Persone sorde e ascensori: una discussione sull’accessibilità e la sicurezza = Deaf People Using Elevators: a Discussion about Accessibility and Safety

The elevator represents a special part of the building: it is an XXS space, but also a system, a means of transportation, a machinery, a load bearing structure, and, with no doubts, the best device capable of overcoming architectural barriers. The accessibility and safety requirements of elevators have improved over the time as a result of the standards evolution, nevertheless elevators are still inaccessible and unsafe for some categories of users with disabilities. Among them, deaf people are disadvantaged because, in case of a mechanical issue or an entrapment, they can not communicate through the emergency call system (as per EN 81-28 compliance) which is based on verbal communication by voice. The paper presents the initial results of an in progress-research aimed at identifying preferable and safe solutions of elevator use for deaf people. First, the analysis of accessibility requirements and performance of elevators is achieved through the comparison of international standards. Then, the outcomes of a statistical study on the preferences and problems in the use of the elevator by deaf people are presented. The last, and still on-going, research phase is an experiment which consists in testing elevators with altered and/or facilitated control systems by deaf people in order to identify preferable and safe technical solutions.