Assignment 1 · Accessibility Issue Recognition
2. Digital scenario
The shared dumpster at my apartment building, a 1962 walk-up in central Austin. I measured it against the 2010 ADA Standards.
None of this looks like a problem when you walk past it. That's why I went back and measured it.
The dumpster and it's surrounding
The Task
Taking out the trash
1
2
3
4
5
6
I didn't think about any of it at the time. None of these steps announces itself as a design problem. I only noticed them after going back with a measure app.
The same task from a seated position
What if a resident who uses a manual wheelchair makes the same trip? Four things get in the way.
Condition 1/4
The cross slope
1:48, or 1.2 degrees
6 to 7 degrees
ADA 403.3, 405.2, 405.7–405.9
Condition 2/4
Holding position
Scale section. The chair is drawn with its footplate against the container.
There's no rail, kerb or level landing next to the container. Anyone who needs a stable base to lift from runs into the same thing, including walker users.
30 by 48 in of level floor
Nowhere level to stop
ADA 305.3, 305.2
Condition 3/4
Opening the lid
So one hand holds the lid while the other lifts the bag.
One hand, 5 lbf maximum
Will not stay open
ADA 309.4
Measured to the front lip with the iPhone Measure app.
Condition 4/4
Reaching over the lip
Lowering the lip wouldn't fix this on its own, because the depth is the part no reach range covers.
Reach: 48 in high
47 in lip, 54 in deep
ADA 308.2, 308.3
Where the reach arc crosses lip height
The Problem
Analyzed and Visualized
Click through the sections, Built from the measurements above. Drag to orbit, flatten the pad to see how much of the problem is the paving on its own, and switch the camera to seated eye height.
No single condition is the whole problem.
Each one blocks a different group, and they stack. Fixing one of them wouldn't make the task possible, which is why a single improvement often doesn't feel like progress to the people affected.
The building predates the rules
In 1962 The building goes up. No law at the time asks whether a wheelchair user can reach the dumpster. In 1990 The ADA gets passed, but it doesn't apply retroactively to existing private housing. In March 1991, Fair Housing Act design requirements take effect, for multifamily housing first occupied after this date. This building predates that by 29 years.
What a tenant can do
The Fair Housing Act lets a disabled tenant modify common areas, and that right has no build-date cutoff. But the modification is generally at the tenant's own expense. So the person who can't use the dumpster is the one who'd pay to make it usable.
User types
Who else this affects
1
All four conditions block a wheelchair user, and three of them block someone using a walker or cane. Mobility is the largest disability category in the CDC data.
2
If you can't take out your own trash, you need someone else for a weekly task inside your own home. That dependence is the real cost.
3
Because the lid won't stay open, the bag goes in one-handed at full extension. Grip strength, reach and shoulder problems all show up here.
4
A 47 inch lip is also hard for shorter residents, for kids, for anyone with a shoulder injury, and for anyone carrying something in both arms.
Stakeholders
What can be done
Property management controls the first column on its own. The second is split between the property and the waste hauler. Only the third needs a contractor, and it realistically only happens when someone's already paying to repave.
Immediate
Costs nothing
Move the container onto the flattest available paving
In a few weeks
Low capital
Swap to a lower, side-hinged or roll-top container
Put a level pad/base
Restripe so the approach is a route, not a bay
Long term
High capital
Build an enclosure with a level base
Put door collection into the accommodation policy
Trash can on each floor