Barriers to Accessibility for Skiing

Abstract

Across Canada, ski areas do not consistently or thoroughly recognize the experiences of persons with disabilities. Consequently, barriers to accessibility exist and impede inclusion for skiing. Five types of barriers to accessibility are experienced for skiing: architectural and physical, attitudinal, organizational and systemic, informational and communicational, and technological barriers. This thesis explores how design research can be used to identify and address barriers to accessibility for skiing. Three research phases are conducted: discovery, definition, and design. Phase 1 consists of a preliminary field study to discover issues within the experience of adaptive skiing and to inform the thesis direction: barriers to accessibility for skiing. Phase 2 employs a questionnaire to further define the barriers to accessibility that are encountered when skiing. Phase 3 uses directed storytelling as a participatory design approach to seek solutions for addressing the barriers. The outcome is the emergence of design recommendations and practical approaches that may improve accessibility and inclusivity for skiing. The findings highlight limited provision of accessibility information on behalf of ski areas, which is an informational and communicational barrier to skiing. As a novel method for improving information provision, the concept of an interactive accessibility map is introduced. This thesis aims to bring awareness to and encourage ski areas to eliminate and prevent barriers to accessibility for skiing.