Accessability retrofits on the cheap...

[jecook]

I'm here to play devil's advocate for a very short amount of time- While I realize that ADA compliance is an outstanding thing to have, it can also be exceptionally expensive on older buildings and for organizations that just don't have the capital to spend on such things. I figure I'd start a post thread on modifications that can be made on the cheap to take steps in the appropriate direction, or to solve a specific issue.

I used to work as janitor/handyman at a church a number of years ago, and we ran into accessibility issues as the congregation aged or received injuries. Part of the trouble is that a church does not exactly have the budget to do a full-on renovation to bring a 30+ year old facility into full compliance. But we did a few things here and there to work at it. One way we fixed the high threshold for entrance/exit was to add a mild concrete ramp to the walkways leading up to the doorways using concrete patching material. Cheap and easy as we had a congregation member who knew what they were doing tackle that little project.

While we could not easily fix all the bathroom stalls, I did replace the (worn out) door closer units with spring-loaded door hinges- one spring hinge per door. This accomplished two things: 1) It reduced the amount of force needed to open the door from either side to a minimal amount, and 2) It was a *lot* cheaper then replacing the door *and* the closer. (Some genius had the brainstorm of using hollow-core doors, and hence the closers pulled their mounting bolts through the door pretty easily.) The doors used three hinges, so doing one (instead of all three like the directions has stated) resulted in a very easy to open door that had enough stored energy to close itself in a gentle manner without slamming shut.

The toilets were also replaced with ADA compliant units in the larger stalls, which was the one thing we could not fix without doing a major renovation. The sinks were brought into compliance when they were replaced when the floors were re-tiled. The toilets were inexpensive, and are more efficient then the ones they replaced- that's a double win right there.

There were other minor things that fell more under OHSA compliance then ADA compliance- I took it upon myself to also replace *all* the exit signs with battery-backed LED units rather then trying to find bulbs for the old units. Again, major win- the new ones are bright, drink a tiny amount of energy, and will stay on through a power outage.

The sanctuary was startlingly easy to retrofit- the thresholds were already practically flat (a little 1/8" lip on the floor) and the pews were not bolted to the floor- The only thing that had to be done was to move some furniture around. :)

Accessibility Win!

[xenakis]

Because they exist, too!

As an architectural intern, I have to deal with issues of accessibility and universal design all the time. That means to be concerned not only with the minimum dimensions required by the building code (yeah, how'd you guys like them 1:12 ramps? pff!) but to think about the wider issues of location of accessible entrances, barrier-free routes, legibility of signage, etc. It's pretty hard and frustrating sometimes, but I try to see the ADA regulations as opportunities for innovative design. One pretty wicked example of this is the stair/ramp designed by Cornelia Oberlander and Arthur Erikson in Robson Square, Vancouver:




The "Stramp", as we call it, pretty much embodies the idea of universal design: to make one feature accessible to everyone. You wouldn't know it looking at the amount of fail you encounter in buildings, but we are actually taught these things in school (ok, it was an elective, and three of us took it, which is probably one of the reasons for the failfest...) Architects are usually pretty on board with coming up with solutions like this - none of us want the ugly lifts or endless ramps to mess up our beautiful facades - but it is often quite hard to convince clients or city officials to spend extra money or "waste" space on integrated design... What they need to understand is that people with disabilities are not the only ones helped by these changes: parents with strollers, elderly men and women, people who just want to take the scenic route up the building, everyone benefits from them.

Disability Fail: Nova Scotia Election Edition

[trouble]

I wrote an entire curse-filled rant about this on my Dee-Wee, but I'll sum it up here.

We went to the Disability-Focused forum during our recent election. Basically, a representative from three of our political parties would be there to answer questions (it turned out they were pre-selected and submitted by agencies, because "it wouldn't be fair for them to have to answer questions from everyone without having pre-prepped answers"). This was organised by the various aid agencies in the city.

It did not have spaces set aside for wheel-chair users.
There was no 'terp for the Deaf.
There was no designated seating for people who needed to be close for lip-reading or other visual-related issues.
The chairs were very close together, making it difficult for people using walkers or canes or other mobility aids to get through to selected seats.

And, as alluded to, no people with disabilities were allowed to ask questions. Even after I threw a fit and guilted them into allowing questions from the audience, the agencies still asked two of the three questions.

I was very unimpressed.

(no subject)

[avendya]

I am not quite sure if this counts as "accessibility fail", but it does qualify as "ADA fail". I have an invisible illness; stairs are painful but doable for me. However, I am on a large number of medications, and my pain medication is on a unpredictable schedule. (I can take one, two or three tablets; it depends on the pain level at the time, etc., etc., I am sure you get the gist.)

There is exactly one good thing I can say about my former high school's policy on prescription drugs: it was extremely badly enforced. And by "badly enforced", I mean "not enforced at all".

