Wheelchair symbol emoji ♿
♿ is the wheelchair symbol: the International Symbol of Access, a white figure in a wheelchair on a blue square, used on parking bays, toilets and entrances worldwide.
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What the wheelchair symbol ♿ emoji means
♿ is the wheelchair symbol: the International Symbol of Access, a white figure in a wheelchair on a blue square, used on parking bays, toilets and entrances worldwide. It means accessible, accessibility, disability — “♿ accessible venue”, disability pride, an access request. It is a sign, not a person; the people and vehicles came in Emoji 12.0 (2019): 🦽 manual wheelchair, 🦼 motorized wheelchair, 🧑🦽 and 🧑🦼 person in wheelchair (with woman and man versions and all skin tones), plus 🦯 white cane, 🦻 ear with hearing aid and 🦮 guide dog. Many disabled people prefer “disabled” or “accessible” to “handicapped”, which is now dated.
Unicode name: wheelchair symbol · U+267F · Emoji 0.6 (original set) · group: Symbols.
How people use it
- Accessibility info: venues, events, transport
- Disability pride: July, bios
- Access requests: asking about ramps and lifts
- People (🧑🦽 🧑🦼): representing wheelchair users
Compare the options
| Emoji | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| wheelchair symbolU+267F | The access sign | |
| manual wheelchairU+1F9BD | The chair itself | |
| motorized wheelchairU+1F9BC | Powered chair | |
| person in manual wheelchairU+1F9D1 U+200D U+1F9BD | A wheelchair user | |
| white caneU+1F9AF | Blind or low-vision |
Older terms: handicap, special needs and other outdated names
The terminology around disability has shifted. Older terms like handicap and special needs are increasingly considered dated, and cripple is widely seen as offensive. When choosing an emoji to represent disability, the widely recognised symbol is ♿, the International Symbol of Access. For a person, the clearest choices are 🧑🦽 person in manual wheelchair and 🧑🦼 person in motorised wheelchair, each with gender and skin tone variants.
The word handicap is sometimes used informally for the ♿ symbol, but its official Unicode name is wheelchair symbol; it is also known as the accessibility symbol. Similarly, special needs is a phrase some use, but disabled and accessible are often clearer. Other related emojis include the white cane 🦯, ear with hearing aid 🦻, and guide dog 🦮.
Questions people ask
What does ♿ mean?
Accessible — the international access symbol. It marks facilities usable by disabled people.
Is there a person in a wheelchair emoji?
Yes: 🧑🦽 person in manual wheelchair and 🧑🦼 person in motorized wheelchair, with woman/man and skin-tone versions, added in 2019.
Is the wheelchair symbol emoji blue everywhere?
Yes, every major platform keeps the blue-and-white sign design.
What is the handicap emoji?
The ♿ emoji is often called the handicap emoji, but its official name is wheelchair symbol. It represents accessibility. Related emojis include 🦽 manual wheelchair and 🦼 motorised wheelchair.
Is there a special needs emoji?
There is no single special needs emoji. The ♿ wheelchair symbol is often used for accessibility, and for a person you can use 🧑🦽 person in manual wheelchair or 🧑🦼 person in motorised wheelchair.
Is there a cripple emoji?
No, there is no emoji named cripple; that term is outdated and offensive. The appropriate emojis are the wheelchair symbol ♿ or the person in wheelchair emojis 🧑🦽 and 🧑🦼.
About this guide
Written and maintained by the Emoji Directory editorial team, without ads or sponsorship. Meanings describe how the emoji is commonly used in public posts and messages, not an official definition. Names, code points, versions, keywords and translations come from the Unicode Emoji 18.0 and CLDR data; shortcodes from the gemoji project. Last reviewed . Spotted a mistake or a new usage? Tell us, or read how the directory is made.
