Analyzing the Architectural Status of Sports Pools Based on the Needs of the Disabled Case Study: Three Sports Pools in Isfahan

Disability, as a social phenomenon, has been existing in societies since past times. It has also been an essential problem regarding entity recognition and social relations. In contrast to a disability, having exercise and physical activity has a proven effect on the physical and spiritual health of human beings.  This study aimed to analyze the status of three sports complexes in Isfahan regarding disabled people`s needs (in various spectrums).

In this research, at first, by using the descriptive-analytical research method and based on other conducted studies in different countries all over the world, and laws presented to improve the disabled people`s lives and their rehabilitation, the spaces design standards and requirements related to required equipment in a swimming pool for disabled people extracted. According to these standards and requirements, a researcher-made checklist prepared. Based on this checklist and using observing tools, the status of three swimming pools in Isfahan evaluated. To select the sample (swimming pools), we used the comments of experts in the disability field, such as some doctors’ ideas in the Spinal Cord Injury Association in Isfahan. These doctors believed that these three swimming pools are more suitable than the other in Isfahan for disabled people. Therefore, samples selected through purposive sampling. The validity of this researcher-made checklist was confirmed using disability and sports experts` comments. This researcher-made checklist was prepared based on the presented standards of the global disability field`s experts. Hence it also had the necessary reliability.

The findings of the current research indicated that in the design of the three investigated swimming pools, a lot of necessary design standards and requirements for disabled people had not been considered. Some of these findings include: these pools lacked separate parking spaces with a suitable scale for disabled people. There were not any special warning signs for the disabled in these three pools. Only one of the pools had the training pool with low depth for disabled children. No pool had movable floors. Water accessibility tools such as slides, throwing boards appropriate for disabled people, and mechanical lifts, as well as Portable boards, were not provided in any of the three selected pools. Two pools had the ladder with suitable handles for disabled people`s entrance to the water. Pools` slope and ramp`s slope were not designed based on the design standards for the disabled.

The results of this research, which investigated the architectural status of three swimming pools in Isfahan considering disabled people`s requirements based on 11 factors, indicated that most design requirements for people with disabilities had not been considered in the design of these sports pools. Even one of these three pools that have been recently reconstructed lacked the minimum requirements presented in this research, which had been extracted through standards used in other countries of the world.