Accessible Facilities

It becomes customary that I’m invited annually to give a special lecture to international students from Design Business Technology Management (DBTM) at Thammasat University (Rangsit Campus), Thailand. This year, marks the 5th anniversary of my public speech here. There were roughly 75 vibrant students at the virtual classroom as we’ve done it via Zoom (due to Covid-19). This was the first time in virtual setting and no match to the vibe of physical interaction. Yet these energetic students made it possible to make my informative stuff a little more fun.

One of our members sent us picture and reported: >Today around 1pm, they parked there out of habit. >I want our society to acknowledge the rights of people with disabilities >Our society really does not value their rights enough, totally everywhere

The issue of accessible parking spaces can be improved in many ways, and we have worked to solve this problem during the last 7 years in as many aspects as we could. In the policy aspect, we were appointed to be part of the committee. However, the movement had not been successful. This will be the second chance to get this problem solved.

At Tesco Lotus Rama 3 where the accessible parking space was incorrectly used as a rental area for retail purposes, we decided to start a discussion on our page and within less than 30 minutes, a person who was using the accessible parking space called me to apologize, and said that he would move his car ‘immediately’ out. After that, he also took a picture and sent it to me as a confirmation. Later on, the manager of the rental department at Tesco Lotus Rama 3 called me and I insisted firmly that the area needed to be strictly managed.

5 July 2021 The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities(DEP), led by Director-General, Professor Siriluck S (Architecture, Lat Krabang University), and the “Accessibility Is Freedom” team, we went to observe the construction and management of facilities at the Fashion Island mall on Ramintra Road, and also presented an award to them for being a good mall role model, with the Building Manager – Khun Apisit K and his team welcoming us.

Because we want our city to change. In order to do so, we must identify the problem first. [Saba] led [Ice+Book+Rew] to explore the new train station to let them see by their own eyes. The new generation will take care of our society in the future. Let’s listen to them. SabaLive / Thailand Tomorrow – the series

Throughout the situation of Covid-19, security forces are the only group of people that is authorized to enter the area under 2 hours. However, in the area, there are no disabled people at all. Nonetheless, we are looking for the keepers of a white car. If you are the owner of this car please do contact us. As for the person who parks over the area, please notify them as following:

I got this photo from my friend who helps push the development of Thailand accessible facilities and he said that this restroom is “Perfect”. And I knew that as we’re all seeing the accessible restroom common standard as on picture shows, he meant to make a joke. After I saw the photo, I quickly responded his msg that “It’s not good enough”. So, I have to marked up the blind spots, all comments are from definitely from Thailand accessible law, also from my experiences:

We heard the news that the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) was building station platforms which were lower than most of new stations and a public transportation system where everyone has equal access is one of our topics that has been followed closely. “If we can transport, we can develop our lives” is the sentence that I always use. I don’t care if it’s high or low, all I want is that everyone can use it conveniently and safely without extra equipment. Reducing the complexity and difficulty during the use are enough.

I went to UNIQLO at Pattanakarn so I also take a look at the surrounding. 1. Accessible toilet: The toilet is good, clean and accords to Thai standard but UNIQLO is a Japanese brand and I hope to see Japanese standard. 2. Building Access: It is accessible. I do not usually see the floor on the inside and outside of the building level. This eliminates the concern for ramps. The inside is a flat ground.