Hello, I just had an accessibility question for the wheelchair using folks. Is going on well maintained grass fine? Or is it a bit problematic?
Used to be a nurse’s assistant.
It very much depends on the chair. The typical push chair, like hospitals have available is a hell no.
Manual chairs that you’ll typically see owned by individuals, can do okay in a well maintained grass area. But the front wheels are prone to digging in, and it is harder to roll when you’re in the chair than something like brick or concrete, obviously. It’s on par with gravel, but they’re difficult in different ways.
Power chairs, the difficulty matters less, but you’re dealing with extra weight, so that brings worse issues with sinking in if the soil is loose or over wet.
Level surfaces are always better than uneven surfaces, obviously, and soil is going to become uneven over time if there’s regular traffic over it. So, if you’re providing an accessible route into a business, you’d want something more durable. If it’s a private residence and you’re setting up for visitors, it would do fine overall, but expect bigger maintenance costs and effort if they’re frequent visitors.
If the chair is for someone living there, grass and soil would be at the bottom of the list, with only bare soil being worse imo. You’ll chew up the grass and have ruts inside of a few months at best, if the person is out frequently.
My pick for an access route is obviously something like concrete or asphalt, with a well laid stone path being a good choice. Reason being, you want as even a surface as possible for regular use. I’ve seen good paths done with pavers, bricks, natural stone, etc. The only real issue is that long term use is going to be dependent on what’s under the stone. If it’s well packed, and done right, you’ll get decades of great evenness for sure. But if the job is half-assed, the pavers can shift and become uneven in a few years time.
The quick and dirty option is gravel laid down thin, then refreshing as needed. You get a thick layer of gravel, like for a driveway, wheelchairs suck to use. But just enough to lay on top of soil and reduce and sinking and rutting, while improving traction, you can get a fairly stable surface. But, you’ll have to maintain it way more often. Any time it rains, it’s going to soften the soil, and the next few uses shift it, possibly creating ruts. So, expect that and keep some gravel on hand, and invest in a tamper.
But, all of that still depends on the chair and the driver of the chair.
I really appreciate the thought you put into your response, thank you! The use case isn’t anything too long term, but for an educational AR app with location dependant stuff, so people will only be able to see stuff from different locations. One of the locations will be a tree (relevant to the narrative of the app) that’s placed on a lawn. There is a paved area very close to the tree, though, so I think we’ll make all of the content accessible from the paved area just to make sure everyone is able to view it.
Thanks for trying to make sure your people with wheelchairs aren’t excluded. It’s so nice to see people considering this at all. It’s sadly rare.
Fantastic answer.
Not a wc user, but I work with people who are. Short distance on very smooth level grass (think putting green) would probably be ok if it’s dry. The front wheels are small and easily get stuck. Think about how hard it would be to push a shopping cart.
Thanks for the info, I think we’ll try to avoid the grass.
If by “well maintained grass” you’re talking about a flat, maintained sports field or something of the sort, likely yes. If you mean grass that’s been cut but the ground is otherwise natural with bumps and holes, then you’ll probably have problems.
It does depend on the chair, but most are not built for off-roading. Also will depend on if you’re the pusher or if you’re talking about propelling yourself (as the wheelchair occupant).
Thanks for the info, that’s helpful!
I’m not, but I have family who are. Wheelchair on grass is hard going, even if it’s very flat and well maintained. I wouldn’t want to do it except over very short distances. If you have to, turn the wheelchair user around and go backwards, but I always feel that is even more embarrassing for them.
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