Assessment of Dimensional Needs for Designing Spaces for Wheelchair Users

The design of spaces must take in consideration among other things, the physical characteristics of the variety of users. Regarding buildings of public use this diversity is even more, being used to pay special attention to those users who are considered extremes in certain conditions. A segment among this variety is wheelchair users, who are particularly challenged by the built environment. In the context of this study, it is possible to find some handbooks with guidelines for designing spaces for people using a wheelchair. However, it is not clear where the dimensions come from since there is not a specific reference nor a database with dimensions of people in such condition in that context. The objective of this study was twofold: (1) to assess some design dimensions provided by two handbooks for designing spaces for people using a wheelchair; and (2) to identify and understand the problems that users of wheelchair face in performing some of their daily life activities. An anthropometric survey of 14 wheelchair users was performed and then their dimensions were contrasted against dimensions presented by the handbooks. After an interview about their daily life activities was made, to incorporate them in the formulation of the dimensional parameters for space design. The participants were asked to rate the difficulty level of some indoor and outdoor daily activities. The comparison of the results through coefficient of variation showed that the data used in the accessibility standards handbooks correlates with the mean of some of the dimensions taken in this study, for example, maximum height point near the knee (0.4%), height to the rim handle (9.2%), elbow to elbow width (1.2%). Overall the development of anthropometric data for special populations, in this case, wheelchair users contributes to the creation of a more inclusive society through the improvement of design guides, spaces and policies.