International Overview of Accessibility Icons and Labels: Between Social Uses and Regulations

Since the 1970s, a series of international and national sources have supported the principle of accessibility, which slowly has become a statuary norm and a legislative obligation. Each country has implemented accessibility through a singular policy. But in addition to the accessibility of a place or an activity, to inform about what is accessible is very important as well, and has not really taken off. Indeed, for disabled people, the difficulty lies not only with access to places and the use of resources, but also with the visibility of these resources. This means that information concerning accessibility has to be disclosed and provided effectively to disabled people, those involved with them and the relevant institutions. In different countries all over the world, many labels and pictograms have been created for this purpose and give information relating to accessibility. Using a socio-historical approach, we will present and analyze the different types of icons, symbols, pictograms and labels that have been put in place around the world and in France: what are they used for and for whom are they made? We will show that they are pointers which firstly reflect the diversity and range within the target group concerned by accessibility, and secondly the evolution of accessibility as a dynamic and ecological principle.