However, he does not keep to the sidewalk. This man spends his time riding in the middle of the street. I don't know his reasons, really, and he laughed when I asked and said he could go faster. With the crowded streets of NYC, it is considerably harder to get around.
A quick Google search turns up a page of articles praising New York's accessibility. And yet, is it so?
The amount of bumps and holes in sidewalks is noticeable to even an able-bodied person. This is a common sight to any New Yorker:
(Credit: http://iedei.wordpress.com/tag/nyc/)
The question of shopping, too, brings up various problems. Some factors that could impede a person with a disability are:
- Lack of ramps to enter building
- Open/Automatic doors
- Roadblocks
- (that is, store displays that impede movement)
- Hard-to-reach items
- Narrow aisles
On the subject of last week's blog, I found this video on getting from Brooklyn to New York, by a video blogger called OutAndAboutNYC. Using a video camera, she illustrates her journey - exposing the flaws in the exits and entrances of the subway system.
Definitely agree with this post! When thinking about differing levels of ability, I can't help but think of my most recent airplane ride. For the first time, I was in the exit row. This trip happened to occur on an exceptionally small plane, so there was only one person to handle each exit door in the event of an emergency. Thus, I was in charge of one and another man was in charge of the other. However, the exit door on this small plane, and I hope this causes no offense, but the exit door was so small that there would be no way that the man on the other side would be able to exit through the exit door in the event of an emergency. I think its important to evaluate all types of ability, including obesity, blindness, or hearing impairments, when thinking about structural factors that impede different demographics and to constantly access our surroundings to see if they are truly accessible to all.
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