The disabling reality of the existing built environment is difficult to understand from a distance. That is the distance of being without disability. Architect Mary Ann Jackson relates several short stories of ‘being along’ for the real experience of disability. She writes about assessments of the built environment using the ‘being along’ method as a powerful educator.
Jackson and colleagues used the being along sessions to assess the built environment with people with disability. The short vignettes highlight how crucial it is for architects to work with people with disability.
The article, An ordinary day, was published in the Australian Institute of Architects magazine on page 22. It illustrates how an ordinary day becomes a major event for people with disability. Here are some key points from the vignettes created from being along in inner Melbourne.
Key points from vignettes
Just getting from the car to the footpath is a no fuss action for most people. But for some it takes some thought and extra effort. “I need time to get out of the driver’s seat, get outside the car, get my stick sorted, and get onto the footpath.” In this case, the footpath involves cobbled bluestone kerbing and guttering making the exercise more difficult. So it is about context as well.
Walking a few metres up the middle of a cobblestoned laneway because the footpath was too narrow to bother with, was just too much for a companion using a wheelchair. Having no footpath in inner city laneways is a problem, but so is lack of footpaths in suburbia.
Hotel bathrooms often include a shower seat, but some guests prefer a shower chair. The public bathroom raised toilet pan used in these bathrooms is not good for shorter people.
Although people who are blind often have well-developed hearing skills, there is a growing cohort of deaf-blind people and silent cars.
A pet peeve is the double mini-step – small threshold upstand of up to 25mm, followed by a level length less than 800mm, followed by another small threshold upstand.
What is not there is also a problem. The lack of public seating, accessible parking, and accessible toilets impacts individual mobility considerably.
The footplates of the powered wheelchair hit hazard TGSIs fixed to the too-steep kerb ramp incline which brought the wheelchair to a grinding halt. (Kerb ramps ideally should be 1 in 10 or flatter with TGSI.)
It shouldn’t be assumed that all dog exercisers are can walk or walk well when accessing dog parks. Pinebark in the park can damage wheelchairs so accessing playgrounds or exercise equipment is tricky if not impossible.
A grinding halt
Coming to a grinding halt is the very definition of inaccessibility. Jackson hopes that these vignettes in the AIA Architecture magazine serve to educate. She believes the architectural profession must be working together with people with disability. Near enough isn’t good enough because accessibility lies in the details being correct.