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Accessibility: Checklists - A comprehensive list of questions, relating to site and/or building access.
Accessibility: Standards - Accessibility standards and regulations which are mandatory for new construction.
Accessible: Accommodation - Residential settings which are accessible to persons with various disabilities.
Accessible: Sites / Routes - Paths, walkways and pedestrian routes that are accessible to persons with disabilities.
Accessible: Transportation - Public transportation settings and vehicles that are accessible to persons with disabilities.
Acoustics - The scientific study of sound; the total effect of sound, especially as produced in an enclosed space.
Accommodation - (As determined in Human Rights Legislation) Means an obligation to reasonably accommodate persons with certain needs or requirements, as an individual or in a group, by making changes to the physical setting, task, related equipment, systems or related policies and procedures.Adaptation - Refers to the inherent ability of certain building spaces or elements (such as kitchens, counters, sinks or grab bars), to be modified to accommodate both disabled and non-disabled users.
Adaptive Devices - Devices that enable a person to accomplish tasks, or a level of effort, which they might otherwise be unable to accomplish.
Aisles - Passageways between rows of seats, cubicles, furniture or equipment.
Alarm Systems - Building systems that alert the occupants to specific hazards, such as fire or other emergency.
Allergy - Hypersensitive or pathological reaction to certain environmental factors or substances, such as pollen, foods, dust, or chemicals, in amounts that do not affect most people.
Alzheimer’s Disease - A neurological and irreversible brain disorder, which gradually affects a person’s ability to remember or reason.
Ambulatory Impairment - A disability that limits the capability of a person to walk independently, without mobility aids.
Amenities - Anything that increases physical or mental comfort in the built environment, e.g.: washrooms, resting areas, food services, etc.
Amenity Strip - A section of a path or sidewalk that is set aside for street furniture, such as benches, hydro poles, vending machines and post boxes.
Amnesia - Partial or total loss of memory, resulting from shock, psychological disturbance, brain injury, or illness.
Animal Assistants - Animals that are trained to assist persons with disabilities.
Anxiety - A state of uneasiness and distress; apprehension or worry about certain events, situations or activities.
Assistive Devices – See ‘adaptive devices’
Assistive Technologies - Any technology that will assist a person to perform certain activities more easily or comfortably, e.g.: enhanced hearing devices, walkers, etc.
Asthma - A chronic respiratory disease, often arising from allergies, and accompanied by laboured breathing, chest constriction, and coughing.
Attention Deficit Disorder - A disability that limits a person’s ability to comprehend, or pay attention to, certain instructions, or to respond in an appropriate, socially acceptable manner.
Attitudinal Barriers - Refers to those barriers which occur between persons, and/or organizations, as a result of acculturation, education, bias, public opinion etc., which inhibit communication, access, liaison and assistance to others, individually or as identified groups in society.
Autism - Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first 3 years of life as the result of a neurological disorder which affects brain functions. Children and adults with autism may have difficulty with verbal and non-verbal communication, social interaction, leisure or play activities.
Automatic Door Opener - A device that reduces the pressure required to open a door.
Barrier - Refers to anything that restrains or obstructs - a limit or boundary, an obstruction or hindrance.
Behavioural Disorder - A disability that affects a person’s ability to maintain normal social behaviour.
Bevelled Threshold - A sloped device at floor level that allows a person to move safely over a modest floor level change, e.g.: at a doorway.
Blindness - Persons with less than average vision (but may be able to perceive light and certain colours).
- Total impairment, but may be assisted by a seeing eye dog, or cane to achieve mobility;
- Partial impairment, some loss of vision, e.g.: colour blindness, reduction in the visual field, which may be moderated by the use of aids;
- Temporary impairment: Short term loss of vision due to an accident or illness, may be remedied in some cases by rest or surgical intervention, e.g.: cataract removal.
Braille - A system of writing and printing for the blind, in which varied arrangements of raised dots represent numbers and letters.
Brain Damage - A permanent disability that affects part or most of the brain, and may result in confusion, memory loss, or a limited ability to recognize or reason.
Building Code - The legislative framework for the design and construction of buildings.
Building Controls - The mechanisms (including switches, computers, thermostats), which regulate building systems such as heating, lighting, ventilation and fire safety.
