A Look at Accessibility Through the Eyes of Persons with Disabilities: A Mixed Methods Study

Research Objectives: To obtain a greater understanding of the first-person experiences shared by persons with disabilities across domains. Identify gaps in accessibility across domains. To explore any relationship between accessibility and social isolation.

Design: Mixed Methods Study via a semi-structured survey with open-ended questions. The survey was developed during September through December 2023 and open for responses from February to March 2024.

Setting: A sample of convenience with snowball sampling from Chicagoland physical therapy clinics.

Participants: A total of 15 respondents completed the survey.

Interventions: There were no direct interventions provided to subjects in this study

Main Outcome Measures: there were not any direct functional outcome measures used in this study.

Results: The age range of respondents was 21 to 75 years of age with 6 females and 9 males. Fifty-four percent of respondents had paraplegia, with 30 percent having hemiparesis and self-described mobility difficulties. Sixty-eight percent of respondents had 3 or more years of experience with disability. Forty- two percent of respondents were unemployed, with 35 percent citing at least part-time employment. Over 50% of respondents cited only fair knowledge of the ADA, with an additional 16% describing only poor or no knowledge of the ADA. Persons with disabilities overwhelmingly stated that the general public had poor or no awareness of the ADA, with 58% stating that healthcare providers only had a fair knowledge of the ADA, and 67% of policymakers having poor knowledge of the ADA. Open-ended questions regarding experiences elicited themes of lack of respect from the general public regarding the needs of a person with a disability, physical barriers in public domains as well as employment offices were lack of proper seating, accessible doors, full accessibility to community areas, and accessible restrooms. Experiences of inadequate administrative understanding of persons with disability's concerns were reported. Experiences in healthcare settings led to concerns for proper care by providers due to a lack of appropriate treatment table heights, inability to aid with basic transfers, and inaccessible doorways, ramps, and hallways.

Conclusions: Lack of understanding regarding accessibility is attributed to multiple domains. Reports of lived experiences indicated that over half of respondents did not have a positive experience with accessibility that was notable and worth sharing. Persons with a disability would benefit from an initiative to provide healthcare providers with increased training regarding the basic needs and expectations of a person living with a disability, as well as knowledge of the ADA requirements.

Author(s) Disclosures: The authors do not have any conflicts.