Anthropometry of Wheeled Mobility Project: Final Report

2.2.6 Door Use

Our study of door use had three main objectives all intended to provide groundwork for future studies aimed at design guidelines and standards that would make doors more accessible to WhMD users:

1. Identify door use tasks that present WhMD users with the most difficulty,

2. Evaluate how different aspects of door design effect door use difficulty, and

3. Identify which WhMD user groups experience the greatest difficulties with doors.

The door use tasks required the use of three different doors in the building housing the IDeA Center. Trials in both directions were performed (i.e. from push and pull sides) using a forward approach. Each door presented different types of challenges to WhMD users. The door characteristics are summarized in Table 2‒3.

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For each trial, use of the door was divided into six task components: Opening Maneuver, Operating Latch, Opening, Through Passage, Closing Maneuver and Closing (See Figure 2‒5). For each phase, the level of difficulty experienced during each task was assessed using a 4 point scale and definitions previously developed and tested by Danford and Steinfeld (1999):

1. Minimal effort: The task was performed successfully on the first attempt, without an expression of frustration, smoothly without interruption, and in no more time than it would take for a member of the general population.

2. Moderate effort: The task was performed successfully on the first attempt, with no more than a brief expression of frustration and infrequent pauses or slight difficulties that increase the task time slightly as compared to a member of the general population.

3. Maximal effort: The task was performed successfully after multiple attempts, often with some expression of frustration and frequent pauses or difficulties that dramatically increases task time as compared to a member of the general population.

4. Impossible: The task was not performed successfully or there was a refusal to complete the task.

5. Blocked View: The effort could not be assessed due to visual obstruction between observer and WhMD user (e.g., door in the way for closing maneuvers, the WhMD user’s body orientation with the observer prevents an assessment).

Figure 2‒5. Two examples showing physical requirements of door use for two of the doors used by WhMD users.