Free-Will vs Free-Wheel: Understanding Community Accessibility Requirements of Wheelchair Users through Interviews, Participatory Action, and Modeling

Community participation is an important aspect of an individuals physical and mental well-being. This participation is often limited for persons with disabilities, especially those with ambulatory impairments due to the inability to optimally navigate the community. Accessibility is a multi-faceted problem and varies from person to person. Moreover, it depends on various personal and environmental factors. Despite significant research conducted to understand challenges faced by wheelchair users, developing an accessibility model for wheelchair users by identifying various characteristic features has not been thoroughly studied. In this research, we propose a three-dimensional model of accessibility and validate it through in-depth qualitative analysis involving semi-structured interviews and participatory action research. The outcomes of our studies validated many of our hypotheses about community access for wheelchair users and identified a need for more accessible path planning tools and resources. Overall, this research strengthened our three-dimensional User-Wheelchair-Environment model of accessibility.