Recent research has paid more and more attention towards the intersection of accessibility, technology and environmental justice, which indicates a growing recognition of the challenges people with mobility disabilities (PMD) face in accessing natural environments. The topic becomes even more important with the wide-spread acknowledgement of the positive effects of physical activity in natural environments (PANE) on mental and physical health for everyone. However, PMD are often excluded from PANE due to a lack of accessibility measures. Factors influencing access to nature are not just established at the interplay of impairment and the physical environment but are often social and policy related and manifested in intra- and interpersonal aspects. Derakhshan et al 2024(1) categorized the resulting barriers into different levels based on a social ecological model to be able to effectively address them. In reference to this categorization, we augment this analysis with a technological perspective allowing us to better understand the potential to address accessibility factors at the different levels of interaction. We analyze each technology in terms of its potential to facilitate access, the possible risks involved and its overall availability. All of this is compared to human assistance and its socializing factor. Our aim is to present a catalogue of different options of assistive technologies addressing a wide range of interaction challenges for PMDs in nature. Our analysis functions both as a design guide for technical interventions as well as for interested PMDs to choose the desired assistance to engage in PANE.
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Project title:
Zugang mit Interaktiven Technologien Erfahren: 101117519 (European Commission)
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Research Areas:
Visual Computing and Human-Centered Technology: 100%