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Two wheelchair symbols with the same meaning and different standing, both current in the same streets.
The upright figure is the International Symbol of Access, drawn in 1968 by Susanne Koefoed and given its head a year later by Karl Montan, and registered as an international public information symbol. The leaning figure with arms back is the Accessible Icon, a campaign redesign adopted as policy by individual states, cities and companies and by no standards body. Neither is wrong. A sign using the redesign is not required and is not prohibited, which is why both appear in the same city.
One is the ISO-registered figure sitting upright; the other is a campaign redesign showing the same figure in motion.
Drawn from the visual attributes recorded for each symbol. Only traits the two records disagree about are listed.
| Trait | International Symbol of Access | Accessible Icon |
|---|---|---|
| Built from | people and squares | people and circles |
| Enclosing border | Sits inside a border | No enclosing border |
| International Symbol of Access | Accessible Icon | |
|---|---|---|
| Posture | Seated upright, hands at rest | Leaning forward, arms back, propelling the chair |
| Standing | Registered international public information symbol | A campaign design adopted by policy, not by standard |
| Adopted by | International standards and most national signage | New York State and a number of American cities and institutions |
| Means | A facility usable by disabled people, not wheelchair users only | The same thing |
| Relationship (from Symbolwise's records) | Commonly confused with Accessible Icon — One is the ISO-registered figure sitting upright; the other is a campaign redesign showing the same figure in motion. | Commonly confused with International Symbol of Access — The leaning, arms-back figure is the campaign redesign; the upright figure is the internationally registered symbol.; Modern version of International Symbol of Access — A 2011 redesign of the ISO-registered access symbol, offered as an alternative rather than a replacement.; Shares a meaning with International Symbol of Access — Both mark accessible facilities and are used for the same purpose on signage. |
The two designs are not in dispute; whether the redesign is an improvement is a live argument between disability organisations, and this page takes no side on it.
International Symbol of Access
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-07-31
Tertiary reference. Used for widely-agreed identity, origin summary and adoption context, not for contested detail or exact dates.
The Accessible Icon Project · retrieved 2026-07-31
The project's own account of its design and intent. Used for the design rationale it states, not for claims about adoption or about how well the icon is received — that criticism exists and is cited separately.
ISO 7001:2023, Graphical symbols — Public information symbols
International Organization for Standardization · retrieved 2026-08-01
Paywalled and NOT READ. Registered so the standard can be named as existing, as covering public information symbols, and as requiring comprehension testing before adoption. It supports no record's specific meaning; those are carried by reference works that report them. See docs/paywalled-standards.md.
Look at whether the adult is standing or seated. Baby changing shows an adult leaning over an infant on a table — a facility for changing a nappy. A nursing room shows a seated figure holding an infant — a private space for feeding. They are separate rooms, and signage that conflates them sends people to the wrong one.
The help mark is deliberately broad: it says the wearer may need assistance and says nothing about why, which is what makes it usable by people who do not wish to disclose a condition. The heart plus mark is specific to internal disability — the heart and organ conditions the badge was created for. Someone wearing the heart plus mark is making a narrower statement than someone wearing the help mark.
A gloss writes a sign as an English word in capitals. The capitals mark it as a *label* for a sign rather than a translation, so a glossed line is not an English sentence — it is a research and teaching convention for discussing signs in a text. SignWriting is a script for the signed language itself: handshapes as small figures, movement as arrows, expression in a schematic face, laid out in two dimensions because a sign happens in space and in the face at once.
A surface of raised domes warns of a hazard ahead: a carriageway, a platform edge, the head of a stair. A surface of raised parallel bars guides along a route across an open area where no wall or kerb gives a line to follow. The bars are laid along the direction of travel, so the same panel turned ninety degrees means something else. A directional surface laid where a warning surface belongs invites a cane user forward into the hazard it should have stopped them at.