Building Safety - The inherent ability of a building to resist fire or building collapse.
Building Standards - Typical standards for construction of buildings or building elements.
Call Buttons / Bells - A bell or buzzer situated at an entrance or other key location, which allows visitors, or others, to summon assistance when required.
Canes & Crutches - Devices used as walking aids, utilized by persons with certain ambulatory problems.
Clear Space - Refers to vacant, usable space sufficient to allow persons with various disabilities and mobility aids, to access amenities, washrooms, etc.
Cognitive Impairment - Failure of the mental process to acquire, retain, or utilize knowledge or information appropriately.
Colour Blindness - Principally, the inability to distinguish red and green, but may include other colours.
Communication Devices & Systems - Devices that enable or enhance the ability of persons (with certain disabilities) to receive or transmit information, usually electronically.
Compliance - In building terms, or human rights terms: the act of complying with the prevailing regulations or standards.
Co-ordination Impaired - Refers to those persons who have difficulty in coordinating the execution of any activity, as a result of cerebral palsy or other neuro-muscular disorder. It can also include persons who, because of drugs or alcohol or fatigue, find it difficult to co-ordinate certain physical functions.
Curb Cuts - Refers to a short ramp that cuts through a curb to connect two adjacent horizontal levels, e.g.: sidewalk and road surface.
Curb Ramps – see ‘curb cuts’
Deaf-Blind - Persons who are neither able to see or hear at average functioning levels.
Deafness - Total impairment even with a hearing aid may require other support, e.g.: (lip-reading, sign language, visual ear);
– Partial impairment with aid (hearing aid);
– Partial impairment without aid (age related);
– Temporary impairment (through disease, accident etc.)
Decals - Brightly coloured markings used to identify uninterrupted glazing.
Dependent Care - Persons who because of disability, frailty or illness, are dependent on care-givers in formal or informal settings.
Depression - In low spirits; dejected, or clinically depressed, requiring medical intervention or counseling.
Development Impairment - A person who because of mental or physical impairment has reduced intellectual competence, or ability to accomplish certain tasks at a certain age, usually as a result of a functional loss. The functional loss may occur as a result of an accident, birth defect, trauma, disease, or as part of the aging process, and may be permanent.
Disability - Refers to the lack of ability, competence, strength, or power deriving from a physical or mental incapacity. (May be influenced by medication, treatment, use of prosthesis, training etc.). Refers to “any person unable to ensure by himself or herself, wholly or partly, the necessities of normal individual and/or social life, as a result of a deficiency, either congenital or not, in his physical or mental capabilities”. (United Nations Definition of Disability).
Discrimination - To act or make decisions on the basis of prejudice, usually applied to people who, because of age, gender, colour, culture or disability, do not satisfy the prevailing norms in a given situation.
Disfigurement - The condition of being disfigured; deformed, flawed.
Diversity - Usually pertaining to the range of persons in Canada, of diverse culture, ethnicity or ability.
Doorjamb - The vertical component of a door frame.
Dyslexia - A disability or impairment limiting a persons ability to read, or write at an average speed or skill level.
Egress - Refers usually to the exit routes taken through and out of a facility to reach a point of safety.
Elderly Persons - Generally pertaining to persons in later life, who are perceived as aged or in the aging process and therefore may be at a disadvantage in terms of health, physical or mental ability.
Epilepsy - A nervous disorder characterized by recurring attacks of motor, sensory, or psychological malfunction; may include loss of consciousness and convulsions. (Epileptic seizures may occur as a result of rapid visual signals and various lighting sources.)
Equivalent Convenience - A concept in the Building Code that identifies those amenities (e.g.: washrooms), that must be located at comparable distances for both able bodied and disabled persons.
Ergonomics - Study of the human body’s ability to carry out work or other tasks, e.g.: strength, endurance, and dexterity.
Fire Safety - The ability of a building or site to resist or control the onset and spread of fire.
Functional Disability - An inability to perform an activity or function by reason of a disability or limitation.
Glazed Screens - Refers to uninterrupted glass panels and doors.
Grade Level - Facilities or floor areas level with the surrounding ground level.
Guardrails - Protective rails around balconies, terraces or platforms, to reduce accidental falls.
