Sharing the experience of mobility-disabled consumers - Building understanding through the use of ethnographic research methods

The ten-year anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) stimu lated discussions regarding its effectiveness in bringing full-market acces s to persons with disabilities. The picture is mixed, revealing that the AD A's architectural mandates do not fully address the physical and emotional needs of disabled consumers. In the present article, the author develops a framework representing how mobility-disabled consumers experience and manag e their behaviors in the retail environment. That framework is used to iden tify whether store designs can "disable" persons with mobility impairments by implementing architectural choices that assume able-bodied customers. In addition, aspects of the disabled person's experiences in negotiating a co nsumer identity in retail environments is examined. One study examines obse rvations made while simulating a disability. A second study considers obser vations made while partnered with a disabled person. The findings generate insights into the psychological and interpersonal barriers that the ADA doe s not address under a strictly architectural approach.