good way to showcase good access features. It gives people with different disabilities the confidence to easily choose visitor experiences and accommodation. It also tells prospective visitors whether the claim of accessibility matches their individual requirements.

People who use mobility devices can see important details such as steps, ramps, lifts and a level path of travel. People who are neurodiverse and experience sensory overload in large, noisy places can either decide not to go, or to be prepared for this in advance. Knowing what to expect helps keep anxiety levels down.

Virtual tours are universal design

Regardless of whether a person has a disability, it is a comfort to know what to expect and avoid nasty surprises. That makes virtual tours and 3D images a universal design concept – good for everyone.

UK company Ocean 3D has a fact sheet with more detail on their website. There are also good examples of what these tours look like. Virtual tours for access purposes are not the same as promotional videos that give a general idea of a place.

A second fact sheet explains the benefits of 3D images for people who are neurodiverse.