Anthropometry of Wheeled Mobility Project: Final Report

Standards Development

Task 2 of this contract focuses on engagement in the International Standards Organization’s effort to develop an international standard on accessible building design. This task was included in the contract because a member of the Committee encouraged us to become involved in their activities with the goal of establishing an international research effort to utilize our methodology. The budget for the contract, however, only allocated travel funds to attend meetings. The staff effort was to be contributed by project staff. We first had to establish a vehicle for participating. We obtained approval to work through RESNA, which is the designated organization to represent the U.S. in ISO activities related to accessibility. But, after contacting the ISO committee leadership and talking to two other members, it turned out that our involvement was not particularly welcomed by committee members and leadership. They had almost completed their work and were reluctant to open their agenda to another round of development, revision and balloting. Thus, we terminated our effort on that task but also did not expend the travel funds allocated to it for international travel.

However, the project team has engaged in many other standards development activities:

1.  Revisions to ICC/ANSI A117

2.  Development of Standards for Universal Design

3.  Development of new accessibility standards in other countries

4.  Revisions to ADA regulations on accessible transportation

The ICC A117.1 standard initiated a round of revisions in 2003, which only recently has been completed. At the beginning of the revision process, the Committee invited Dr. Steinfeld to make a presentation of the project at one of its meetings. Early in the review process, based on evidence from the initial data collection activities, the staff prepared a series of proposals for changes to the existing standard. Dr. Steinfeld made another presentation about the progress of the project during the balloting process. The Committee voted to establish a Task Force on Anthropometry to consider the implications of the research. Dr. Steinfeld was appointed to this Task Force. However, the Task Force had only two meetings, by teleconference. At the first meeting, they decided to table our proposals until the current work was completed. At the second meeting, the Task Force voted to begin work immediately after they finished the current cycle. Recently, the cycle was completed and the plan is now to begin meetings of the Task Force sometime after January 1, 2011. We expect to work with this Committee over the next three years to develop a process for addressing the implications of our findings (see Section 4.0) for accessibility standards used in regulatory activities.

In 2008, an effort began to develop universal design (UD) standards through the newly formed Global Universal Design Commission (GUDC). The purpose of these standards is to complement minimum accessibility standards by providing the incentive of certification for achieving a higher level of accessibility and usability. Buildings will be certified based on the incorporation of universal design features. Designers will be accredited through an educational program. The first version of the GUDC standards, approved this past summer, utilized the findings of this research to incorporate higher levels of accessibility for wheelchair users than those that are currently incorporated into minimum accessibility standards. To support certification and accreditation efforts, the IDeA Center is developing a series of Design Resources summarizing knowledge from scientific research. One of the first sets of Design Resources is on the findings of this project. Although this is a voluntary effort, we expect that experience with the GUDC standards will identify best practice strategies for providing accessibility for the larger devices and individuals with more limited reaching and gripping abilities. Documenting these solutions will help to advance the field and build a base of support for improving mandatory standards. The first building designed with the new standards is under construction and we will be documenting and evaluating it over the next two years.

Through our dissemination efforts, knowledge about our work has been spreading around the world. The Province of Ontario (Canada) started an effort to revise its accessibility standards last year. The project team was contacted to provide input into the new standards. A presentation was made to the working committee developing policy recommendations. In the coming year, actual work on the standards will commence. We expect that the committee will utilize our findings to address the need for accessibility for larger devices. This standard will serve as a good model for drafting standards in the U.S. standards developers in Ireland are also working on improving their standards. They utilized our Design Resources and publications in their work and recently informed us that the new standards will incorporate larger turning areas that are based on our findings.

This year the Access Board issued an NPRM on changes to the ADA requirements for transit vehicles. We submitted comments on the proposed rules with documentation based on our research findings. We are currently conducting additional research and development activities through another grant in which we will initially be developing tools for the transportation industry that will include the accommodation models and digital models for design of new vehicles. The next step will be to develop a “standard of practice” for the industry in accommodating WhMD users that will include the use of these models as part of the design process. We hope to work with the American Public Transportation Association and/or SAE to develop those standards.