🧑‍🦼‍➡️

Person in Motorized Wheelchair Facing Right

PUR-suhn in MOH-tuh-rized WHEEL-chair FAY-sing rite
People & Body Unicode 15.1 uncommon

Meanings

1
People · Accessibility uncommon

Represents a person using a motorized wheelchair moving to the right. Used to indicate mobility assistance, accessibility needs, or to represent people with physical disabilities.

Often used in discussions about accessibility, inclusion, or to indicate movement direction for wheelchair users.

The new building has ramps everywhere 🧑‍🦼‍➡️ so much better than the old one! 📋 Social media post about accessibility
Heading to the accessibility meetup 🧑‍🦼‍➡️ Anyone want to join? 📋 Group chat message

Part of Unicode's effort to increase disability representation in emoji. Represents the growing awareness of inclusive design and accessibility.

Combos with 🧑‍🦼‍➡️

🧑‍🦼‍➡️🚪
Accessing a doorway or entrance with a wheelchair
Used to highlight accessibility issues with building entrances or celebrate accessible design.
🧑‍🦼‍➡️✅
Successful accessibility or barrier-free access
Used to indicate places that have good wheelchair accessibility.
🧑‍🦼‍➡️❌
Inaccessible location or barrier to wheelchair access
Used in advocacy contexts to highlight accessibility problems.

Culture

Represents the disability rights movement's push for greater representation in digital communication. Part of the broader effort to normalize disability visibility.

One of several directional variants of disability-related emojis, showing Unicode's commitment to creating more specific and useful accessibility symbols.

The directional component adds specificity to communication about movement and navigation, particularly important in accessibility contexts.

United Kingdom Used in contexts referring to the Equality Act and NHS accessibility discussions.
United States Commonly used in discussions about ADA compliance and disability rights movements.
Gen_X: Used more sparingly, typically in practical contexts about physical accessibility rather than in casual conversation.
Gen_Z: Used matter-of-factly in discussions about accessibility and inclusion. Often appears in activist contexts on TikTok and Instagram.
Older: Limited usage, primarily in formal contexts about accessibility services or medical-related communications.
Millennials: Commonly used in workplace discussions about inclusion and in social media advocacy for accessibility.

History

2019

Introduction of disability-related emojis including the person in wheelchair emojis.

Growing disability representation movement and advocacy for inclusive emoji design.

2020

Increased usage during pandemic as accessibility discussions became more mainstream.

COVID-19 highlighting accessibility issues in healthcare and public spaces.