[Apparelyzed]

Athletes Village balconies aren't wheelchair accessible

Former mayor and Paralympic Games ambassador calls situation a 'scandal'

As athletes gather in Vancouver this week for the 2010 Paralympic Games, none of the apartment balconies at the Athletes Village were designed to allow access for wheelchairs.

And the ambassador for the Paralympic Games isn't too happy about it.

Sam Sullivan, the city's former mayor, said while he understands the concerns the design team had with water leaking from a balcony into a suite, more effort should have been made to make the balconies accessible. All suites have a curb between the living area and the balcony. "That's a scandal," said Sullivan, who was recently appointed ambassador to the Paralympics. "I just talked to the guy building the Georgia hotel and he told me he had to fight for it but he has now achieved an agreement that he can build flush balconies. So if a private sector guy in a very expensive building like that can do it, why couldn't the Athletes' Village do it?"


More: http://www2.canada.com/vancouvercourier/ne...9c-479b2e3c95ad

[JimG]

Apparelyzed, on Mar 10 2010, 04:41 PM, said:

Jane Dyson, executive director of the B.C. Coalition of People with Disabilities, said she was disappointed to learn the balconies at the village were not accessible to people in wheelchairs. Dyson called the inaccessible balconies "shortsighted."

"I would have hoped they would have had some wheelchair users and people with other disabilities to go and test it out," she said. "We think that's really important and it's not done enough."

Just another example that until you're in a wheelchair.....you have NO idea.

I didn't.

I only use my chair a few times/month, but I see the world in a completely different light now.

[ADP-10-08-63]

should of had wheelchair users be there from the start so the design of the premises suits all wheelchair users

but that's to easy

so what do we expect for 2012 in mistakes from cutbacks and cutting corners so everything is done

what will effect the 2012 paralympics

[edlee]

What,,,nobody read what the engineer said??? Before anybody turns their indignation up a notch,, how about considering the additional hundreds of millions of dollars cost compared to the number of wheelchair users likely to stay in one of those rooms in the course of an average year.

How about they offer the crip $100 a night not to use the balcony?? How about a thousand a night?? Over all,, still the cheaper route.

The idea of portable ramps seems a far more equitable remedy,,,, without all the "outrage".
ed

[Texaswheelz]

Yea I read where he said it would cost more, but I don't understand it. I have never been in an apartment, motel or hotel room that had a balcony that was not flush with the room. I'm not talking about rooms that are said to be accessible but just in general, I've never ran into this issue or even seen or heard of it, which if the price increase was this much then I have a hard time believing that all the cheap apartments that I've lived in could afford to make the balconies flush when they were built.

[edlee]

The problem, Tex,, isn't with lower buildings,,,, two or three story,, it's with the high rises. It has to do with the type of outer covering they use. The main problems arise with keeping water ( and ice) from getting into the wall structure causing delamination of the building "skin".

Lower buildings, while having the same problem, don't have the same dangerous results from small ( sometimes large) pieces falling from them as do taller structures.

The curbs keep the water out of the wall structure more readily and more cheaply than other methods.

Where one could get by with chalking on some lower structures,,, codes require a bit more when going higher.

I guess they could just use up their required number of accessable rooms on the ones without balconies. Unless someone wants to require them to ALL be accessable,,,,, which I'm sure, some do.
ed

[HiltonP]

My personal experience of access in Canada has been that it is much
like their recent Winter Olympics . . . "lots of noise, but little substance".

[dangerousdave]

As a ex engineer I can state quite confidently that there is no problem with building disabled into society
You just build society into disability
Problem solved
Alas we have these demi gods called accountants, stataticians, and evil philanderfers who know better then thou

An example
Planning a weekend of booze and bands - I rang the organiser and asked about disabled loos - oh, no, sorry - OK maybe another time
He rang me back the following night - alls OK - disabled loos provided
Just swapped the order - do you mind non disabled people using disabled loos
No problem

Oh Edlee
A simple wooden 2 week platform solves the issue
With modern building methods - the problem is a issue which should not have happened

This post has been edited by dangerousdave: 11 March 2010 - 10:20 AM

[ADP-10-08-63]

engineers only read drawing
and not the true script of who or what the finished product is for
then there are cut backs to meet dead lines
so overall at the end of day it iis the atheletes that suffer reprepresenting there counrty at there disability discipline
this sucks abled bodied get 5***** star quality
and the disabled accomodation yet again has a buket load of snagging to over
where is equal opputunities when you need it
non-existant

[Tetracyclone]

i just think it's hilarious that the organizers set themselves up for this. They could have reserved a cheaper hotel without balconies and avoided the entire uproar.

[dangerousdave]

You think thats bad
Just you wait for the 2012 games here in the good old UK
No buses for you and a friend, tubes and trains extremely iffy
Cabs who will no doubt be helpful when available
So don't bother with our paralympics

You herd it here first folks