troubleinchina: Blog Against Disablism Day: A Place to call Home

Anna (

troubleinchina) wrote,
@ 2008-05-01 12:17:00

Blog Against Disablism Day: A Place to call Home

Blogging Against Disablism Day, May 1st 2008

If I were looking for a flat for just me, it would have two essential requirements:

- It would need to be within my budget, which is about 800$ a month.

- It would need to have access to a bus that would get me into the downtown where I work in a reasonable amount of time in the morning. For me, I'm willing to commute for up to 2 hours, but I get cranky after about an hour.

Pretty simple. The Halifax market is such that I could be living in Bedford in a two bedroom and be pretty content.

Things get complicated when I include Don, and want him to live in a way where he can get out and about with a minimum of fuss. At that point, my bare minimum requirements look like this:

- It would need to be within our budget, which is about 800$ a month.

- It needs to either be on the ground floor, or be in a building with a lift.

- The building cannot have more than five steps to get into it.

- Bus service needs to be regular.

- Bus service needs to include low-floor bussing.

- Bus service needs to be able to get Don into the downtown to see his doctors within a reasonable amount of time, which should be less than 30 minutes. He also needs to be able to access the only pharmacy in the city that has discount rates on drugs for those with chronic illnesses.

- The neighbourhood needs to be as flat as possible.

- Grocery stores need to be nearby.

- The sidewalks need to be regularly taken care of in winter.

Those are just the things off the top of my head that allow someone with the mobility difficulties Don has to get out of the flat on a regular basis. To be able to run to the store and get a carton of milk. To be able to get his medications for a price we can afford. To be able to make it to appointments. To be able to see people.

I have learned, in this fruitless apartment hunt, the questions to ask. It's trickier than I thought. When I confirmed with one landlord that yes, the grocery store was across the street, and should be fine with someone who was disabled to get there easily, he somehow failed to mention "Oh, but the flat is on the third floor of a walkup." When confirming in another place that there was a lift from the ground floor, and that it would be fine for people who couldn't handle the stairs, she failed to mention the 17 steps going up to the building. Another place assured me that people in wheelchairs could use the lift from the parking garage - without mentioning how dangerous it would be for someone who didn't have a vehicle they were getting in and out of.

Last week, near the end of my rope, I called a letting agency that assured people in their ads that they wanted nothing more than to get everyone into the sort of housing they deserved. "I just want a building that's accessible!" I said. "I just want some place where someone in a wheelchair can function."

"Oh... we don't really have anything like that."

"Can I talk to someone there about that? Anyone? Because this is driving me crazy. I want a place to live! That's all I want!"

"We're not trying to discourage people with disabilities from moving in."

Of course they're not. No one is.

They're not thinking of people with disabilities at all.

It's Blog against Disabilism Day today. When you get the chance, take a look around your home, your neighbourhood, your place of work or your school. Think about having to navigate it in a manual wheelchair. Consider how easily someone could get around if they can't walk up stairs. Could someone without a car who can't walk very far get groceries? Would winter lead to them not being able to get out at all?

Have you ever thought about it?

Related Posts for BADD (will be updated as I keep reading):

The Radical Notion that People with Disabilities are People at Hoyden About Town

Why I Don't Use The Word Retarded at Shapely Prose

(56 comments) - (Post a new comment)

	alya1989262 2008-05-01 04:15 pm UTC (link)
	Oh God. Don't even go there. I mean, even for non-disabled people, walking in the streets of Cairo is a bloody chore. I can't imagine what it'd be like, in a wheelchair. sigh (Reply to this) (Thread)

	troubleinchina 2008-05-02 12:01 am UTC (link)
	Don't tell me that! I have this idyllic plan of taking Don to Cairo one day! :( (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

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alya1989262, 2008-05-02 10:30 am UTC

the-willow.insanejournal.com
2008-05-01 04:27 pm UTC (link)

Yeah, honey. My current apt (the apt of lies) is fairly accessible for someone in a wheelchair - provided the landlord ever installs that ramp he's been meaning to put for the side steps inside the building to get to the ground floor.

The place I hope to move to? I found myself thinking this past week on how the heck I'd manage if things with my knee get worse. But at least then the landlady to be would be willing to work with me.

I end up thinking about stuff like this all time. But it's because I am disabled. I went to Boston? I loathed their subway system. Sure it gets you where you want to go - but with hurting knees and a bag, it was hellish. And I can't imagine it gets people in wheelchairs where they need to go when I saw no way for a wheelchair to board the train, farless get down to the tracks on any of their stations.

