Accessible Exterior Surfaces Technical Article

COMPARISON OF FINDINGS WITH OTHER PUBLISHED RESEARCH

What would happen with other disability groups? Overall, our results are very similar to the published literature for similar populations. Therefore, we would hypothesize that our results would also be similar if we had tested other disability populations or older adults. The published literature for children indicates that their energy consumption levels are considerably higher than for adults with similar disabilities. In general, children have higher levels of energy expenditure because they are less “practiced” and therefore less efficient in their movement. However, generally children can also tolerate higher levels of energy expenditure, and therefore higher levels of energy consumption do not necessarily relate to a lack of accessibility. (See the Technical Report for detailed comparisons and complete references).

What proportion of the population could negotiate these surfaces? Energy consumption, level of difficulty rating and rating of perceived exertion were evaluated to determine the proportion of our subjects who considered each surface to be “accessible.” An “accessible” surface was one that required less than 0.20 mlO2/kg/m energy consumption, a level of difficulty rating less than 6 (“difficult”), or a rating of perceived exertion less than 13 (“somewhat hard”). Over 90% of our subjects found the objectively firm and stable surfaces to be “accessible,” while over 80% of the subjects considered the packed dirt surface “accessible.” In comparison, less than 70% of the subjects considered the wood products or sand surfaces to be accessible. Further, the percentage of subjects who considered sand to be accessible is probably artificially high because many subjects, particularly those using wheelchairs, refused or were unable to complete the sand test. If we assume that other disability groups would have similar results (as indicated above), we can hypothesize that in general, at least 80% of the population would consider the surfaces that meet the proposed criteria for “firm and stable” to be accessible.