Entries tagged with access dismantled

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Intent may be OKish, but execution positively sucks.

With northern hemisphere summer come sidewalk repairs in northern hemisphere cities. The temporary installations for this one completely fenced off a 30m long section of a sidewalk 2m to 2.5m wide, and further fenced off a section of the street surface about 1m wide. Then, presumably so people in wheelchairs could use the temporary path, they installed ramps. And by "installed ramps", I mean put (on the end I checked) a laminated wood board, resting on the sidewalk edge on one side and with the other edge resting on the street surface. I stepped onto it experimentally, and it perceptibly flexed under my 91kg. I don't know what would happen if someone in a power chair tried to. As it is, I doubt anyone will find out, because the road surface edge of the board is about 40 cm from the fence, leaving (to my untrained eye) way too little clearance to turn and get to the other "ramp" (which I haven't looked at yet). That 40cm clearance also looks too much too narrow to me for someone using a wheelchair to get past the board if they got onto the street surface at the nearby pedestrian crossing, if there's a curb cut there. (There should be, but I can't swear to it.)

I intend to go back there in 2 to 3 hours, take pics, and report it to City Hall as a street hazard. Besides what I mentioned above and the same at the other end, is there anything I missed that should or could usefully go in my report?

ETA: Street surface detour around fenced-off sidewalk, with obstacles to wheelchair use

Street surface detour around fenced-off sidewalk, with obstacles to wheelchair use

picture of one "ramp" and the nearby street surface, with a 30cm shoe for scale, shows clearance between board edge on street surface and fence support base is under 50cm.

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COVID-19 door closures: insufficiently compensated competing access needs

I went to the doctor for a semi-routine physical yesterday. There are three entrances to the family practice wing: the main entrance, shared with the hospital, the north entrance at ground level (with a pair of immediately adjacent accessible parking spots), and the third floor entrance on the north end, connected from the parking garage (with a pair of accessible parking spots on each floor next to the elevator).

I usually park on the third floor near the elevator and entrance. I don't have a disabled plate or hang tag, so I park as near as I can get otherwise. When I approached the third floor entrance, there was a sign on the door saying it was closed. The same sign was on the ground level entrance. I had to walk all the way around to the front entrance. I saw some people with worse mobility than mine struggling their way across the parking lot.

There was no signage anywhere except on the doors, and that seemed to not have any Braille attached, and was in small enough font that I had to get within about ten feet of the door to read the sign.

Reception in my GP's office have been asking for better signage from day one, but have not yet got it.

There should be:
* Parking lot signs saying the only entrance is the main one
* A laminated informational sign at each accessible parking spot which is not adjacent to the main door
* A large, very distant-readable sign on each closed door in addition to the detailed signs
* Changes to pre-appointment check-in email saying that the only open entrance is the main one
* Signs at each parking garage elevator
* Information accessible in other languages besides English, and for blind people

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Dismantling Access Features

Visited grocery service desk to buy bus tickets and discovered several access features (I'd used previously) which had been dismantled:

At the standing-height counter, the wheelchair-height cutout had been filled up with a lottery ticket dispenser. This meant the clerk and I couldn't touch hands, so they clerk had to leave their station and walk all the way around to hand me the tickets. The swipe-and-sign machine for credit cards has a swivel, so I have used independently before. But someone had pointlessly pushed a bookshelf under the counter, so I couldn't reach it.

I brought these issues up to the clerk. I managed to keep my cool. I pointed out that finding accessible features destroyed is very frustrating. Does this analogy work for you? Delighted to entertain suggestions.

Encountering demolished access features is like getting a big delivery of gravel at the bottom of your driveway that you never ordered. When you complain, the response is, "Oh, I'll help you park your car down the street" or "Oh, just wait, I'll round up a group of folks to help you move stuff out of the garage. It might be three hours — is that OK?"

I'm writing the grocery's central office. I suspect the response is going to be along the lines, "well, you were able to complete your purchase, and weren't our staff polite and helpful?" And yes, the clerk was polite, and helpful, and unable to wipe away the psychic spit this encounter smeared over my glasses.