Accessible Ranking

Location: Bangkok / BTS Chong Nonsi Station / Sathorn Thani Building Exit Problems: 1. At first – built the walk way link to the building unaccessible for all ***This is illegal *** 2. Then, later built up the ridiculously ramp…

Last year marked quite a busy year as I was invited frequently to deliver speech talks. Any visiting events were built in complete regard to satisfy full accessibility. I give you one ample example at Amnesty Media Award as the followings below: – The slope at the front stage, signifying the highest honour I called this flash arousal ‘privilege’. You know what this, locating at the forefront, is so important. Why? Traditionally, a slope was often located at the backstage or at a hidden place somewhere else far away. Or another popular example, having two (publicly) brand-new elevators with one …

Many of our avid fans must realise very quickly when I told you about my last purchase of ROHO for 6 months then it leaks off. I was so worried because the seat was no where near cheap. It’s almost 20,000 Baht. But I had to buy and use it. Without it, I cannot live and work my life quite well. Because of this seat, it reduced possible pain to my body and allowed me to be crazy with life sometimes. My marathon achievement wouldn’t have been possible without this this seat. It’s not exaggerated to say that this seat …

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.

I’m recently notorious of bad and unequal comparison that might instigate us to feel inferior. There’s no way I’d do that, by intention. So today I make a twist to show a more positive side of ours. The image is clearly demonstrated in itself of what we actually can do. When we want something to be great, it would finally be great.

Jern-jern is a young PWD with muscular weakness (ALS – Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). Still fresh from university, she has been working for 2 years. Her office is at Ratchada (read as Rat-cha-da) area, adjacent to her place in about 300-meter wheeling distance. Along the way on sidewalk, she has to encounter with a shit called ‘S-Guard’. It’s a traffic-calming invention built to prevent motorists driving on sidewalk. The S-Guard  can’t do the job, preventing motorists but blocking Jern-jern. She has no choice but to get down on the road and find her own way out. And we all know that …

One of our fellow networks has sent this devastating scene to me when he explored the whole area of MRT Bang O station, a newly-built station recently opened for service. I personally don’t blame the labour workers who, after all, follow the order of their boss. And their boss follows the order of their superior up further, and the superior to the more superior.

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?

Since the past many years, Fashion Island has been one of shopping malls that we’ve engaged in a deliberate consultancy. It keeps improving to match its grand goal: ‘a shopping mall for all’. Recently, we joined the meeting once again and one of the managements threw a commitment word to us, “Good is not enough guys. It must be WOW!” The situation was better now after the peak of the Corona Virus, so yesterday was my first field survey and I was shocked by what I’d seen before my eyes.

During 2017-2018, we had involved and made a deliberate consultation to the Mega Bangna’s management team. This inclusive collaboration included the accessible parking improvement, toilet redesign, its new zone of Mega Foodwalk, and many more. I still remember that one of the management guaranteed firmly that the mall would incorporate full accessible facilities so everyone can get access comfortably and equally. Time passed, and I regularly received good news about the mall’s traffic that increasingly welcomed variety groups of customers; family, the elderly, or the wheelchair users. They came there because they knew they could, thanks to the all promised …