It's so odd to see you and Don having to consider the same things I do; re getting around. Cause I do realize Don's disabled. But even though I am on disability - I always think I shouldn't count myself, since if I -push- I can get around. Then something happens and I hurt myself getting off a bus cause I felt too shy to ask them to lower-it. And they don't extend the lift if you're not in a wheelchair and I go 'Fuck!'

Yesterday had my therapist scold me that pushing is sending me to exhaustion and relapse.

*hugs and good thoughts*

(Reply to this) (Thread)

buymeaclue
2008-05-01 07:59 pm UTC (link)

And I can't imagine it gets people in wheelchairs where they need to go when I saw no way for a wheelchair to board the train, farless get down to the tracks on any of their stations.

I'm not sure when you were in Boston, but most T stations are wheelchair-accessible now, with elevators (albeit smelly one) to the platforms that aren't at street level. Sometimes you have to look around a bit to find the elevator, but they're there (with signs pointing to 'em). I believe a chair can just roll right onto most of the trains from the platforms. Green line trains (the only ones with steps on/off) have attached lifts. I don't take the commuter rail or buses enough to know how accessible they are.

My immediate area (on the Somerville/Cambridge) line would, I think, be pretty wheelchair-friendly once you got the chair out of the house, but the ground-floor-or-elevator-with-minimal-outside-steps requirement would be tricky (and I suspect most of these places aren't very well set-up inside for someone in a chair).

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the-willow.insanejournal.com, 2008-05-01 11:31 pm UTC

buymeaclue
2008-05-01 08:02 pm UTC (link)

Oh! Boston also has The Ride: http://www.mbta.com/riding_the_t/accessible_services/?id=7108

"THE RIDE, the T's Paratransit program, provides door-to door transportation to eligible people who cannot use general public transportation all or some of the time, because of a physical, cognitive or mental disability."

Haven't used it, so I can't vouch for its effectiveness, but I see the vans all over the place.

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the-willow.insanejournal.com, 2008-05-01 11:34 pm UTC

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jadelennox, 2008-05-02 01:27 am UTC

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buymeaclue, 2008-05-02 01:38 am UTC

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troubleinchina, 2008-05-02 01:39 am UTC

troubleinchina
2008-05-02 12:03 am UTC (link)

That's exactly the sort of thing Don used to do all the time - he'd end up flat on his back for over a week because, darn it, he wasn't really disabled, just... slower. Or something.

Honestly, encouraging him to go to a specialist, get on disability in the UK, get a *cane*, these sorts of things, and taking away the personal-stigma of being "disabled" really made a difference. I know I talk a lot about how his quality of life is affected, but really - it's so much better than it used to be.

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(no subject) -

the-willow.insanejournal.com, 2008-05-02 12:16 am UTC

danelover18
2008-05-01 04:37 pm UTC (link)

Looking over your list also makes me think of actual accessibility in the apartment itself:

-Wide enough hallways to accomdate a wheelchair
-Bathroom large enough to accomdate a wheelchair and available or possible availablility of railings in the bathtub and near the toliet.
-A door that does not swing shut automatically
-Automatic doors in entrance
-(for the hearin impared) Wiring to set up lights to buzzer to inform renter of guests.
-Big enough kitchen with floor cabinets for storage and possibly a closet for a pantry.

There is so much that should be available. I keep forgetting you are in Canada because I would say most new apartment buildings require much of what you listed and I have to accomodate those with disabilities.

It frustrates me to think that many people still don't understand what accessbility means and continue to act like they don't encourage someone to rent from them. Its flat out discrimination.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

troubleinchina
2008-05-02 12:06 am UTC (link)

Oh, let me come live there.....

Sincerely, though, when he had his home support visit, WAY back in the day, the social care worker talked to the landlords about putting in one of those safety railings in the tub. That was almost a year ago now. There still isn't one, and I don't think there ever will be.

There are so many little things that need to be done to make living alone or even with an abled partner viable for people with disabilities, and there just seems to be this stigma attached to the idea of even considering it.

*sigh*

And none of this is getting into the little things that just make life *easier* for him, like having a good-sized tub (never gonna happen in a rental anyway) or the height of the kitchen counters.

