An opinion piece by Bruce Bromley
We are now regularly seeing the installation of ‘Wave to Open’ and ‘Wave to Lock’ functions on automated doors, including entrance doors, specialised spaces, and doors to accessible toilets. I am seriously concerned about the use of such controls that seemed to appear around the time of COVID, with heightened awareness of the need for improved hygiene.
The irony is, this technology was installed so that people are not touching a button or pulling a handle. But in the course of using the facility, they are touching everything else in an accessible toilet (or door handles, kitchen appliances, and so on, in other spaces).
Traditional Push to Exit and Push To Enter door control panel
Wave to Exit and Wave to Enter door control panel
This type of door control, in my opinion, discriminates against a range of people, including those with vision impairment, people who have an intellectual disability, and those for whom English is not their first language; will they be able to comprehend what is required?
How do you explain what ‘wave’ means to a person with vision impairment? Is it a big wave, a little wave or a side-to-side wave? How would someone with vision impairment know where to wave, and for how long?
I was recently onsite at an education facility where they had installed multiple ‘wave’ functions on toilets and exit doors. All of them had issues with usability due to being activated by people walking past them. Even controls located within the accessible toilets near the toilet side grab rails had to have the sensitivity wound back, as people with disability, whilst transferring to and from the pan, were accidentally triggering them to open. Imagine the breach of privacy for the staff or students if the door opens whilst the user is partially naked within the facility!
My preference would be to see the return of the ‘mushroom’ buttons that can be felt by someone with vision impairment and, importantly, needs to be pushed.
Is A Performance Solution Required?
‘AS 1428.1:2009 Design for Access and Mobility. Part 1: General requirements for access—New building work‘ clause 13.5.4 states:
13.5.4 Power-operated door controls
Push-button controls shall have a minimum dimension of 25 mm diameter and be proud of the surface and shall activate the door before the button becomes level with the surrounding surface.
As the ‘Wave to’ buttons do not meet this prescriptive requirement, a performance solution needs to be prepared to demonstrate compliance with the performance requirements. However, a performance solution must demonstrate that it is equal to or better than the minimum deemed-to-satisfy requirements, which, in this case, they do not. They make accessibility worse for people with vision impairment.
We need to revisit push buttons, and stop trying to solve a problem that does not exist, as it creates more barriers for people with disability.