An effort to revamp the icon that’s long symbolized accessibility on everything from parking lot signs to bathrooms is gaining traction with New York City agreeing to adopt a new look.

New York City plans to adopt a redesigned “handicapped” symbol. (Courtesy: accessibleicon.org)

An updated version of the seemingly ubiquitous blue and white “handicapped” symbol will soon be plastered across New York.

Rather than depict a static person in a wheelchair, the new icon displays an active, in-motion version of life with a physical disability.

“It’s such a forward-moving thing,” Victor Calise, commissioner of the New York mayor’s Office for People With Disabilities, told The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Backers of the new icon, which was spearheaded by a philosophy professor at Gordon College in Massachusetts, say they hope that adoption by the nation’s largest city will lead to more widespread acceptance of the design.

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