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danelover18, 2008-05-02 12:22 am UTC

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troubleinchina, 2008-05-02 12:25 am UTC

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danelover18, 2008-05-02 12:42 am UTC

(Anonymous)
2008-05-01 05:11 pm UTC (link)

Our neighborhood is actually excellent in a lot of ways.
-level access/sidewalk ramps are required by law
-houses are required to have wide entries by architectural controls
-ditto for long wide access to primary entrances in case access ramps are required
-local schools are prohibited from having *anything* in the building not be level access/wide doored/etc.

Oh wait - you're renting? So sorry, our neighborhood is only accessable for well-off people with incomes that own their property. /sarcasm.

One of the things that's been making me want to scream is how interlocking priviledges are. Like, our neighbourhood is great for people with disabilities, if they also happen to be straight, white, middle-or-better class, family-oriented people. It's like there's a magic checklist that says "Pick one, but not more, of these discriminated groups". Come move to our neighborhood, we'd love to have a token Disabled Person to go along with our token Single Mom and our Token Gay Guy and our Token Visible Minority. It's like we're collecting the whole set!

(yeek. That sounds more bitter than I thought I was.)

James
(of the BrokenID)

(Reply to this) (Thread)

troubleinchina
2008-05-02 12:11 am UTC (link)

That's basically the long and the short of it, yes.

We looked at a place a while back that was probably affordable and may have satisfied a lot of the requirements... well, except that it's a poorer neighbourhood so not only are the streets full of potholes and the sidewalks all cut up to hell, the pay phones that work are so old they don't even take loonies.

The truth of the matter is, we're lucky.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

And then there's the classism on top of all that

zingerella
2008-05-01 05:20 pm UTC (link)

So I did some googling, to see what resources would be available to me, were I in your predicament. And lo, I did not find many resources for renters who need accessible housing. There are programmes that will help you make your house more accessible. There are programmes that will give you money (probably not enough money, but some money) to add ramps and chair lifts and lower counters and possibly widen doorways. There are architectural firms who will design you a completely wheelchair-friendly residence.

I couldn't find a single rental network for people with disabilities.

Restaurant reviews? Check. Basketball teams? Check. Taxis? Sure. Supportive housing for people who might not be able to live alone? Some of those too. But not one single resource for people who just need to rent a friggin' flat.

I've already 'fessed up to the Eyrie's shortcomings. We have a wide hallway, and live in a pretty flat neighbourhood, one block away from a kneeling-bus stop, but we also have two narrow flights of stairs leading up to the apartment, heavy doors to the building, and possibly the world's smallest bathroom.

I can't host Thanksgiving dinner, because my grandmom would be unable to get up the stairs to my apartment (so I have a plan to cook it at her house, except I'd need someone to drive me there). If they Eyrie were my own home, I'd damn' well fix it so that grandmom could come to visit (put railings on the steps up to the building, fix the heavy doors so that they weren't so heavy and didn't swing shut with such frightening force, live on the ground floor so that she could get around, and look into installing some sort of lift somewhere), but it's not mine. I don't have that option. Like all renters, i have to take the building as I find it. Unlike you and Don, I have the luxury of relatively few constraints on my choice space.

So yeah. People will help you if you have enough money and/or stability and/or vehicular mobility to own your own home, but if you're among the unwashed who rent, there's not even a housing directory for you.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: And then there's the classism on top of all that

troubleinchina
2008-05-02 12:15 am UTC (link)

Apparently we qualify for Habitat for Humanity.

I don't even know where they put the houses for Habitat for Humanity.

*sigh*

The irritating thing to me, of all the things that irritate me about this, is that in Alberta Don qualified for income assistance, and here he does not. So, on top of everything, we're supposed to muddle through all of this with only my income as a temp. I mean, we have our savings and all of that, so we're not going to end up on the street any time soon, but with the cost of housing in Halifax, half my income every month is currently going to this one-room flat for two people, and we can't get any assistance because I earn too much.

And that's what we've found out because I'm lucky enough to be temping at the Department of Health.

I have no idea how families who don't have that connection muddle through these things at all.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

emiweebee
2008-05-01 05:59 pm UTC (link)

There's a house near mine that converted their front walk into a ramp. Someone must have had an accident, I figure.

The worst part is, it was a home-built job, and so the ramp from the street looks like entirely too steep a grade. I can't imagine how the person gets in or out. And this is their own home!

If your friends and lovers can't get you a decent ramp, how on earth does the rest of the world even manage the little they do? Of course, they should do more, much more, but it's insanity when it's your own home and no one can even pull it off decently.

