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Yeah I used to do research on robotic wheelchairs, and as part of that I had to use them. Half of the “accessible” doors on campus where not powered, so I had t
by ModernMech 3y ago
Yeah I used to do research on robotic wheelchairs, and as part of that I had to use them. Half of the “accessible” doors on campus where not powered, so I had to open them while sitting in the wheelchair. It was impossible to do without holding the door with my legs. And they were these big heavy doors.
Then there was the elevator, which could barely fit the wheelchair. You can go in at juuuuust the right angle to get on the lift, then you had to reverse out because there was no room to maneuver inside. I started actually getting claustrophobic.
I just couldn’t see how an actual wheelchair-bound person could get into these buildings on a daily basis.
- joker_minmax 3y agoWhy do "accessible" doors always have to weigh so much more than regular doors? The powered ones are extremely difficult to open if the button decides to not work.
- bombcar 3y agoIt's like trying to turn power steering in your car with the engine off. They're often not designed to "freewheel" so you're dragging the equipment with it. Automatic sliding doors is the way to go, or if you have swing doors then they should be very large and well-hung. The large also contributes to it - a normal door may be 3 feet wide, an accessible one can be 4 or even 5 feet wide.
- ModernMech 3y ago> Automatic sliding doors is the way to go, or if you have swing doors then they should be very large and well-hung. There’s a joke here. Someone run with it, I can’t suss it out.