"Is This Seat Accessible for Me?": An Autoethnography of a Person With a Mobility Disability Using Interactive Seat Plans for Public Events

Research Background and Issues

• Identified Problems or Challenges: Current interactive seating charts for large public event venues lack comprehensive support for individuals with disabilities, particularly in the ticket purchasing process, where sufficient accessibility information is often unavailable. This not only complicates and adds uncertainty to the experience of individuals with disabilities but also highlights that most seating charts primarily focus on wheelchair users, neglecting a broader range of disabilities and specific needs.
• Significance: Participating in public events such as sports games or concerts is crucial for improving the quality of life for individuals with disabilities. However, the lack of appropriate accessibility information can hinder their ability to independently plan and participate in such activities. Improving seating chart design and the ticket purchasing experience can enhance social inclusion for individuals with disabilities and promote greater inclusivity and equity in venues.
• Research Motivation and Related Work:
  • Existing research primarily focuses on improving the physical accessibility of venues (e.g., accessible restrooms or wheelchair areas), but the interactive seating charts in the ticket purchasing process fail to address the diverse needs of individuals with disabilities.
  • This study proposes using an autoethnographic approach to deeply explore the challenges and opportunities faced by individuals with disabilities during the ticket purchasing process, aiming to better define the design requirements for interactive seating charts.

Solution

• Proposed Solution:

  • Utilizing the autoethnography method, the first author documented their experiences as a person with mobility impairments using interactive seating charts to purchase tickets and attend public events over six months.
  • Data was processed through thematic analysis, uncovering design deficiencies in interactive seating charts and the adaptive strategies employed by individuals with mobility impairments.
  • A perspective shift is proposed: transitioning from a user classification-based design approach to a seat attribute classification-based design principle.

• Innovative Aspects:

  • A detailed exploration of the ticket purchasing experience for individuals with disabilities, highlighting the inability of current seating charts to meet their diverse needs.
  • Proposing a design concept that replaces user classification by disability type with seat classification by attributes, focusing on displaying specific accessibility information such as stair gradients and handrail positions.
  • Leveraging the autoethnographic method to reveal the critical influence of social relationships and sociocultural factors on the ticket purchasing experience.

• Implementation Steps:

  • The first author maintained a research journal containing 27 diary entries, documenting in-depth interactions with event planning and interactive seating charts.
  • Data was analyzed reflectively through thematic analysis to identify key patterns and challenges.

Research Outcomes

• Specific Findings:

  • Three key themes were identified:
    1. Current seating charts fail to comprehensively support the needs of individuals with disabilities.
    2. Individuals with disabilities must learn and adapt to existing systems to compensate for design shortcomings.
    3. Social relationships significantly influence the ticket purchasing and event participation experience.
  • Proposed methods to improve interactive seating chart design, such as layered accessibility information displays and dynamic classification based on seat attributes.

• Advantages Over Existing Solutions:

  • A more flexible and inclusive design approach is proposed—classifying seats by attributes rather than categorizing users by disability type.
  • Emphasis on providing more contextual information (e.g., walking distances, exit routes, nearby facilities) to enable individuals with disabilities to self-assess based on their needs.

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  • Over six months of ticket purchasing via interactive seating charts, the first author identified significant shortcomings in current systems and demonstrated the complex processes required to adapt to these deficiencies.
  • Highlighted the limitations of simplistic classifications (e.g., wheelchair vs. non-wheelchair users) in addressing the actual needs of diverse groups.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  • The study is based solely on the personal perspective of the first author, lacking broader data sampling from other disability groups.
  • The experiences documented are primarily based on public events in Europe, limiting geographic and cultural applicability.
  • Future research directions include expanding the analysis to encompass the diverse needs of more disability groups, developing standardized frameworks for accessible information display, and exploring mini-venues and other ticket purchasing scenarios.

Conclusion

This study, through a first-person perspective, deeply reveals the shortcomings of interactive seating chart design in supporting individuals with disabilities and provides practical recommendations for optimizing design. It not only advances the functionality of seating charts but also offers valuable insights and frameworks for broader accessibility technology research.