[JoTucker]

Hello,

I am a masters student in Property Development and would appreciate your help with choosing my dissertation topic.

I have worked as a live-in carer for clients with SCI’s and as a result have developed a great interest in accessibility. I have watched my clients battle with it and I have watched developers attempt to deal with it having no real idea of what is required. I would like to focus my dissertation on these needs. In my most optimistic moments I imagine developers consulting my work in the future and thinking, ‘so this is what I’m supposed to be providing!’ But in reality I would just like to create something that will put issues on the table and focus future research in a way that would actually help disabled service users.

I have not yet developed an aim and so I’m asking you for advice on what you think I should investigate. For example I could deal with the requirements for accessible holiday destinations. (tracking hoists, clinical waste disposal, environmental control technology, swimming and entertainment etc) and continuing with holiday theme: airports??

I’m embarrassed to say that even after working in this area I have very few ideas!!!

Please could you help by posting ANY suggestions or stories. It would be fantastic if you had ideas as to what you would ask of property developers, what is missing? What issues do you face? What would be really helpful? And what would take a building from simple compliance to an amazing experience for disabled service users?

Thanks so much, I’m really hoping this paper will work out and prove at least a little useful.

[dangerousdave]

NO DOORS
except the front and wet rooms
OPEN PLAN
with extraction fan over the cooker area
1 METER GAP
we need ever clear road ways
FLOOR LIFT ONLY
Stair lifts are for imbiciles ie non disabled
GARAGES
wide enough for car and wheelchair

But I'm Single

[HiltonP]

Big rooms don't necessarily equal accessible rooms (a common mistake).
Big bathrooms don't necessarily equal accessible bathrooms (refer above).

Doors that swing on hinges, or are sprung, should be banned.
Make doors slide, and see how much space you buy for yourself.
Better still, as the previous poster mentioned, do away with doors all together.

Make disabled toilets uni-sex. Don't put them in the Mens room, or the Ladies, put them on their own.

If you can provide access without using a mechanical/electrical device, do it.
Lifts, hoists, remote doors, etc break down, or require maintenance. Ramps work 24/7, rain or shine.
There's nothing more useless to a disabled person than a broken lift.

Design access into the structure, don't tack it on as an afterthought.

When in doubt about whether an aspect of a building is accessible, just grab a chair (or better still
rent a wheelchair) and try going about your daily routine (i.e. trying to shave at a handbasin, or
reach a lightswitch). It's really not rocket science, even a dummy can do it, maybe even an architect
or engineer! . . . Mmmm . . . maybe not.

[guido]

Are you from the UK? If so you can contact the Centre for Accessible Environments. When I rang them over an issue they could not have been more helpful or generous with information and where to get it.

Getting developers to understand about design is not just about giving them measurements but about getting them to understand a concept, and also that making a place accessible does not have to be more expensive as long as it it built in from the start.

Sometimes it's as simple as making someone sit down for 2 minutes. Like the builder who asked me where I wanted the shower tap. Rather than just tell him, I made him get a chair, sit where I would sit, and reach for the shower tap. He suggested exactly where I wanted and understood a process. (Did the same with another builder who was a bit of a Pool Shark - the game! He offered me a game, but seeing that he had beaten everyone else, I made him sit on a stool while playing each shot. It was the worst game he played and meant the other builders gave me a bit more respect after that!)

Designing accessibility into a new build can only be good for business. If a wheelchair user can get round, so can new parents with buggies and prams, so can an elderly person with sticks and a carer, so can anyone who's injured themself or having a hip replaced, so can a fit healthy AB. That means a building should be more attractive to a wider audience which should increase the chances of sales and maximum profit.

(... and PLEASE start putting in wet-rooms as standard. They've been doing it in Europe for decades and they are the business.)

This post has been edited by guido: 17 February 2010 - 08:19 PM

[JoTucker]

Thanks for your suggestions and input! This is very helpful.. I really need all the help I can get, so please keep commenting!

How often would you say you cannot get into a building?
What is the worst obstacle facing access-ability?
Are there any buildings that you avoid and why?
Do you have problems finding holiday destinations? restaurants? etc that are accessible?
Is there anything that annoys you about the planners etc that are making the decisions or misconceptions about access? (please feel free to rant! If i know what pisses off the service user I can make useful suggestions to fix it.)

Thanks for the suggestions about getting into wheelchairs, I'm going to give it a try. Also the sliding door suggestion was interesting because I have looked at a few floor plans that have at least 5 swinging doors... so clearly not what you are looking for!

