Ride, don't Walk!

Doing an exercise about what it is like to live life in a wheelchair, was really a good thing to experience. People everyday have to deal with places that are unable to accommodate for their disabilities, when it is not too difficult to add ADA requirements, especially if it is a brand new space that can be created from the ground up. Don't get me wrong, this was a challenging exercise, it is not easy moving around in a wheelchair for a long period of time; dealing with doorways that are not even wide enough to fit your arms through, or bathrooms that you can't even enter the handicapped stall and turn around, you have to back out. I learned that those out there with disabilities, are strong people to be using all their strength everyday to push themselves around and even doing things that may require help, but they do not need it. While riding in the wheelchair in one of the learning building here on campus, it really did not accommodate well for special needs, there was not enough turning space. What they did have was automatic doors for those handicapped. Accessible design I believe should be available to everyone, although that may not be the case, I know it is difficult to accomplish with costs. Maybe depending on how often the building is used by the disabled can determine whether accessible design should be an addition to the building. I do not see there really being a cost to our society if we do not all able to make this accessible design contribution. Although, in this day and age, many baby boomers are getting to a retiring age, which means a possible need for accessibility in more locations than we have now. Accessibility can, in the long run cause more questions for business's without it from those that need that access. That would then possibly cause that business to have to add on those ADA requirements, costing them more money than when they may have started the design. These are some images of my experience being in the accessible environment. As well as a sketch from a Cafe, coffee pick up stand.