18/05/2026
Have you noticed that it is the smallest steps that cause people to stumble?
This busy little stairwell had hospital staff hurrying up and down them in various coloured uniforms, performing the necessary timeous tasks required in a health care facility. In-between these were visitors, older people, loved ones carrying flowers and bags, and a few visually impaired people too.
My central vision loss allows me to move quite fast to cover my blind spots. So, not wanting to hold people up, I found this bottom step very irritating. It was difficult to know if I was actually on the ground floor or stepping onto another little confusing step.
On our last visit, I swung around, took out my phone, and took a quick shot (notice my white cane in the shadow). Once home, I put the image through AI and prompted it to extend the hard-wearing vinyl flooring to the bottom edge of the face of the lowest step.
The image on the right, enlarged 28x on my monitor, would have given me a lot more visual peace. I would have been a lot more confident recognising the first step on my way up and it would have been significantly easier coming down too. There would have been a definite contrast between the last step and the ground floor landing.
If it were a race, which steps would you choose to run up?
Not everyone is sight impaired, but many wear bifocals or even trifocals, meaning that when you are walking down stairs there is a good chance the lower edge of your lenses, often made for reading, could make descending stairs more stressful.
When people are stressed, the brain responds by heightening central vision focus and narrowing peripheral vision. Clear design lines, contrasts, and lighting go a long way to making a building feel peaceful or complicated. In a hospital there is a greater need for accessibility and peaceful design, from parking bays, ticket machines, signage, decor, and interiors that make people feel confident and safe.
If you are a stair user, which steps, where, make you hesitate and why?
Cleverly used tiles, skirtings, wall colours, panelling, and edging can make a building beautiful and easy to use for everyone.
Fixing irritating issues like this one would be expensive and unsightly. It is important to iron out these details in the planning phase for architecture and interior design. Accessibility can be done tastefully if included from the start.
Awareness unlocks inclusion. Begin with the end in mind.