Handicap - Any encumbrance or disability that affects effort; any disadvantage that makes achievement more difficult. A handicap is usually relative to a situation or environment. It may be the result of a specific disability, requiring more effort by the individual or supportive solutions, to allow the individual to perform at maximum competence, without disadvantage, also: Refers to “the disadvantage that is consequent upon the impairments and disability. It represents the social and environmental consequences to the individual stemming from the presence of impairments and disabilities.” (World Health Organization).
Harassment - Implies systematic persecution of certain persons by way of annoyances, threats, or demands.
Hard of Hearing - Persons who have difficulty hearing a full range of sound.
Hardware - Metal locks, handles, or hinges on doors and windows. Also includes faucets, taps on sinks etc.
Hazardous Areas - Those areas of a building or site that may pose a risk to pedestrians or workers in a particular setting.
Hazards - Means any obstruction potentially detrimental to safe passage or use by pedestrians, particularly persons with disabilities, (may include driveways, guywires, fire hydrants, glass walls, glass doors, landscaping, and projections into travelled spaces, or unprotected mechanical equipment).
Headroom - The amount of vertical clear space required for average and tall persons to move safely through an exterior or interior environment.
Hearing Impairment - See ‘Deafness’
Hearing Enhancements - Technical devices designed to increase the volume or quality of sound perceptible to persons with hearing loss.
Hyper Sensitivity - A disability resulting from a sensitivity to certain chemicals, gases, or materials in the environment, affecting respiration, skin, etc.
Hypertension - Abnormally high arterial blood pressure.
Icons - Unique symbols used in company with, or in lieu of, text, to convey essential visual information. May also be used to identify companies, etc., on an international basis.
Information - Consists of any visual, audio or tactile means of communication. In its visual form it includes signage, screens, posters, sign language, lip-reading and written material; in its audio form, personal dialogues, computer dialogues, speaker systems, earphones and radio transmitters; and in its tactile form, surface finishes, shape relief maps, Braille and different materials, and colour coding and textures.
Information Systems - Comprehensive methods of relaying information, such as signage, computers, audio-visual materials, in buildings or through various media.
Intellectual Impairment - Difficulty receiving, translating, and acting on information.
International Symbol of Accessibility - The recognized symbol indicating wheelchair accessibility.
Learning Disability - A deficit in information processing in certain persons, and may include persons with normal or above normal intelligence, or in conjunction with other handicapping conditions such as the aging process, slow learning ability or mental retardation.
Lighting Levels - The levels of measurable light in a site or building, which permit, or limit, operation and/or performance.
Limitations - Relating to those limitations experienced by persons with disabilities, which may be physical, mental, (may not be responsive to treatment or modification, which may preclude adaptation to the existing social, physical and psychological environment).
Little People - Persons who because of their small size, may be at a disadvantage in a physical setting designed for average adults
Low Vision - Limited field of vision, or clarity, etc.
Manual Impairment - A partial manual impairment may include impairment in one or both hands to a certain degree, or total disability of one hand. It may refer to the lack of a replacement of a missing hand or arm with a mechanical device. There is usually some remaining manual ability or dexterity in a partial manual impairment.
– A total manual impairment generally means that the person has no use of his hands or arms. Therefore, he has limited ability to perform in most aspects of the built environment. It may be the result of trauma, arthritis, rheumatism, amputation, or the lack of artificial device to offset the physical loss.
Mental Disability / Impairment - Refers to impaired intellectual capacity, as a result of congenital or accidental brain injury, disease or aging. The level of mental impairment may vary but usually is characterized by such deficiencies as impaired learning ability, social and vocational inadequacy, and inability to react to common dangers.
Mental Retardation - “Refers to significantly sub-average general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior” and “appearing in the developmental period” (American Association on Mental Deficiency).
Mobility Devices - A device that can be used to assist a person with a disability to move from place to place e.g.: a cane, walker, scooter or wheelchair.
Mobility Impairment - Persons who, because of a disability, cannot move easily and autonomously through a building or site, and may require a wheelchair or other mobility aid. The disability may range in severity from:
– partial or extensive paralysis or limb attrition;
– amputations, uncompensated by artificial limbs or affecting ambulation;
– those who have difficulty in walking, with mechanical aids such as canes, crutches, walkers, braces;
– artificial limbs or special shoes;
– those with insufficient muscular strength as a result of illness or a congenital defect.