Unfortunately, I think it's also how much you really care about quality/quantity of life. I have a good friend with a chronic/terminal illness, and she's of the opinion she wants the most quality of life. She's going to live where she damn well pleases, and once the quality of life drops off, well, that's that then. And from what you've said about Don's benefit of the wheelchair, it's an even more complex issue. He can be without one and perhaps have a decent apartment, but he'd miss out on all the things he did in Oz that were only possible because of the chair.

Fuss.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	troubleinchina 2008-05-02 12:17 am UTC (link)
	It was really depressing today because he was basically housebound due to pain and the weather. It would have been a great time, if we'd had the chair, to go for a walk along the waterfront, just to get him some air and a change of scenery (being cooped up inside all day is not good for anyone's mental health). sigh (Reply to this) (Parent)

finderofstuff
2008-05-01 06:44 pm UTC (link)

About a year ago Alice was thinking of letting a friend with post-polio use our apartment while some family issues were being resolved, and it was a nightmare just thinking about it in terms of crutches. For a wheelchair, there's no bloody way. We're on the 7th floor of the building (and France doesn't count the ground floor, so you could say the 8th), the elevator is cramped for two normal sized people, the doors are narrow, and there are no buildings that don't have some stairs to get to. That's the bad news.
The good news, as I understand it, is that people with mobility problems can have a place provided by the state, at the expense of the state, so things aren't quite as bad in that sense as they are in Canada.

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	troubleinchina 2008-05-02 12:18 am UTC (link)
	Oh, I didn't realise that things were like that in France (in terms of government assistance). Yeah, we had friends in the UK we just couldn't visit because of the older buildings not having lifts. sigh (Reply to this) (Parent)

metonymy
2008-05-01 06:47 pm UTC (link)

I read this entry and was then thinking about it as I was walking around. My apartment's on the second floor and we only have stairs, but there are first-floor apartments at ground level - no ramp or stairs necessary, and safe. You'd have to be able to swipe your ID card, but I don't think it would be too high for someone in a wheelchair. The area is flattish. We have a bus stop nearby - it's a two minute walk - but that's all campus buses, and I don't think they kneel. Most of them are those new low-to-the-ground style but don't have lifts. (And yet they have wheelchair seating. How does that work, I ask you.) The campus bus stops in front of a pharmacy and in front of a grocery store, luckily. But - the big but - I live in campus housing. So good on the school, but I have no idea what it would be like trying to find affordable and accessible housing in this city. Craptastic, I bet, since it's not great to begin with.

The one thing that makes no sense? Campus health services is up a hill and has no sidewalks leading to the entrance. Who thought that was a good idea?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	troubleinchina 2008-05-02 12:20 am UTC (link)
	The buses may have ramps. A lot of the modern ones do. Your comment about campus health services reminded me of this post. Scroll down to the bit about invisible access for invisible disabilities. It curled my hair. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

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metonymy, 2008-05-02 07:13 am UTC

automaticdoor
2008-05-01 09:47 pm UTC (link)

Yeah. I often think about this because my mom's best friend's son is mostly paralyzed from the chest down and has a big powered wheelchair. There is no way in hell he could exist at Georgetown, and I don't think Don would have an easy time of it either, though we do have many elevators and automatic doors and ramps--but there are hills and missing sidewalks and narrow doors in the old buildings. Also, half the time on the DC metro, the elevators are broken and you have to get a shuttle from somewhere else.

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troubleinchina
2008-05-02 12:22 am UTC (link)

The biggest thing we have learned is Don can't ride any public transportation during rush hour.

I'm often *appalled* at people who just won't give up their seats for the man with the cane. He's had bus drivers lecture people about it, which on the one hand is awesome, and the other hand is just embarrassing.

A lot of universities think they're fully accessible. Back when I attended University of Alberta, a group did an experiment where they tried to get around campus all day in a wheelchair. They found it impossible. UofA thinks it accessible, though, because they have wheelchair accessible toilets.

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automaticdoor, 2008-05-02 12:28 am UTC

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troubleinchina, 2008-05-02 12:34 am UTC

spacelem
2008-05-01 09:59 pm UTC (link)

"Why I don't use the word retarded". O_o

So what, we replace it with another word, which in due course becomes just as associated with whatever disorder the person has?

When the word spastic came out, it was a medical term, related to the word spasm. But because it's one of those words with all those c's and t's that you can say harshly*, it ends up getting used offensively. The spastic society changed its name to Scope, and "scoper" became a somewhat infrequently used insult.

