Accessibility

Our body is susceptible to change. Nothing guarantees that your health today will stay the same tomorrow. ‘Tomorrow you may become a wheelchair user like me’. Imagine yourself in a wheelchair and come across a difference in floor height of just under two inches. I am sure that would cause you trouble.

This was some of my talk for students that touched me heartfully during my special lecture on Inclusive Design at DBTM, Thammasat University. During the lecture, We did an experiment illustrating that what would it look, and feel, like to be a disabled. All students were required to perform like in a particular kind of disability such as being blinded and being on wheelchair.

26 September 2020 At Victory Monument, I brought these young students to the ground to give an interview about the rights and equality in getting access. I also provided personal advice from my firsthand experiences. These youths, I admitted, were heavily vibrant and full of creativity. What a fantastic day.

A fellow friend of mine was recently hit a jackpot by having an (necessary) accident while he was about to step down from ill-built pedestrian cross bridge, making his rib broken severely. The district’s authority soon came to repair it, after the incident went viral. I was even more surprised by the quality of work repair. You can compare the before-and-after image. What an awful, careless job.

Our friends sent us this image and narrated a sad story that he had to bring her dad to the hospital but the parking wasn’t available. With conditions, she had to drop him off far away and let him walked to the hospital! Visiting the hospital is a basic human rights. Yet many of us still can’t have it due to poor footpath, an unrestricted street vendors, and many physical barriers in our city. Simply walking on a footpath in Bangkok, if not the whole Thailand, remains a challenging activity. There are problems everywhere, you name it.

I recently got this pic. The width of Bangkok’s pavement is next to nothing. While the Tokyo city built since 36 years ago and offers you very wide even a car can run on. An image is worth million words. This kind of scene has prevailed in Thai society for too long. Why didn’t we see much improvements at all? Why we’re still underdeveloped, and let this non-sense takes over our city and our life?

In a past few years, we have got contact from Thammasat university, also students who contacted me by them self and professors who asking us to give some special lectures, this year Prof. Han-sa who teaches in ‘UD352-Mega City in the Global South’ also have us a called. “I’m appreciated that professor giving us the opportunity to pass-on our knowledge to the students which is very worth it”, I said that I first met the her.

It’s been so long that I quite convincing myself to get inside a places with difficult access, just because I feel quite annoyed by being helped. I just didn’t want to bother other people and be lifted like an object. So I always ended up giving a pass and just waited outside.

An incoming call from an unknown number striking my phone on the table nearby. “Hello, is that Mr. Saba?”, asked a caller. “Yes, it’s me. Whom am I speaking with?”, I responded back to an unknown number. “Well, I came across to watch your video about a stairlift. I think it’s really good and I’d like to ask more for your opinions…” The caller stated his want and unveiled that he’s a manager at the Stock Exchange of Thailand Building. The place was currently trying to upgrade accessible facilities and also looking for suitable stairlift options.

A few days back, I was doing a field survey at ground level under the MRT Tha-phra station. There, it was a major intersection with wide road and busy traffic. The crosswalk colour was obvious, but not every crossing connected with footpath ramp. Yet the worse is still to come as traffic system provided ‘Left turn on red’, and rarely one would stop for pedestrians to cross safely. This complex intersection was also right under the (elevated) train station so it looked a bit dim, especially at night. In addition, after the station completion, there was a brand-new skywalk, replacing …