Courses
Access for Everyone: Physical Accessibility

Access for Everyone: Physical Accessibility

In this course you'll learn the ins and outs of Physical Accessibility. We'll explore what it means to make your business physically accessible, and give you practical steps you can follow to get started.

By Angela Fowler In Entrepreneurship and Business · Health and Fitness · Professional Studies

Last updated Mar 14, 2025
English
General Audiences - suitable for all ages

What you'll learn

ramp leading to front door

Getting In and Getting it Done

Check out these statistics:

39 million Americans have a motor disability of some kind.
About 40% of Americans 65 and older have some difficulty standing, walking, or climbing stairs, and if American seniors were a country they’d be the third largest economy in the world according to the AARP.
95% of adults say they have felt severely overstimulated by loud sounds, bright lights, or strong smells at some point in their lives.
About 30 million Americans have food allergies which cause them to completely avoid certain foods.
Every year, 5 percent of Americans experience a non-work related disability that lasts 6 months or less.

So doesn't it make sense to make the physical world more accessible for everyone?

In this course you will:

Learn some specific ADA requirements.
Learn actionable steps for making buildings more accessible.
Learn how to help your customers find their way independently.
Learn tips for making every-day objects easier to use.
Learn the environmental factors that are driving your customers away and what you can do about it.
Learn to serve food that everyone can identify and enjoy.
Learn the dangerous consequences of food allergies and how to keep your customers safe.

Content

In this section we'll define Physical Accessibility, and introduce topics that we'll cover in-depth later in the course.

In this section we'll start to explore what it means to interact with a physically accessible world.

In this section, we'll discuss navigating the physical world, and the role of physical accessibility in that process.

In this section we'll go over the physical accessibility (or lack thereof) of everyday objects, and what you can do to improve the accessibility of the physical spaces you manage.