![]() ![]() When this system is installed the interior of the elevators would have the standard Open Door and Close Door buttons and the various emergency buttons, but would not have the familiar grid of buttons to press that we currently use to direct an elevator. The other is a kiosk-style touch-screen interface that could be placed elsewhere in the lobby, which could also call the elevator and would have additional functionality, such as a directory. One is a keypad-style interface that would be located on the wall near the elevator doors where the "up" and "down" buttons would traditionally be. Otis designed two new entry devices for passengers to use to call elevators. ![]() This article discusses the accessibility features of one destination-based elevator system and the process of collaboration between the manufacturer and AFB's consulting group to make the system accessible. In 2004, Otis asked AWS to evaluate the accessibility features of its new elevator control system and to provide recommendations for making this system more usable for people with disabilities. Elisha Graves Otis introduced the world's first safety elevator in Yonkers, New York, in 1853, permitting architects to design taller buildings that could reach beyond the limitations of stairways. Otis is the world's largest manufacturer of elevators, escalators, and moving walkways. To ensure the accessibility and usability of its destination-based elevator control system for passengers who have disabilities, the Otis Elevator Company engaged AccessWorld Solutions (AWS), the consulting division of the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB). A person must be able to choose his or her destination floor on the entry device independently, and all the output that directs passengers must be conveyed through both easy-to-understand speech and visual displays that are easily viewed by people with low vision. For these new systems to be usable by people who are blind or have low vision, both the input and the output portions of the interface must be accessible. The system then chooses the elevator car that will most efficiently take the passenger to his or her chosen floor, and the entry device directs the passenger to that particular car. With these new systems, instead of pressing an "up" or "down" button to call an elevator, a passenger enters his or her destination floor on an entry device in the hallway or elevator lobby. It describes the efforts of a producer of mainstream products to make those products more accessible and usable for people who are blind or visually impaired.Įlevator manufacturers have recently been developing new so-called "destination-based" control systems that are designed to expedite the way that elevators are dispatched in tall buildings with multiple elevator cars. The following article is not a product evaluation, but reports on a recent project focusing on the Otis Elevator Company's new destination-based elevator system. AccessWorld occasionally reports on the activities of AccessWorld Solutions, the consulting division of the American Foundation for the Blind, which works with corporations and governmental agencies to make their products and services accessible to people with vision loss.
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