Architectural barriers in a slightly different light
People talk about "slaves of the fourth floor," but a barrier can be just a few steps leading to the elevator. Barriers such as stairs, crooked sidewalks and heavy doors make life difficult for some of us, for people with limited mobility or parents with strollers they can effectively exclude us from places.
Alina has not been outside for three years. Her shopping is done by her neighbor, her trash is taken out by a cleaner for a small fee. It's not that Alina wouldn't want to go out - she would, but she lives on the second floor. One usually speaks of "slaves of the fourth floor." These are people with limited mobility, trapped on the top floors of blocks of flats or townhouses without elevators. The thing is, just the second floor or even a few steps leading to the elevator can make it impossible to get out of the house without the help of a third person.
I know better, or at least I think I do
A few years ago there was a high-profile video in which the administrator of a block of flats showed the wife of a man with a disability how to "properly" enter the driveway. During this demonstration, the man fell off his wheelchair. Without any experience, it is easy to conclude that architectural barriers are not a problem or imaginary difficulties - these are the most common comments, which are, by the way, unnecessary. What is needed instead is systemic assistance and the will and awareness of those designing them. A wheelchair carrying an adult with a disability can weigh up to a hundred kilograms. Often the responsibility for assisting such people falls on spouses who are no longer in full strength. Climbing a few stairs with such a heavy wheelchair is an insurmountable barrier.
"These ramps are a 'wonderful' thing. And sometimes I wonder what is a bigger accessibility roadblock - this ramp or the stairs themselves," - writes one of my observers. "Ramps of the rail type or made of sidewalk tiles are either too steep, too wide or too narrow. I already, as a rule, when seeing a ramp, look for another route. I write this as a mother who moves a lot with her baby in a stroller. We had two different models and there was always a problem." - She adds. Finally, she concludes that in her neighborhood, unfortunately, such solutions are common. She usually walks around or turns around when she forgets that such a driveway exists in a particular place. "It's a problem for a non-disabled person. It's scary to think about OzNs moving around in a wheelchair. Something terrible. Renovations, upgrades, fat money, and still a person walking along a newly made route encounters architectural barriers - unthinkable." - he concludes.
Experience changes everything
I deal with talking about accessibility on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the best lesson on this issue is experience. Neither in my studies nor in my professional practice did I have the opportunity to assimilate the knowledge of what real obstacle leveling is. Attention was always paid to including a 150 cm diameter circle in the toilet. This was the only accessibility design. It wasn't until the injury that put my leg in a cast, extending from ankle to thigh, and the need to move around on crutches, that I saw what real Inaccessibility was. Crooked sidewalk, stairs, streetcars with steps, heavy doors, cars parked on sidewalks. Suddenly, many places no longer existed for me.
Changing one's perspective by changing the way a space is used is eye-opening. A good example is the mayor of Poznań - Jacek Jaskowiak. In ground 2021, the local government official broke his leg and had to use a wheelchair. Recounting his experience, he mentioned that it was a new experience for him. At the same time, he stressed that it was an opportunity to see if his city is adapted to the needs of people moving in this way.
- I'm not going to sit at home, I'm going to look at Poznan from the perspective of a wheelchair user. I'm going to go to the cinema, to other places, I'm going to try to take the streetcar, the bus. I want to see how well the city is adapted to the needs of wheelchair users and understand their needs," he said. It is not necessary, by the way, to have experience in being in a wheelchair or driving one. Even a stroller with a child can open one's eyes to many architectural barriers. "Having a child recently, many of my favorite places, stores and services I had to give up. And how many bumps and curbs I see now that I never noticed! Sometimes I make up my way to avoid a narrow, uneven or steep passage. That's why people with disabilities and parents should also work on city projects, because until you experience it, you don't know how many such barriers there are at every turn." - one observer wrote me.
When life gives you lemons, or the best training kit
Some time ago on my social media I posted a post in which the issue of spatial accessibility I jokingly called traveling with a baby stroller coping with New Year's resolutions. After all, what else can you call carrying a stroller over all sorts of footbridges, stairs, underpasses, pushing it over moguls of snow, or making up the road so that you are constantly in the shade with your child? Such daily exercises are ideal for all parts of the body, until you want to sum up. Several of the moms watching me commented on this post, citing their experiences. "Mybest biceps were just when my children were small and traveling in a stroller." - we can read. Another shared a dialogue at work that took place after both of her returns from maternity leave, in which coworkers and co-workers praised her appearance. She responded to the compliments by saying that she carried her stroller up to the second floor every day.
View this post on Instagram
"100% right, how surprised I was when after two years of motherhood I saw what biceps I had (where with my skinny flabby branches it was a cosmic sight). Whenever I was walking with a stroller and bumped into some obstacle, I gave advice by various means, and I couldn't stop thinking then about the disabled, who find it a hundred times harder in such situations. And so I used to love snow, since I'm a mom, I hate the slush," comments another.
