Accessibility Is Freedom เข้าถึงและเท่าเทียม | Accessible and Equal
Urban
SrinakarinA new fabulous community mall in Srinakarin area has been completed and now opened for full service. This place is very close to my home as I drove by almost everyday. It’s such an impressive feeling that I saw its progress from the ground years ago until fully finished. So I managed my time to have a look.
After exploring the overall of the mall, I had to delivery my compliment to its management team as its accessibility was systemically in top-notch level. Let’s take a look on the following;
Building Access:
There were a staircase came along with a slope in front of the mall’s entrance. These could facilitate customers more comfortably especially, those wheelchair user and elder people. I wasn’t an engineer so I didn’t know the exact degree the slope was. But as my experiments, I could say that it was in a perfect steep and I, as a wheelchair user, could use it comfortably. This well-designed slope destroyed the accessible barrier and provided approachable feeling. Wheelchair user now would no longer ask anybody for help, just to bring them up to the mall’s entrance, anymore. Also, it acted as a first impression toward particular customers that this mall was welcome everybody regardless of your physical condition. Well done!
Restroom:
As I roughly observed only in 2 restrooms, I found quite many blind spots, just like most of other malls. Its detail still had some spaces for improvement. However, what I personally favored was its restroom’s symbol in front of the entry. It’s visibly big. You can notice it from far away.
Priority Parking:
Frankly, it’s still inadequate. As the information on hand, there were 50 outdoor parking lots and 500 for the indoor. The quantity of priority parking must, at least, account for 1% of the total parking lots by law. But so far, it had just 4 priority parking which has 1-2 to go. However, a security guard told me that they’re going to build more to reach the number.
Those security guards here were having a good trained, reliably informative, and really polite. They treated me so well and I was very happy. Perhaps, some of them must have ever watched my viral video clips lol. I wish that this high level of service should be the normal standard for any new malls. However, protecting the right for priority parking was still the case. Some normal people took this priority parking for granted forcing security guards to come to solve this problem by themselves. I understand that this issue takes time to correct and change people’s attitude, which is one of the hardest thing, and is seriously sensitive for any security guards’ job security. If they behave or say something too aggressive, which they might not mean to do so, chances are they could lose their job by the counterattack from particular customers. We need time to give encouragement to form the right attitude toward ineligible customers.
After 3 years of hard working in this area, I see radical changes in our society. The accessibility topic gains more concerns from the public. The science of universal design is becoming a normal practice. People with disability equally get better access and convenience. The goal is to making transformation in the inner people’s attitude because when people’s mind changed, it will naturally affect subsequences later on. What you and I could do, even little, is being part of our society for making continuous improvement. This is for you yourself and future generations.
Today was just a brief survey, I planned ahead to meet with the management team to give my sincere compliment as well as address other existing problems waiting to be fixed.
