Furniture and Furnishings

Furniture and Furnishings 3(1+2)

Lesson 16 : Furniture Requirement For People With Special Needs

Troubleshooting

1. Wheelchair users
Problem	Measure
Overcoming differences in level between road and pavement	Install curb ramps
Bridging great differences in height usually tackled by providing stairs	Provide ramps, wide elevator cabs or platform lifts
Maneuvering in tight spaces	Provide wide routes and spaces
Passing through narrow door openings and over high thresholds	Provide sufficiently wide door openings with low beveled thresholds or none at all
Reaching high-mounted controls and objects	Provide low-mounted controls
Maneuvering in rest rooms	Install grab bars, bath-tub and shower seats
2. People with limited walking abilities
Problem	Measure
Overcoming differences in level	Provide curb ramps, ramps, elevators or platform lifts
Maneuvering in situations requiring speed	Increase the pedestrian crossing time interval Increase the opening interval of elevators and automatic doors
Climbing stairs and ramps	Provide handrails for gripping
Maneuvering in rest rooms	Provide sufficiently wide rest rooms Provide grab bars, bath-tub and a shower seat
Passing through narrow door openings and over high thresholds	Provide sufficiently wide door openings with low beveled thresholds or none at all
3. People with limited use of hands or arms
Problem	Measure
Opening heavy doors	Use automatic or easy-to-open doors
Gripping door knobs	Use lever-type door handles
Gripping faucets	Use lever-type or push-buttons faucets
4. The sightless
Problem	Measure
Orientation	Provide guide strips within the pathway surface Provide raised curbs and other detectable guiding elements Provide tactile marking strips to indicate changes in direction and the location of stairs and ramps
Identifying obstructions within the path of travel	Provide textured paving or tactile marking strips around obstructions
Crossing roads	Provide audible traffic signals
Maneuvering in elevators	Provide audible signals and call buttons with tactile text
Recognizing emergency situations	Provide audible alarm signals
Locating exit doors and stairs	Provide tactile marking around the knobs of exit doors and the handrails of exit
5. The partially sighted
Problem	Measure
Identifying obstructions within the path of travel	Provide bright-coloured markings or signals to identify obstructions
Orientation	Provide clearly legible lettering and sufficiently large dimensions for direction signs
Crossing roads	Provide audible traffic signals
Maneuvering in elevators and in emergency situations	Use contrasting colour for doors, handrails, tactile signs, etc
Locating facilities	Provide alarm signals
6. The hearing impaired
Problem	Measure
Crossing roads	Provide clearly visible coloured signs and traffic signals
Managing in situations involving the use of speech messages, verbal transmission and interaction	Use clearly written messages, especially in emergency situations Install induction loops in assembly halls and in public telephones
Not hearing door, elevator and emergency	Provide flashing light signals