I bump into a pole

There was an interesting piece in KL Time Out’s June edition, on how a blind masseur who lives at Bangsar Utama, Kuala Lumpur, related about how he goes about to his place of work.

I was reading the piece from an analytical eye on the “access angle” and I find it very interesting that “bumping into a pole” as something natural to do.

Having arthritis myself, I have my own quirks which would help me go about independently. Yeah, being independent is about having one’s dignity and is a common basic need for everyone.

What would be indignified for the blind masseur is when someone suddenly uncover the drains or create a barrier for his usual routine and he would fall down unnecessarily, thus breaking his arm and him not being able to massage for sometime.

I mean, in Malaysia, we try to cope. We don’t have discrimination laws, just talk and talk by people of promises to be made. Well, in a way we cannot blame them, because that’s what they have to do. So we cope and live dangerously. Nothing is totally independent.

You have got to be kidding me Queensbay Mall, Penang!

Like all Malaysians, we get excited when there is a new mall just being opened. Touted as the biggest shopping mall in the northern states, the Queensbay Mall is one of those malls where there are many entrances. So being pressed for time, I needed to get the right instructions where to go.

“Kuan Aw, where exactly must I meet you.” ” South zone entrance, tell the taxi driver…” “Okay!”

So I met Kuan Aw and Ah Yoon at the South Zone toilet area. There we checked out the accessible toilet which is clearly not accessible.

“Is the architect having a laugh?” I cried sarcastically, evaluating the insides of the toilet with my keen eye for mistakes… The architect seems to be having his/her own fanciful design here. So many rules were broken when it came to the correct design to employ. I gathered he/she must have left the designing to a first year student who did not know about the Malaysian Standards or any other standards for that matter.

“It’s incredible that the architect started with a lot of space to do the toilet, but end up doing things detrimental to access – like having a hotel-styled sink at one side? I don’t believe this!”

Kuan Aw was worried that people think that this is how an accessible toilet should be done and will imitate this example as it had been passed by the authorities and in the biggest and newest mall in the north of Malaysia. I shared his concern.

Here are some pics of the incredibly wrongly designed toilet!