Design guidelines for barrier-free restaurants

【Definition of barrier-free restaurant】

On weekdays, eating and drinking in restaurants and gathering with friends are the most common social activities for urbanites. However, the disabled are from time to time rejected by the restaurant’s narrow entrances, passages, and inappropriate design of tables and chairs. What kind of restaurant design is considered to be in line with the design principles of barrier-free restaurants?

Generally speaking, we can define barrier-free restaurants as people with reduced mobility (especially wheelchair users) who can enter the restaurant without the assistance of others, and can eat freely in the restaurant. Hong Kong does not have a set of strict and mandatory guidelines for the design of barrier-free restaurants. However, to become barrier-free restaurants, the restaurant and its surrounding environment must generally meet the following standards:

1. Wheelchairs/persons with reduced mobility can go to the restaurant from nearby public transportation by themselves;
2. There is a parking space for wheelchair users in the nearby parking lot;
3. If the restaurant is located in a shopping mall, the entrance and exit of the shopping mall should be equipped with automatic doors, lifts, ramps and other facilities for wheelchairs/persons with reduced mobility to get on and off;
4. The entrance and exit of the restaurant are suitable for people with wheelchairs/handicapped. If the entrance is not flat, barrier-free facilities such as automatic doors, ramps, etc. should be provided to facilitate wheelchairs/handicapped persons to get on and off;
5. The restaurant entrance and internal passages are wide and provide sufficient space for wheelchair users to enter and exit;
6. The restaurant has enough space for wheelchair users to park their wheelchairs;
7. The height of the dining table is suitable for wheelchair users, and a certain number of movable chairs are provided to facilitate wheelchair users to park their wheelchairs at the dining table for meals;
8. There are toilets for the disabled in the restaurant or near the restaurant. Wheelchairs/persons with reduced mobility can go by themselves without assistance from others.