Comments on: Disability-Friendly Upper Penang Road

By: Norzu

Norzu — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

This is good progress.

By: Life Feel

Life Feel — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

bravo

*clap hands*

By: BawangMerah

BawangMerah — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Educating the public will always be the problem

By: dave

dave — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

you know, that’s great. but we need more of these facilities in every part of malaysia.

By: Lainie

Lainie — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

that’s nice to see
Although sadly, the parking spots will probably be taken up by people who shouldn’t quite frequently, if it’s anything like Ipoh there.

By: LecturerUM

LecturerUM — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

This is an interesting development.

I think it is high time disabled people should start educating themselves on what are good and bad accessible designs. See SDPP website for accessibility guidance.
http://www.disabledpersonspenang.org/access.htm

And we not only say what we think is wrong but actually could recommend to MPPP or other council officers or architects what is the best design to be used.

We need to have an accessibility checklist / access survey / access audit based on these guidance which are already available at SDPP website, when consulted by service providers and authorities.

With more and more disabled people educating and promoting Non-Handicapping Environment or Barrier-Free Environment, by specifying exactly what they need and be satisfied with, others will also be educated. That is the first step.

The second step is to highlight via media and promote to the public why there should not be abuse to these facilities. Then the enforcement of the authorities should be made, as disabled people should be able to take to court authorities that do not enforce what they can do under their jurisdiction, which is fining people who abuse the facilities. Refer The Streets, Drainage and Building Act, Uniform Building By-Law 34A.

But first, disabled people would need to take the first step!

Peter, good job on the post and all the best!

By: Cindy

Cindy — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Bless the people who thought of these facilities. Few years ago, when I returned to KL after not seeing it for 4 years, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the yellow walkway specially made for the blind was designed at the Brickfields area. My father, who lives alone in KL and is blind, goes to Brickfields often. More of these roads which benefit the disabled should be constructed all over Malaysia, and not just major cities.

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Norzu,
Yes this is.

Life Feel,
BawangMerah,
You are right. That is one of the reasons why toilets for the disabled in major shopping complexes are locked now.

Dave,
These facilities should be incoporated in all public places. That is the least the government can do to integrate people with disabilities into the society.

Lainie,
Sadly, that is a fact of life. In our struggle with the authorities to have such facilities constructed, we also have to fight with fully able-bodied morons who insist on using it for their own convenience.

LecturerUM,
Thanks. We hope this will be a spring board for local authorities elsewhere to implement the same policies.

Cindy,
More than often, such pathways are being blocked by people without common sense who park their vehicles right on it. These obstruction are extremely dangerous to the visually impaired who may trip and injure themselves.

By: facets

facets — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Wow!They finally finished the construction of the roads.(Clap!Clap!)

It seemed like they are taking forever just to reconstruct the roads.Glad they are making the roads more user friendly now…

I shall check it out when I balik kampung

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

facets,
Actually, they did not reconstruct the roads, they upgraded the walkways. Now it is more pedestrian friendly. Do check out the informative tablets along the way. You will learn a thing or two more about the history of Penang.