Noise Levels - Relates to the level of noise experienced in certain environments.
Obstacles - Those objects or hazards in the environment that limit a person’s ability to participate or move through the environment autonomously or safely.
Older Persons - See ‘Elderly Persons’.
Olfactory Impairment - An inability to smell, which may also affect taste.
Paralysis - Loss or impairment of the ability to move or have sensation in a bodily part as a result of injury to, or disease of, its nerve supply.
Partial Hearing - See ‘Deafness’.
Partial Vision - See ‘Blindness’.
Path of Travel - Refers to an acceptable route, as direct as site conditions allow, taken by people to get from one place to another, on sites or in buildings, including both horizontal and vertical routes. In Building Code terms, relates to a designated route in a building, usually a safe route to an exit.
Pedestrian Access - Those formal and informal pedestrian routes through a building or site, that allow access to, or exit from, that setting.
Persons with Disabilities - See ‘Disability’.
Physical Disability - See ‘Disability’
Pictograms - Any universally acceptable pictorial symbol or icon that represents or replaces words, or conveys ideas, regardless of language or culture.
Policy - Any plan or course of action adopted by a government, political party, business organization, etc., designed to influence and determine decisions, actions, and other matters.
Printed Material - Any item providing information or instruction in text, on paper, card, or other acceptable surface or format.
Ramps - A regulated sloping surface, externally or within a building, to ensure a safe, useable transition between two different levels.
Ramp: Edges - The boundary edges at the side of a ramp, which may be level, against a wall, or include and upstanding curb.
Ramp: Slope - The angle or pitch of the slope in ratio to its length.
Ramp: Surface - The finished walking surface of the ramp.
Reasonable Accommodation - The adaptation of the service, facility, accommodation or program, to enable the participation of a person, who has the capacity and ability to do so, (it may take the form of physical alterations; reduction of hazards; use of protective devices; provision of technical aids or apparatus; relocation or adaptation of programs), to ensure safe participation, access and egress.
Respiratory Disorder - A disability arising from a permanent or temporary limitation in a person’s ability to breathe at an effective level for normal functioning.
Sensory Impairment - See ‘Blindness’, ‘Hearing Impairment’, ‘Speech Impairment’, ‘Olfactory Impairment’.
Signage - Verbal, symbolic, and pictorial information, to assist in way-finding, or providing instructional or safety information.
Situationally Impaired - Refers to those persons who because of specific circumstances at any given time, are unable to perform certain activities, (this might include persons whose size or weight differs from the average population, persons whose language, culture, or social skills are inappropriate to the situation, or persons who are constrained by extraneous burdens or any unique condition at a particular time or location).
Special Vehicles - Vehicles used by, or for the purpose of conveying persons with disabilities.
Speech Impairment - Total impairment with aid; (Larynx-phone, sign language, tele-printer);
– Partial impairment without aid (stammer, stutter, tongue-tied, hair-lip, cerebral palsy, spastic);
– Temporary impairment (through disease, accident, foreign language etc.)
Support Services - Those services available to an individual or a group of persons requiring individual care or assistance, in a particular setting.
T.T.Y. (Teletypewriter) - A telecommunication device, which allows persons without speech or hearing to communicate using a telephone with visual/digital readout.
Temporary Disabilities - Those disabilities of a temporary nature, usually arising from minor trauma, accident or illness.
Vehicular Access - A route primarily intended for vehicular traffic, such as a street, driveway, or parking lot.
Ventilate/Ventilation - The admission, circulation and treatment of fresh air in a building, plus the cleaning and recycling, or extraction, of stale or contaminated air.
Vestibule - A small entrance hall or antechamber between two doors of a house or building; a lobby.
Visual Disability - See ‘ Blindness’.
Visual Impairment - Anything that impairs the ability to see visual signals or information.
Walking Aids - A device used by a person who has difficulty walking (e.g.: a cane, crutch, walker, or brace).
Walkers - A four-legged stand that provides standing or ambulation support for the user and can be moved by lifting or wheeling on casters.
Walking Impairment - See ‘Mobility Impairment’.
Washroom Accessories - Those amenities such as hand dryers, soap and paper dispensers, typically found in a public washroom.
Water Closets - A room or booth containing a toilet.