Barrier-Free Spaces 3: Airports

The use of public spaces and opportunities offered by the state and traveling are fundamental rights for all people. However, people with physical disabilities encounter difficulties in making use of these rights due to a lack of appropriate accessibilities in different areas. For example, today entering many public spaces with a wheelchair and the comfortably using sidewalks for people with physical disabilities remains a problems. Even though recent actions continued in this regard, more efforts to create totally suitable public spaces for physical barriers are necessary. In this context, we will try to present some important needs for having disabled-friendly airports.   

Which makes an airport disabled-friendly?

To help passengers with different disabilities airport facilities can be listed as follows:

1. Transportation to reach airport should be designed according to different disabilities. For example, an opportunity of using wheelchair taxis or wheelchair appropriated buses will give convenience for transportation to the airport.

2. Specially trained staff and improved signage in airports and planes will be helpful for comfortable traveling. 

3. Satisfying advanced navigating for disabled passengers will ease to overcome possible problems. 

4. Appropriate physical conditions like oversized revolving doors, easy accessibility for check-in and information counters, eye-level information screens will be helpful for disabled people.

5. Suitable schemes that for people with hidden disabilities to introduce to staff will give ease and safe transportation. For example, people with hidden disabilities can use the special badge on their clothes.

6. The airport can have and enable to use of self-driving wheelchairs for easy transportation. 

7. Satisfying sign language boards at airports and keeping a special booklet with sign language will be useful for people with visual impairments to travel safely. Moreover, the airport should provide assisting people or service animals for people with visual impairments during all journeys. Using appropriate tactile ground surface indicators in the airport will be helpful for these people. 

8. Also, the usage of special onboard devices for communication with cabin personals will help people with hearing impairments. 

See you in the next article.