Sami (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sami) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
accessibility_fail2009-07-13 06:22 pm
sami) wrote in accessibility_fail2009-07-13 06:22 pm
Accessability fail, university medical centre edition
So, I went to the doctor's today. Same office as I went to last week, where there was a sign saying the lift (elevator) was broken and to use the stairs.
Well, first bit of fail is right there: that lift is used to get to Disability Services AND the medical centre - and, I found out today, the problem with the lift is that the rear doors aren't working... which means you need to use a different set of stairs, anyway, and you don't need to remove access to Disability Services and the Medical Centre.
Anyway, this very lift always has this:
Apparently, if you have visual or speaking/hearing difficulties, sucks to be you.
Anyway, while I was in the waiting room at the medical centre itself, I saw a woman in a wheelchair come out from the doctor's offices. I had to jump up, because the doors she was approaching look like this:
The door has no automatic opening capacity. The one on the right (in this picture) opens with the handle, and opens inwards; I'm not sure how one would handle this from a wheelchair. In any case, this wouldn't help very much, because that door on its own is too narrow for a wheelchair to go through. (Which the woman in the wheelchair pointed out as I was opening the first door, in a semi-apologetic tone; I assured her I was on it.)
So I went to open the other door, but it was sticking, because the locks had re-engaged slightly. I worked it free, opened the other door, and the woman left. (Thanking me for my assistance, and encouraging me to keep taking nice pictures - I'd been passing the time taking photos of the fish in the aquarium.)
Then, when I'd closed the doors and sat down again, one of the receptionists got up from behind the desk to make a point of putting the locking bars back in completely.
I took that after she did it. For the record, I'm 5'9" and that lock is a full upwards reach for me. It is not physically possible for a person in a wheelchair to exit the medical centre without assistance, nor to enter without banging on the door to get someone to come and let them in.
Well, first bit of fail is right there: that lift is used to get to Disability Services AND the medical centre - and, I found out today, the problem with the lift is that the rear doors aren't working... which means you need to use a different set of stairs, anyway, and you don't need to remove access to Disability Services and the Medical Centre.
Anyway, this very lift always has this:
Apparently, if you have visual or speaking/hearing difficulties, sucks to be you.
Anyway, while I was in the waiting room at the medical centre itself, I saw a woman in a wheelchair come out from the doctor's offices. I had to jump up, because the doors she was approaching look like this:
The door has no automatic opening capacity. The one on the right (in this picture) opens with the handle, and opens inwards; I'm not sure how one would handle this from a wheelchair. In any case, this wouldn't help very much, because that door on its own is too narrow for a wheelchair to go through. (Which the woman in the wheelchair pointed out as I was opening the first door, in a semi-apologetic tone; I assured her I was on it.)
So I went to open the other door, but it was sticking, because the locks had re-engaged slightly. I worked it free, opened the other door, and the woman left. (Thanking me for my assistance, and encouraging me to keep taking nice pictures - I'd been passing the time taking photos of the fish in the aquarium.)
Then, when I'd closed the doors and sat down again, one of the receptionists got up from behind the desk to make a point of putting the locking bars back in completely.
I took that after she did it. For the record, I'm 5'9" and that lock is a full upwards reach for me. It is not physically possible for a person in a wheelchair to exit the medical centre without assistance, nor to enter without banging on the door to get someone to come and let them in.
no subject