💡 Market Accessibility & Amenities Information Layer

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Summary

Add structured accessibility and amenity fields to market profiles — wheelchair accessibility, surface type (paved/gravel/grass), ADA-compliant restrooms, accessible parking, pet policy, payment methods accepted, and seating availability. Surface this information prominently in market discovery and detail views, enabling customers with mobility needs to make confident visit decisions.

Market Signal

26% of US adults have a disability (CDC 2023). No farmers market app — including Localize (30K farms), Farmish, Marketspread, or Seen Markets — surfaces structured accessibility information for market venues. Google Maps has basic wheelchair accessibility flags for businesses but lacks market-specific details like surface type, which is critical for wheelchair and stroller users at outdoor venues. ADA compliance litigation for public events increased 12% in 2025, creating institutional motivation for markets to document and improve accessibility. Source: CDC disability statistics, ADA litigation trends (Aug 2026).

User Signal

The PRD explicitly targets WCAG 2.1 AA compliance (NFR18-20) and emphasizes outdoor mobile constraints. The UX spec calls for inclusive design throughout. Yet no existing idea in the 23-item backlog addresses the physical accessibility of the market venue itself. The product's "confidence-first" positioning ("confirm and go") breaks down entirely for users with mobility needs who cannot determine whether the venue is physically navigable before traveling. This is a gap in the confidence journey that affects a substantial user segment.

Technical Opportunity

Implementation is straightforward: add structured fields to the markets table (accessibility_wheelchair BOOLEAN, surface_type ENUM('paved','gravel','grass','mixed'), restrooms_accessible BOOLEAN, parking_accessible BOOLEAN, pet_policy ENUM('allowed','service_only','not_allowed'), seating_available BOOLEAN, payment_methods TEXT[]). Expose via the existing market GraphQL schema (market.graphqls). The customer search can filter by accessibility requirements using existing filter chip patterns. The architecture's market profile CRUD (Epic 2, FR8-FR9) accommodates this without new domain concepts or infrastructure.

Assessment

Dimension	Score	Rationale
Feasibility	high	Structured profile fields + search filters. No new services, APIs, or infrastructure required.
Impact	med	Serves 26%+ of population with disability, plus stroller/elderly users. Strong brand signal for inclusive design. Zero competitor coverage.
Urgency	low	Can be added to market profile schema at any time. Most valuable once customer discovery is live (post-Epic 6).

Adversarial Review

Strongest objection: This serves a small percentage of users and adds data entry burden for managers. Managers may not accurately report accessibility, creating potential liability risk if a user relies on incorrect information.

Rebuttal: The 26% disability statistic understates the addressable audience — parents with strollers, elderly visitors, and anyone with temporary mobility limitations also benefit. Payment methods and pet policies are universally useful information for ALL visitors. Accuracy risk is mitigated by framing fields as "manager-reported" (not certified/guaranteed) and enabling visitor confirmation/correction feedback in a future iteration. The data entry cost is minimal (one-time setup, ~2 minutes) and positions Markets as the only accessibility-conscious market discovery tool — a meaningful brand differentiator for the health-and-wellness-oriented target demographic.

Suggested Next Step

Add accessibility and amenity fields to the market profile schema in the architecture document (market.graphqls), then create a quick spec for the market detail view accessibility section and search filter integration as part of Epic 2 (Market Administration) and Epic 6 (Customer Discovery).