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Abstract |
It is well recognized that access to green and blue spaces have physical, social, psychological and health benefits for people with and without disabilities (Gascon et al., 2017; Labbé et al., 2019; Markevych et al., 2017; Merrick et al., 2020; Rugel et al., 2019, Zhang et al, 2019.). However, many people with disabilities are still excluded from these spaces because of accessibility issues (Burns et al., 2009). The federal government has determined that accessibility for people with disabilities in Canadas world-renowned national parks should be addressed (Marcastel, 2019). Historically, standards have focused on promoting access for people with physical disabilities; however, existing accessibility standards are relatively dated and have had less emphasis on people who experience cognitive or sensory challenges (i.e., visual or auditory) (Parks Canada, 1994). For example, wayfinding is emerging as a critical topic for different disabilities to identify accessible routes for planning purposes and enable real-time navigation. Moreover, environmental features intended for one group (e.g., tactile sidewalk sections for people with vision problems) may make it challenging for people from another group (e.g., those who use mobility devices like wheelchairs) (Ormerod et al., 2015). It is thus important to avoid developing standards in a siloed manner (i.e., with only one disability group in mind). This scoping review is part of the project Providing Accessible ReCreation Outdoors: User-driven Research on Standards (PARCOURS) which overarching goal is to improve the Canadian accessibility standards for national parks funded by the Canadian Accessibility Standards Development Organization. The first phase of this project was to conduct a scoping review to compare and contrast existing international and national standards and novel research evidence to inform the development of revised standards. The question guiding the search for relevant studies was “What are the current accessibility standards in terms of outdoor spaces, including parks to allow people with disabilities to enjoy the natural environments in their community?” |
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