4 ms·
No mention of the ADA in the entire article - I guess people with mobility issues should go fly a kite.
by hobs 3y ago
No mention of the ADA in the entire article - I guess people with mobility issues should go fly a kite.
- jackson1442 3y agoyou can have single-stair with elevators.
- pmontra 3y agoWhich is the norm in Europe. One stair, one elevator. Even large and long buildings are divided in "stairs": there is central concrete tower with the staircase and the elevator shaft and a number of flats around it. Repeat like a pack of AA batteries. No way to move between them except the basement with parking for the cars.
- epistasis 3y agoElevator regulations are another area where the US needs to improve. In many areas, the regulation is that if there is an elevator, it must be big enough to hold a stretcher for EMTs. These are of course far more expensive than an elevator large enough to accommodate a wheel chair. So given the choice between some accessibility and extreme accessibility which is too expensive to provide, the legal choice is to go with zero accessibility. After a while it becomes clear that the point of most of these regulations is to make multi-unit housing inconvenient and expensive, under the veneer of regulations that, on their face, would improve outcomes.
- pmontra 3y agoRecent houses here do have much larger elevators than houses of 50 years ago, which in turn had much larger elevators than older houses. I don't know if they can accommodate a stretcher but they can often fit a bicycle, which can be quite long. 70 cm of wheel diameter plus tires plus the distance between wheels. It could be close to 2 meters. A stretcher is maybe longer if completely extended. I don't have figures, but my job, but for a multi unit house the extra space is probably not a problem. A typical one could be 10 floors, 4 units per floor. The extra expense for the builder of the house is divided by 40 and the extra space taken from each floor is divided by 4. The maintenance and electricity bills are higher though.
- explaininjs 3y agoLiving in boston with a broken leg certainly made me very proficient in the {carry crutches while hobbling up and down countless staircases using only the railing to lift my entire body up and down with one arm} waddle. Anyone with anything more debilitating should steer clear.
- ghaff 3y agoAlthough a lot of houses outside of cities require you to go up a flight of stairs. I own a house with a single staircase and the only bathroom is on the second floor. Was on crutches for 6+ months once.
- renewiltord 3y agoI imagine if one staircase doesn't do the trick, it's unlikely that the second on the other side of the building helps very much.
- timdev2 3y agoI'm not understanding how two staircases are more accessible than one. Can you elaborate?
- sonic45132 3y agoIt does mention buildings can be a single stair with an elevator. 2 stairwells vs 1 stairwell doesn't need affect ADA compliance.
- ghaff 3y agoIt does mean disabled residents are sort of screwed if there's a fire alarm and the elevators are shutoff--as a friend told me recently--unless the neighbors can help. But that's sort of ignored given lack of realistic options.
- estebank 3y agoIsn't that the same situation whether there's a single staircase, staircase + fire escape or two staircases?
- ghaff 3y agoYes. Multi-stories are generally an issue with people with people in the case of fire.
- estebank 3y agoThat's a factor of how many units are serviced by a set of stairs. On the same surface area you can have one large building with two staircases and one long corridor that splits the building down the middle, or you can have two separate buildings with a single set of stairs each and a better layout for apartments with more than one bedroom. The peak egress traffic will the the same for each case. But all of this is unrelated to > It does mean disabled residents are sort of screwed if there's a fire alarm and the elevators are shutoff--as a friend told me recently--unless the neighbors can help.
- anon291 3y agoIf you can't walk down one staircase, and require an elevator no matter what, how are two staircases going to help?
- masklinn 3y agoHow exactly do two staircases improve accessibility compared to... one staircase? The norm in europe is one staircase and one elevator. The elevator is the accessible bit.