What is Physical Accessibility?
Physical barriers are structural obstacles in natural or manmade environments that prevent or block mobility (moving around in the environment) or access.
From Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Common Barriers to Participation Experienced by People with Disabilities."
Designing for users with physical or motor disabilities
Do
- make large clickable actions
- give form fields space
- design for keyboard or speech only use
- design with mobile and touch screen in mind
- provide shortcuts
Don't
- demand precision
- bunch interactions together
- make dynamic content that requires a lot of mouse movement
- have short time out windows
- tire users with lots of typing and scrolling
This poster is made available by UK Home Office via a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence.
Physical Accessibility Resources
- Equal Access: Universal Design of Physical Spacesby Sheryl Burgstahler, Ph.D.
"As increasing numbers of people with disabilities pursue educational opportunities at all levels, the accessibility of campus facilities and physical spaces increases in importance. The goal is simply equal access; everyone who visits your campus should be able to do so comfortably and efficiently."
Creating Inclusive Libraries by Applying Universal Design by Call Number: Online ResourceISBN: 9781538139776Publication Date: 2021-06-07As libraries of all types strive to serve diverse communities, Universal Design offers principles and approaches that can be used to create welcoming spaces and services.
