Hey there! It's Sarah. At The Universal Design Project we are sharing stories to
bring awareness to the wide variety of people that live in our communities.
People's functional needs are diverse, but they want the same things. They want
the same opportunities as others. Their voice is valuable for why living in a
welcoming community matters. In this video, people are going to explain what
is important to them in the design of public spaces. I think you'll be
surprised at how easy it is to implement some of these changes to make it user
friendly for a wide variety of people. Thanks for listening!
- If there were some comfortable seating options. After awhile for me me my back just starts
hurting if it's a bad chair sometimes it only takes five minutes. Or if my back is
hurting just having a spot to stop and rest.
-Make sure there's plenty of space.
And I find I get isolated in public areas because I cannot maneuver my chair
to get to a restroom, to a buffet if it's a buffet, or to food areas, and just to
create more space so that anyone in the chair has access.
-They would actually put some effort into design and not just copy what they've seen.
-They just cared. And like that's literally the answer, like, just care. Just care about other people,
and don't really think about like how we can save the business, but really think
about like how my business can help other people.
-I'm gonna go with the door buttons. When people design public spaces, consider
putting in a door that button to open doors. It's really helpful for strollers
and for wheelchairs devices.
-Having the ability to have some of these little
devices that could be hooked up at different events where a person can use
their phone to get an audio description or big beeper let them kind of know
where they are again it's like indoor, it's what the call indoor and outdoor
navigation. You're using the apps and stuff, so. I think with some the
technology it's out there can really make that better.
-Maybe even you know just take some input from everybody. -Mm-hmm. -You know, just a little sample
from every population and to see what people need, don't just assume.
-Greasy floors are the worst. The
fast-food restaurants around. And I empathize with them, I mean I'm sure it's
difficult to get that film off the floor, but they're just not conscious of how
well they do it. -And a lot of the floors is very you know, it's very smooth is smooth anyway,
and if they've got a little bit of texture to them you know, it's not as, quite as bad.
-You, we to an extent, spend
most time focusing on and worrying about in the world outside our home is bathrooms. Bathrooms are huge...
Well they're not huge, that's the problem [laughter]! They're too small and there are steps and things.
-So if we are, we like to know in advance where is my next bathroom break going to be.
-Because of course we are two different sexes so it's not so easy to get into a bathroom.
-So we you know as a heterosexual couple, we need to find a
-family bathroom -a family bathroom ideally. Because even if there's a wheelchair accessible bathroom,
if it's you know the men's room and there's you know 20 urinals and 15
stalls and a lot of traffic coming in and out or vice versa,
me going to the women's room is not going to work, her going to
the men's room we've done it we have to but it's not comfortable for anyone. -Yeah.
-A private room. You know I know a lot of places have places for mothers to nurse you know
a lot of those might be multi-purpose, I don't know.
-For example, hotels. Um, it's interesting that you go into a hotel and now sometimes your so-called
accessible rooms in the mirror will start here. All you got to do is sit in a
chair you don't need to have a wheelchair person sit in a chair and
notice that the fact mirrors traditionally that is you know. When some
of the hotels and older buildings of businesses are making their
accommodations they will put two grab bars up and they think that's access or
you can't get a wheelchair and you can't turn turn around you can't close the
door. So putting them grab bars up does not make it wheelchair accessible. The
handicapped parking, again putting up a sign doesn't mean to say that it's
handicap accessible. You need to follow the guidelines to have extra wide and
the access space as well, but so many places and I see every every week, I'll
go someplace and there's they'll plop down handicap sign
and parking sign and it's no access at all. -So it's like any other spot.
-It's like any other spot, so just just putting in a grab bar or putting up a mirror or
putting up a sign, does not make it accessible. Look at the guidelines and
follow the guidelines.
-Well I know that there's a lot of planning that goes into
designing public places and I think that if those people that are designing the
public places have a team of folks that have either been through or have a
knowledge a knowledge base of what it's like to have disabilities or people with
disabilities, then if you have those people on the Planning Commission's if
you have those people in the architectural teams, I think that would
be very important to be able to plan how are people with disabilities going to
get in and move around and so forth, and general population doesn't understand
that unless they've been through it. So you need to tap into people who are
experienced, people that have either the disabilities themselves, why not get some
of those people in because they are the voice that we need to hear.
-If they're gonna build a new building I wish they'd ask me to consult or somebody to
consult. You know, you're here, you're available, you're a resource, I'm a
resource, and they may not want to do it the way or somebody else might not want
it that way, but you need that perspective.
-I mean, to me the easiest thing that could
be fixed in town to make it easier for anybody with a stroller would be the
sidewalks. I really feel like that's a it's a
no-brainer [laughter]. You know, that we're not the only ones with a stroller or a
wheelchair, you know, that trying to navigate around those poles and
traffic. It sucks! And you know and dug out sections of sidewalks. -Absolutely.
-In public spaces it'd be really helpful if there was seating in every store or every building
that you come in. Because if you're on crutches you get so tired walking around
on your crutches, and so it'd be really helpful to have a place to sit. And
designated place to sit that's not like tucked away in a corner, like here's a
random chair you can sit on. That's not very inviting for those who
have disabilities. And also, when you design a building make sure that you
design it to be able to have a wheelchair maneuver through it, and even
just how you're setting up maybe if it's a store, how you're setting up your
displays. Can a wheelchair get all the way around without bumping into this
display next to it.
-You know I know the intentions are there, and but there, as I
say, in this day and time, the information is out there for people. I don't know about
other areas, but when I was doing some part-time work after retired, I did some
part-time as I said for the city as an ADA coordinator. If your in question, go to
the, go to the town or the city, you know, find out who their building and zoning
people are, and talk to them about necessity to make some changes. -Mmm-hmm.
-If you liked these stories and want to hear more, check out our website
universaldesign.org/people
Oh, and if you can relate to situations like
this, share your story on our site and contribute to our "Wall of People." This
helps bring awareness for the need for better design for a wide variety of
people in our communities.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét