Vancouver International Airport—YVR—is about to get the ultimate accessibility test. In just a few weeks, 1,600 athletes and officials will deplane in Richmond, BC for the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games. From the minute they hit the jetway, they’ll encounter the design features of one of the most disabled-friendly airports in the world—but they likely won’t even notice. Because no-barrier design is like a really good waiter: invisible in its primo service.

Every inch of the place has been conceived with wheelchair travelers in mind—from the low-mounted flight information displays and low-friction carpeting to the spacious washrooms and curbside ramps.

The hearing-impaired will find volume-controllable handsets at the check-in counters and—sprinkled among the ubiquitous big bright pictograms—textphones and a visual paging system. The blind will find tactile maps and Braille throughout, as well as a floor-texture code that tells them what’s around them at all times such as retail shops, an approaching door, or an approaching gate.

Once outside, they can zip to the parking lot via lift-equipped shuttles or hop aboard the new wide-bodied, fully accessible Canada Line light-rail transit link, to be whisked into downtown Vancouver in 26 minutes.

Not surprisingly, YVR is becoming a darling within the disabled community. “I’ve travelled through many airports in many countries around the world this last year and YVR has hands-down been the most accessible for me, in a wheelchair, with all my equipment,” raves Paralympic curler Jim Armstrong, who’ll be competing for Canada in the 2010 Winter Games. “I’m really proud that my teammates and competitors will experience the airport as their first and last impression of the city and the country.”

2010, baby: let’s roll.

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