I live in Gliwice - the city library, the main branch, where the entrance for OzN is closed and only employees can enter it, so the main entrance is left (about 20 steps), for a stroller with a child metal rails on which you can kill yourself. On the other hand, the city restroom is accessed by several stairs down a narrow corridor, so it appears that young parents do not have physiological needs
Personally, in talking about accessibility, I like to cite my own experience. As it happens, in addition to a leg in a cast, it was necessary for me to take care of my grandmother. At 75 years old, the woman does not have the mobility that I do. Walking to the store, or at least to the bench, getting to the bus stop - it's all different when the range of motion is limited by medical conditions and age. Planning a commute completely changes when one has to consider not only the mobility capabilities of such a person, but also where we will be. Both getting into a cab and traveling by public transportation are not entirely comfortable. A car equals low sitting down, shrinking legs and then getting up from a sunken position. Bus or streetcar - uncertainty about the occurrence of low-floor rolling stock, transfers in which you have to stand in the sun. The vision of aging in a city where getting to the other side of the street can end in a stroke scares me.
Barrier named, but not eliminated
Architectural barriers have begun to be talkedabout more and more. There is a growing awareness of the phenomenon in society and in the architectural community. However, it seems to me that in addition to talking about the problematic nature of stairs, other barriers clearly need to be added to the collection. One of them is doors that are too heavy.
When I raise this problem among friends in the industry, I hear that this is obviously the result of fire safety requirements. Yes, but we also add to this exclusion when we design large glass front doors for residential buildings. We are used to the aesthetics of the glass first floor. Ah - how beautiful it looks on visualizations! The reality, however, is that having such a door myself in a block of flats, I have had to open it several times with two people. Let's agree - a mechanical reliever in such a case is neither a flight to Mars, nor an expense that ruins the budget.
To the whole issue can be added such elements as the lack of handrails, handrails, uneven sidewalk, cobblestones or thresholds. To add to this, one can mention narrow entrances and doors in buildings, corridors that are too narrow.
Lack also excludes
Architectural barriers are also deficiencies - for example, the failure to provide horizontal markings for the blind and visually impaired, including guide paths and attention fields. If they already exist, they are often obstructed (for example, by parked cars) or defectively designed, not guaranteeing maximum safety. It is assumed that the height of the communication space in such a path is a minimum of 220 cm, and the distance of the center of the path from any obstacle must not be less than 80-90 cm. This also goes hand in hand with the lack of equipment with sound signals.
Another example of exclusion is the inaccessibility of toilets. In a recent text I highlighted the importance of accessibility and zoomed in on a court decision in an Amsterdam case.
The scarcity of high greenery, and consequently the lack of shade, can also exclude. This type of deficit is also one of the urban barriers. For it both harms on a smaller scale - creating a danger for all those who are unable to stand in a particular place in the sweltering heat (50 degrees Celsius in theheated squares, revitalized markets, or simply waiting for a green light on one of the city's ring roads), but also on a larger scale, contributing to the urban heat island problem.
Each of us will be Alina
Alina, whom we met at the outset, has the comfort that the windows of her apartment, and therefore the whole world, overlook a square with a mature stand of trees. As a result, even the hottest days are not as damaging as in the housing development next door. After all, there the new apartment buildings look out over the parking lot of one of the stores. The effect? An easily felt, significant jump in temperature. For able-bodied people, it's a slight change - for seniors, young parents and other vulnerable groups, a place that even puts their lives at risk.
Architectural barriers are any impediments present in a building and its immediate vicinity, which, due to technical solutions, construction or conditions of use, prevent or impede freedom of movement. They are not just stairs that can be retrofitted with an inconvenient ramp. We need to start designing a city where we will want to walk with a toddler, but also one in which aging will be comfortable.
We owe much to the statutory changes mandating accessibility under the Accessibility Plus program. The right to accessibility of public entities' buildings and public services stems from specific legal provisions[1]. Based on them, every public entity in Poland must ensure accessibility in 3 dimensions: architectural, digital and information and communication. Lack of accessibility can be complained about. It applies to the designated public entities. However, when designing spaces outside this set, it is worth bearing in mind that we basically have a ready-made set of guidelines so that we don't have to condemn specific groups to exclusion. In the nutshell, the suitcase principle can work here - if you can't get somewhere easily with a suitcase, the place is off-limits.
For those who want to explore the subject more deeply, I recommend testing buildings on a cart. Increasingly, such procedure can be found at universities. Experiencing such movement once and for all changes the way you think about what is accessible. At many conferences there are also special suits that allow us to feel and see the world through the eyes of a senior citizen, that is, in a few years, the majority of our society. Paraphrasing a saying about a flashlight, one can ask then - do you design for yourself or for me? After all, not everyone is so fit, and everyone would like to move around the city, and has every right to do so with the rest.
Magdalena Milert
[1] These are included in two laws: The Law of July 19, 2019 on Ensuring Accessibility for Persons with Special Needs and the Law of April 4, 2019 on Digital Accessibility of Websites and Mobile Applications of Public Entities.