The actual written policy was that all medications - prescription or not - had to be stored at the nurses' office, and you had to go down there, and she was the only one who could dispense medication. This works in theory, but in practice, the nurse's office was a five minute walk (at least) from most of my classes (so getting medication meant missing at least ten minutes of class), the nurse frequently wandered away and no one knew where she went, and even if you stored medication there, she required that you call your parents every. single. time. you needed medication. In practice, this took about a half an hour - 1/3 of a class period. I'm certainly going to do that every time I need medication (roughly every four hours, every day).

However, all of that is logical in comparison to the spectacular fail that was their policy in regards to leaving the school. If you were very sick, and needed to go home, you had two options: one, your parents could pick you up, or two, you could drive yourself.

I do not drive, because it is physically painful, and I start shaking within five minutes. It is simply not safe for me to drive. Since I live close to the school, I chose to walk instead - less painful, and less dangerous. However, I was explicitly not allowed to walk home if I was too sick to stay at school - but I was allowed to drive. Can someone explain why I was allowed to do something I can't physically do when in reasonable shape, but not the easier and less painful alternative?

And there's Project Graduation. Project Graduation is billed as as drug and alcohol free alternative to post-graduation parties. Over 80% of the seniors go. I mean - it has free food, free arcade games, free laser tag, and most importantly: free stuff. (I went home with a 400 GB external hard drive. A friend of mine went home with a very nice camera. There were a laptops, gift cards, XBoxes, Playstations... I could go on.)

I was told that I couldn't go in because it was a drug-free event. Why? I had a bottle of medication in my purse. Not just a bottle of medication, a bottle of legally prescribed medication in the original bottle. In the organizer's minds, my non-narcotic pain medication - the stuff that enables me to function, to act "normal", and not to be in extreme pain - is the same as ecstasy, marijuana or other illegal drugs. Right.



(After a fair amount of arguing, ADA-mentioning, and refusing to go in without my medication, the organizer kept my medication in an office, and I had to go ask for it when I needed it. She also acted like letting me have access to my (again, legally-prescribed) medication was a terrible imposition and that she was doing me a favor.)

Accommodation Fail

[amadi]

Last fall, my family went on a little four day vacation to a resort in West Virginia, where there is a hotel, golf course, pool, tennis and so on. We were there for a special promotional event, so we discovered when we arrived that we were not to stay in the hotel but in a little building that had four units, two up, two down, each with a bedroom, large spacious bath, and a small sitting room with a TV and a pullout sofa, so technically each unit slept four people.

( Read more... )

Accessibility win?

[aedifica]

I may be overlooking all kinds of other problems (though I hope there aren't any problems there to overlook) but my co-op has something that seems like a really good idea I never would have thought of: at the customer service desk which is also a check-out when needed, there's your standard credit card reader like you'd expect to see... and a sign next to it saying "This card reader can be lowered at request."

American-Centric: Election-Access FAIL

[trouble]

Via Feministe, who got it at FRIDA:

PROMISES, PROMISES: Polling places lack access
By KIMBERLY HEFLING

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite high-profile promises over the past 25 years, many disabled Americans still are unable to fully participate in their democracy.

Advocates say they field complaints from around the country from disabled people who have problems getting into polling places or can't independently and privately cast their votes. T.K. Small, who doesn't have the use of his hands because of a neuromuscular disorder, said a 2002 law mandating access to voting for the disabled feels like a broken promise.

( full text behind cut because I don't know how long AP keeps up their stories )

I don't see anything in the article about Braille or providing information in Sign. I'm not familiar with the American voting system at all (Y'all have machines? We vote paper ballot, with a pencil, and X marks the spot!), so I don't know what that would look like for Blind voters.

(no subject)

[trinity_clare]

Even more hotel fail: Last year I took a trip with a large group of people from my university. My roommate for the trip was one of my best friends, who is blind. At one of our hotels our room accidentally got double-booked with another room from our group, so we headed for the front desk to fix things. The lady behind the counter took one look at the white cane and gave us the ~accessible room. Without telling us, of course; I'm sure she thought she was being very considerate.

Now I'll admit that I didn't pay that much attention to potential mobility-based fail, because we were too busy trying to find everything. The place was HUGE. The beds were farther apart, which messed with the system we had of putting our luggage specific places so she wouldn't trip over my suitcase. And the bathroom. Dear god, the bathroom. I think the most fun we had was playing with the acoustics in there, because it sounded like a freaking cathedral. The toilet was indeed lower than standard height, which I remember because my friend tried to sit down on it and nearly fell over. And then she had to make her way across the vast expanse of slippery tile before she could get to the sink. Seriously, every blind joke anyone has ever made about the person walking around with their hands in front of them like they're playing Marco Polo came true in that room. Usually it's easy to go from bed to desk to closet to bathroom with one hand leading, because most hotel rooms are small enough that it's impossible to get lost. Gah. *thwaps the well-meaning hotel lady on the head*