Bad Design Style: Case #41

For those of us in the U.S., we’re fortunate to have a law such as the ADA to make places accessible for people with disabilities. By no means is it perfect or enforced as fully as it should, but ADA is light years ahead of other places around the world. This picture is from India at a place that was recently renovated and made to be “accessible”. Unfortunately some of the designs were bad and the area has fallen into neglect.

The picture is of what’s supposed to be a wheelchair ramp that’s blocked by parked cars. A few problems here. First the cars are blocking bottom of the ramp which makes it basically useless. But even if the cars were not there, this is a pretty steep ramp. From looking at the underside of the ramp I think it’s a converted stairway. Which would not be an accessible slope for a wheelchair. Also without handrails, there’s not much to hang onto when halfway up or down. For more on the accessibility problems in this area read this article by The Hindu.