Lots of people are talking about wet rooms, so hopefully those will be standard soon. (I am in the UK, so thanks for that lead, will follow up on it tom)

A final thought, do you think that the way we are dealing with access is actually isolating the disabled? I looked into access holidays and it seems that instead of making all resorts accessible they are creating access resorts- like a special holiday destination for the disabled??? is that how it works? please share your experiences...

[airart1]

there called pocket doors, make sure u can get under your sink, where ever there is one, especially the kitchen, even if u grade up to the front door, always put it flat in front of door, so u'll be on an even keel as u go in..........lots of concrete...hardwood floors and no carpet as much as u can.....u can clean a hard floor, remember your riding a bicycle everywhere u go, in and out............i think u can google and get alot of ideas, everyway u do it, the ADA website has all the dimensions............in the US...

[HiltonP]

JoTucker, on Feb 17 2010, 09:21 PM, said:

How often would you say you cannot get into a building?

Too often. Being able to get into the foyer is one thing, being able to get around the building is another business all together (i.e. upper floors, toilets, etc).


What is the worst obstacle facing access-ability?

Architects and town planners.


Do you have problems finding holiday destinations? restaurants? etc that are accessible?

Accommodation is the most difficult (hotels, b&b's, etc).
Public transport (or the lack thereof) is the other biggest problem.


Is there anything that annoys you about the planners etc that are making the decisions or misconceptions about access?

The fact that new buildings are being constructed which are not accessible, and businesses are being allowed to operate which are not accessible.


A final thought, do you think that the way we are dealing with access is actually isolating the disabled? I looked into access holidays and it seems that instead of making all resorts accessible they are creating access resorts- like a special holiday destination for the disabled??? is that how it works?

I COULD THINK OF NOTHING WORSE!! . . . I avoid anything like that like the plague!

[dangerousdave]

On the subject of carpets
Personaly I like one carpeted space - generaly the living room
If I have a project to do - I do it on the floor - where the space is to spread everything out
I don't find getting dressed on the bed easy - pulling my pants up is easier to do a firm serface
Wet room, and lino the rest. The number of times I've watched water running of my wheelchair - by the mop and bucket
Sliding doors (remember I'm a ex engineer) are not problem free unless they are powered and expensive, won't bother with the details
Another beuty to reflect on - at the top of a ramp - and find the door opens towards you
Places to avoid - UK AND BELGIUM - Germany a close 3rd
Spain in 04 was interesting - at a petrol station I could see the disabled loo facing me up about 4 steps
Ohhhhhhh don't forget, high ceilings for us is low cielings for you hahaha

[Tate]

• access buttons that are behind the door swing, pain in the butt, I block the door while I hit the button
  
• placement of accessible sinks, counters, etc are often next to the door, so when the door opens...wham.

I'm on a college campus and it's pretty much one big hill, there is a large building in the middle, built into the hill. So the front of the building has a ground level entrance on the top of the hill while the back entrance has a ground level entrance at the bottom of the hill!

Really excellent, I can save energy if I want by riding the elevator, or exit from both floors during a fire, or roll around if it nice out and I don't want to wait for the elevator. There are actually two buildings like this on campus and I think all buildings near a hill should be like that.

[Ches]

One thing that drives me crazy in commerical buildings (public) is when they put the towels/dryer 10 feet away from the sinks.. How am I supposed to keep my hands clean when they are soaking wet and now I have to grab my nasty wheels and roll over the bathroom floor to dry my hands?

Another is the soap dispensers.. they are always like 2 or 3 inches TOO HIGH to easily push and release the soap.

ANNNNND I HATE HATE HATE when builders go into a bathroom and give the stall the 4x4ft that is required by ADA but then add a door the is nearly 4 feet wide and swings inward.. the stall is NO good if I cant shut the door behind me.

[dangerousdave]

And how many times Ches have you opened the stall door to find the space next to the pan full of bins
Squirted water all over your pants because you cant get the damned catheter envelope under the tap
Had hot air blown into your face as the air nozel wont move
Tryed to use a blacked out night loo as the lights dont work

The list is endless is it not

Oh - nearly forgot - slipped out of my chair, hurting, stareing at the red help chord thats dangling from the cieling out of reach instead of along the skirting board where I could have got it

This post has been edited by dangerousdave: 02 March 2010 - 11:48 AM

[tyvin]

Bump! What happened?

The previous suggestion to go into a wheel-chair for a day is an excellent idea.

Theory; make sure you got it going on with the theory and what theory or group of theory you will be guided by to support the targeted, detailed subject (needs to match and support etc..). Go online and view past dissertation ideas related to your interests.

Good-luck

[Ratticis]

DON'T put the bathroom 3 feet above the normal floor leval for no decernable reason then have steps going up to it or even better, a ramp at a 45 degree angle. I've seen both, and when I gotta go I really don't want to try to fight up a ramp