Hot
tap, cold tap?
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under contract to the Ministry of Education. It has been written to assist teachers
and schools in their delivery of the technology/ hangarau curriculum statements.
The project is jointly coordinated by personnel from the Technology Education
New Zealand (TENZ)
and National Association of Māori Mathematicians, Scientists and Technologists
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News
Blenheim music store owner Ken Ham would hate to be labelled
"a blind militant whinger" just because he advocates for blind-friendly
buildings and public environments.
"I can't stand any form of whinging," says Ken, who recently
represented his community on a committee overseeing a street upgrade
in his town centre. "The kind of things I'm talking about are just logic
and common sense - denominators that would make life easier for everyone,
not just people who are blind."
Unfortunately they're also the kinds of things that architects
and designers, along with the rest of us in the sighted world, seldom
stop to think twice about.
For example, Ken Ham can tell you lots about doors. "It
would be nice if, domestically, doors were a consistent width - some
are 810mm, some 760mm, and some 710mm wide - and hinged so that they
open in a consistent direction from a passageway," he explains. "But
they're not, and what that means is that if you're blind, sooner or
later you're going to walk into a door or door frame at full tilt."
Then there are door handles - if only they were all at
the same height. Ditto for power points - no more searching around to
recharge your mobile phone or plug in your razor. Likewise it would
be handy if hot taps could always be, say, on the right and if aisles
in shops always had enough room to work a guide dog.
Even light switches have their moments for Ken. "You might
think a light switch would be no use to me, but like everybody else
I want to be able to turn off lights if I'm the last one to leave a
room. But even that's a problem when you get lounges with two entrances
and two light switches with double switching, so that you often may
be switching down to switch it off."
"There's no consistency or predictability at all in the
way we design homes or public buildings," says Ken.
But sometimes the lack of consistency in our building
code practices can be more than inconvenient - it can be dangerous.
Just ask partially sighted Aucklander Carolyn Peal.
"For someone like myself with low vision the world is
full of nasty surprises says Carolyn. "Steps are fantastic when they
have tiled paving marking the edge of each step - but unless that's
used consistently, you can be walking happily along on a flat, tiled
surface with nothing to warn you that something different is coming
up. The next minute you're flat on the ground."
Carolyn says markings on glass doors also make a big difference
to someone with low vision, while life would be altogether less embarrassing
if the Ladies was always before you hit the Gents, or always on the
right side.
So just what regulations and guidelines are available
to architects and builders to meet the needs of people who have sight-impairments.
The short answer is, unlike disabled access for wheelchair users in
public environments, there are no regulations serving members of the
blind community, only optional guidelines that are seldom implemented.
The Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind (RNZFB)
has established a website at www.rnzfb.org.nz/Environmental/environmental.html
that provides a checklist or starting point for designers creating everything
from a new office space to a public transport terminal.
Says RNZFB Orientation and Mobility instructor Jane Moore,
"The idea is to get people to start appreciating what the needs and
problems are for people who are blind and sight-impaired."
"Often there's tension between what a designer considers
aesthetically pleasing and the design requirements people who are blind
or sight-impaired need to travel safely and independently."
"There's compromise, usually," says Jane, "and not just
because of how things look. For instance, what's good for one minority
group, such as people who are blind, may not work for another, such
as wheelchair users."
Ken Ham knows all to well the difficulties of trying to
convince an architect to change an attractive, neat street plan. "Ground
surface warning tiles for blind people may upset the visual aspect of
a design, but it's a heck of a help to people who can't see."
Ideally the blind and sight-impaired should be able to
visualise or "mind map" a room, house, or building even if they had
never been there before, says Ken.
"Picture a motor lodge room in your mind," he illustrates.
"You can go into any motor lodge room in the country with a blindfold
on and know where everything's going to be. If you enter on the left
the ensuite is usually to the right, opposite a little kitchenette.
Then you move on to a wardrobe, baggage area desk, chair, and TV; with
a bed on the opposite wall and another chair in the corner."
"That, for a blind person, is just heaven."
Wheelchair toilets are another bonus for blind and sight-impaired
people - the layout is always the same. Which begs the question, if
building code public policy can be set in stone for one subset of our
society, why are the visually impaired being left in the dark?
People just don't think, until it happens to them," says
Ken Ham. "If architects and designers had stronger guidelines, I think
they would want to do it right. But at the moment most don't know enough
about what would help, so they just go with what looks best."
Ideas for classroom use
This is taken from a media release by the Royal New Zealand
Foundation for the Blind (RNZFB). It highlights some difficulties experiences
by blind and sight impaired people due to inappropriate or uninformed
design practice. It is part of a regular series of media releases from
the foundation which can be accessed through their website at www.rnzfb.org.nz
There are over 12500 people who are blind or have sight
impairments in New Zealand and this type of stimulus material can provide
an entry point for exploratory activity which may generate opportunities
for authentic student practice.
Possible avenues of exploration could include:
