(no subject)
Sep. 15th, 2012 09:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lighterthanairHad a dream last night where something had happened to my legs and I had to use a wheelchair. Ignoring other aspects of the dream (like moving to a seaside resort town so that I could get pictures of bald eagles and mountain goats), it made me think about the serious lack of accessibility that my workplace has.
Me having a job in a place that doesn't give a rat's ass about mobility impairments is nothing new. company I worked for years ago had their offices on the second and third floor of the building, accesible only by first going up a flight of stairs. No elevators. No rooms even on the first floor where someone who was mobility-impaired could even meet with someone if they were granted an interview. Nothing. When I badly sprained my ankle and was guilt-tripped into coming into work in spite of pain, it took me almost 15 minutes to hop and hobble up two flghts of stairs to the floor where I worked.
I dreaded to think what would have happened if I had an accident that forced me to be in a wheelchair. I literally wouldn't have been able to get into work.
Here, the lack of accessibility was brought to light by he fact that when I fainted at work and had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulence, I was taken out on a gurney, and getting down the front steps was the only option. The EMTs were pissed. Royally pissed. I brought this to my supervisor at the next Health and Safety Committee meeting, and was told that technically, there's a wheelchair access ramp around the other side of the building, so they don't actually have to do anything like putting in another one.
Two problems with this. The first problem, which I didn't find out until I actually did a walkaround of the building, is that he's wrong. There's no wheelchair access ramp where he said there'd be one. But even if there was, that would mean the only option for someone in a wheelchair would be to go around the back of the building, then the side, then half of the front, then move a very large flower pot, then go onto the grass to open the employee entrance door because the door opens onto the walkway. Yes, that sounds tremendously accessible.
The second problem is that even if that would work (for example, if they expanded the path so that wheelchair users didn't have to wheel onto the grass just to open the door), that only works for people who are already employees. Much like with the other company I mentioned, the non-employees entrance, the one people would have to go through if they want an interview, only has stairs. No ramp, no alternate means of access.
The other company might pass, since technically they worked out of a heritage building and they had all sorts of screwy laws about what could be added and what couldn't. But this company has absolutely no excuse.
I really ought to report it. The Health and Safety Committee clearly wasn't willing to do anything about it. They kept saying that even if there wasn't a wheelchair ramp on the other side of the building, they don't technically own the building, and so the most they could do is tell the building's owner and see "if he wants to put one in."
But because nobody there actually requires wheelchair at the moment, I don't know how much can be done...
Me having a job in a place that doesn't give a rat's ass about mobility impairments is nothing new. company I worked for years ago had their offices on the second and third floor of the building, accesible only by first going up a flight of stairs. No elevators. No rooms even on the first floor where someone who was mobility-impaired could even meet with someone if they were granted an interview. Nothing. When I badly sprained my ankle and was guilt-tripped into coming into work in spite of pain, it took me almost 15 minutes to hop and hobble up two flghts of stairs to the floor where I worked.
I dreaded to think what would have happened if I had an accident that forced me to be in a wheelchair. I literally wouldn't have been able to get into work.
Here, the lack of accessibility was brought to light by he fact that when I fainted at work and had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulence, I was taken out on a gurney, and getting down the front steps was the only option. The EMTs were pissed. Royally pissed. I brought this to my supervisor at the next Health and Safety Committee meeting, and was told that technically, there's a wheelchair access ramp around the other side of the building, so they don't actually have to do anything like putting in another one.
Two problems with this. The first problem, which I didn't find out until I actually did a walkaround of the building, is that he's wrong. There's no wheelchair access ramp where he said there'd be one. But even if there was, that would mean the only option for someone in a wheelchair would be to go around the back of the building, then the side, then half of the front, then move a very large flower pot, then go onto the grass to open the employee entrance door because the door opens onto the walkway. Yes, that sounds tremendously accessible.
The second problem is that even if that would work (for example, if they expanded the path so that wheelchair users didn't have to wheel onto the grass just to open the door), that only works for people who are already employees. Much like with the other company I mentioned, the non-employees entrance, the one people would have to go through if they want an interview, only has stairs. No ramp, no alternate means of access.
The other company might pass, since technically they worked out of a heritage building and they had all sorts of screwy laws about what could be added and what couldn't. But this company has absolutely no excuse.
I really ought to report it. The Health and Safety Committee clearly wasn't willing to do anything about it. They kept saying that even if there wasn't a wheelchair ramp on the other side of the building, they don't technically own the building, and so the most they could do is tell the building's owner and see "if he wants to put one in."
But because nobody there actually requires wheelchair at the moment, I don't know how much can be done...