The point is, you can never get rid of the stigma behind the disorder, whatever you call it. Changing it to something like "visually challenged" or "partially sighted" instead of blind just sounds condescending.

So no, I'm going to continue to use the word "retarded". I'm just not going to insult people with it.

--
* I don't think the word "frell" with ever catch on because it's really hard to say it and mean it. "Dreck" on the other hand...

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	spacelem 2008-05-01 10:34 pm UTC (link)
	Someone on that same site pointed out that "lame" also refers to a medical condition. Seriously, what is wrong with people? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

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troubleinchina, 2008-05-01 11:51 pm UTC

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spacelem, 2008-05-02 12:58 am UTC

biophys_kim
2008-05-02 12:02 am UTC (link)

I don't know if you've had any luck finding anything or not, but have you heard of/looked at Quinpool Towers? If I remember correctly they have a lift, are right by a grocery store and a block away from a wheelchair bus that goes down Robie (and during the week and on Saturday there's also a wheelchair bus that regularly goes down Quinpool and goes downtown). And I know there are other individuals in wheelchairs who live there (I sublet there one summer a few years ago). Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the price.

I'm ashamed to admit that most of the time, I don't think about accessibility. It's only every once and a while when I'm on a bus or trying to maneuver around something or going up stairs that I think about how difficult it would be for someone who is disabled to manage those same things. Halifax has a lot of issues with accessibility, even on main streets in the downtown.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

troubleinchina
2008-05-02 12:24 am UTC (link)

We actually did look at Quinpool Towers (and Quinpool in general is the area we're hoping to get into - it's beautifully flat and has lots of things close together). The flat we looked at was perfect, but their two-bedrooms are 950$ and I don't think they have 1 bedrooms.

I really regretted not being able to get it, though. So beautiful! It even has a nice grassy place that's really easy for people living in the building to get into so Don could sit outside without drama.

Ah well. Maybe next time.

(And yes, the hills!

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ginny_t, 2008-05-02 12:45 am UTC

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troubleinchina, 2008-05-02 12:47 am UTC

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ginny_t, 2008-05-02 12:52 am UTC

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biophys_kim, 2008-05-02 01:09 am UTC

jadelennox
2008-05-02 01:24 am UTC (link)

Oh, God, so true. When we were getting my sister into disabled sheltered housing -- and in case I didn't say that clearly enough, Disabled. Sheltered. Housing. -- we kept coming up against units on the second story of converted Victorian townhouses. "Oh, it's accessible," they would tell us. "We put one of those little lifts on the stair rail." FOR A GIRL WHO CAN'T LIFT HERSELF OUT OF HER CHAIR.

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	troubleinchina 2008-05-02 01:41 am UTC (link)
	headdesk You would think someone would realise the problem there. I guess it's disabled shelter housing for only Certain Types of disabled people. The rest can fend for themselves, I guess. Grrrrrrrrr. (Reply to this) (Parent)

gentlespirit
2008-05-02 01:46 am UTC (link)

The last thing I want to do is make this more complicated, but even if you have a building with a lift, you may be better of seeking a ground-floor apartment. One of my kids didn't come to school for two days because the single lift in his building was out-of-order. I've lived in my current apartment for going-on two years. In that time there was only one period that the lift specifically did not work, but there was also a black-out that lasted several hours last year. So even if there is more than one, power sources could be an issue.

Also, doors. If they don't open automatically, they could be a concern.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	troubleinchina 2008-05-02 07:06 pm UTC (link)
	I forgot about the doors - I shouldn't have. When we went to the zoo in Perth we had such problems with all the doors that there were three exhibits we just didn't bother with. Too much hassle between the chair and the cane and the doors and I don't have enough hands. I hadn't thought about the lifts being out of order, but yesterday I was thinking a lot about fires. (Reply to this) (Parent)

betacandy
2008-05-02 04:47 am UTC (link)

I had a rather humbling realization about my building the other day.

Which actually makes me feel better about what happened this week (wherein they raised my rent $500/month, at which point I decided I'd move out).

L.A. was built to force people to drive cars because it's an oil town. It's even hostile to pedestrians and bicyclists. The sad fact is, I don't see disabled people all that often because there's really just no way for them to move in the spaces I move in.

I do sometimes see people with walkers or in wheelchairs trying to cross the street in the short time you get the Walk light - they very often can't make it in that time.

