@clacke@dgar@Sven even as a sighted able bodied person I have to say this looks like it could be disorienting in some situations, e.g. when inebriated, inattentive or in certain lighting conditions
@clacke@dgar Yeah, I immediately thought about how it would be to navigate this as a wheelchair user. No guard rails, potential of crossing pedestrians plus potentially hitting the steps with your tires? Ugh, doesn't look too comfortable to navigate there.
It has an appealing aesthetic though. Also some symbolic power of having the same infrastructure including different needs. It just ... doesn't seem very practicable. 😄
@clacke@dgar Yeah just imagining myself navigating this, it looks awful. Tight turns and a winding path that's way more of a pain than a simple straight ramp parallel to the stairs. No guardrails either, so if you miscalculated you just fucking fall down the stairs.
@dgar this is actually often used as an example of bad design. The 180 degree turns are very difficult for wheelchair folks, and the edges without handrails make it a danger of tripping/rolling off the side and falling all the way down. Plus a lack of benches forces people to do it all in one go, which can be difficult for some. The lack of handrails also screws over low vision or blind people
@dgar FYI, this stair/ramp has been used by wheelie activists as an example of a less desirable, or even frankly hazardous, attempt at accessible design.
There are no railings, barriers or anything to slow down the wheelchairdrivers... The stairs are ramps to flip the wheelchair on the side or let them falling down the stairs... WTF 🤔
@Timdmackey@clacke@MikeFromLFE It looks like walkers could go up the sides with a rail and only a flat platform to cross. Waking down the middle of the stairs would be awkward.
@MikeFromLFE@clacke@dgar I imagine one would get used to walking on these steps, but the handful of times I’ve done it it’s always been super awkward with the ramp cutting through repeatedly and making the steps irregular. At least it looks cool I guess! lol
@clacke@dgar I was wondering if I'd be safe coming down those steps - I often can't see or judge where steps are and the lack of consistent steps could be really hazardous.