When I try to look at the world this way, it's mind-boggling. And I'm sure I'm missing a lot of details.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	troubleinchina 2008-05-02 07:10 pm UTC (link)
	I constantly miss other types of disability issues, like the hearing loss issues. (I shouldn't - on top of everything else Don has hearing problems, and we've been looking into a hearing aid for him. They're expensive, in case you were wondering.) I liked your post, and the conversation between yourself and Scarlett. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

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betacandy, 2008-05-02 07:19 pm UTC

looniewolf
2008-05-02 01:49 pm UTC (link)

I ever tell you about the time I humiliated my former boss by insisting he needed to tell the owners about the building not being handicapped accessible... only for a customer to show up later that day and chew him out because his wheelchair-bound mother couldn't get in the building? (Rear access where people have to hold doors open for you, and where the doors are barely wide enough for the wheelchair to get through does not count as "accessible")

Oddly enough, within a month I was let go. No reason given. Ah well, I'm working someplace far better now... and that former boss was forced into retirement from what I heard. Heh.

Of course, I have a reason for being for disabled rights and access... my brother was blind, and I worked with him to force Salem State College into ADA compliance. We won, too. Too bad he died before the college finally implemented the changes....

Rob H.

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	troubleinchina 2008-05-02 07:11 pm UTC (link)
	I don't think you did tell me that story. I hate those rear access issues. I mean, there are places in the neighbourhood where I wouldn't want to be taking a wheelchair at night, because of the vulnerable feeling and the issues around not seeing something and having it tip over. hug (Reply to this) (Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2008-05-02 11:48 pm UTC (link)
	Well put. Good luck with your search; it truly sounds exasperating. -- Sara (http://www.saraarts.com, http://movingrightalong.typepad.com) (Reply to this)

wijsgeer
2008-05-03 08:23 pm UTC (link)

first of all, I feel for your frustration. Amsterdam is a bit better than you describe. There is a pool of subsidized houses/apartments adapted for wheelchair-users (accessible, lowered kitchen sink, adapted shower/bath) in Amsterdam. You need a medical indication and than you can 'go' for houses that are adapted. Every two weeks houses that are available are on put on the website, some of them might be adapted. the longer you are in line for a house the higher your chances. If you live in Amsterdam and you become a wheelchair user you get a trump card and move up the list. (You can also qualify for financial help for the move.) The houses are all in the sociale woningbouw category which means your income can't be that high.

I don't know how quick the process is at the moment. A friend had to move house because she became wheelchair-bound, for her it worked out well. She has a nice, albeit small, house on groundlevel with a garden. Shops and pharmacy nearby. She has a scootmobiel so she can get about everywhere. (eh, yes also subsidized, you qualify when you are capable of walking a few steps but not more). Yes there are still many many gripes about the state of facilities and accessibility, but some things might be a bit better. Coming from outside Amsterdam it is harder. Coming into Amsterdam is hard anyway.

BTW I live on the ground floor!!!

(Reply to this)

azikale
2008-05-04 02:15 pm UTC (link)

I'm very, very,very lucky in where I live. My flat is in a complex above a shopping centre, with lift access and a grocery and large pharmacy within the centre, and just outside (less than a minute walk) is a GP surgery and a late night pharmacy. It is all very accessible, and the only issue is if the lifts break (which they do every few months)- even then, the local council and police have a list of vulnerable residents who are contacted and helped when that happens. The city centre is all flat or slightly hilly.

The council do fall down on a lot of things though- only one set of public toilets in the entire city centre (it's not a big city, but still), and these stupid new traffic lights that don't make a noise and have the walk/don't walk signs positioned to the side, away from the logical line of sight.

At my university, there are a lot of access ramps, door opening switches at wheelchair height and so on. It is a legal requirement for buildings to be accessible, but my university does seem to be going just a bit further.

Again, I'm really lucky with where I live and study. And I know it. I'm able-bodied but count as disabled, and with that and my recent academic work on impairment in the medieval period, I'm increasingly aware of how privileged my circumstances are when it comes to accessibility.

(Reply to this)

thegimpparade
2008-05-08 11:31 pm UTC (link)

All of what you've noted is exactly why instead of living in an urban area (as would suit me in many many ways, starting with just my personal choice), I live in rural Minnesota with my retired parents in a house they built with my extensive input regarding accessibility.

If I did find the perfect apartment in the Twin Cities, even mostly perfect, it would not even be close to affordable.

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