'HC fixtures not required at this time'

On a recent walk past the newly-constructed building at 2836 Frankfort Ave., I saw this building permit in the window of what is going to become an upscale wine shop.



I stopped to read the thing.

The photo above shows the permit. The "Work Description" reads

Interior reno for "Taste Fine Wine & Spirits" Lodge 820 Live Work Design. All constr shall comply w/2007 KY Bldg Code.

It goes on to discuss various requirements:

1st Time Tenant Existing Sprinklers & 2 HR fire separation walls shall be maintained" and "New restrm off private office shall have HC floor space provided."

Well, well, well," I thought, "here it is right in the permit, where they are requiring new buildings to have an accessible restroom."

Or . . . not.

The sentence continues, "but HC fixtures" -- that's "handicap fixtures," in their lingo, aka accessible fixtures -- "are not required at this time."

Here's a photo that shows a closeup of this wording.



Oh well. So close, but no cigar. Or, in this case, no real access.

One wonders why the heck IPL is requiring a "HP restrm" but without "HP fixtures." It's how they interpret the KY Building Code, no doubt. It's a crabbed and venal interpretation, and from all I've heard in the past, they are remarkably unwilling to change their approach.

'Separate-but-equal' sinks

Couldn't resist getting a photo of this "handicap access solution" I found recently. The venue isn't important. The concept is important.

The concept is "separate but equal." You have a restroom in your building. It's supposed to have levers for the sink faucets. So far, so good. You're OK with that. . . But, note, only for one of the sinks. The "special" one.

"Special" has done more to harm the cause of access than about anything I can think of.

Why aren't all restroom stalls larger, for example? Why does the stall door open outward only on the "accessible" one?

Aside from accessible parking, which really does mean spots need to be set aside, close in, I can think of very very few instances when it doesn't make more sense to just make EVERY COMPONENT accessible:

• Flat entrance, rather than ramps-and-steps
• Automatic doors, rather than manual doors and one "special" door with a "button"
• Light switches lowered throughout
• Wider hallways throughout. . .

The list can go on and on.

One benefit of the avoidance of "special" -- that is to say, integration -- is that if you can't segregate out those items that are "special," it's much harder to point to this or that as being "too costly" -- as in, "That ramp cost us xxx" or "That special automatic door cost xxx" -- if the building is simply "barrier-free" then it's just "barrier-free." (You don't hear the term "barrier-free" as much nowadays. Wonder why?)

The other benefit of integration is, of course, the avoidance of stigma. If it's all the same, no one need feel embarrassed by needing the "special" entrance, toilet stall, menu, seating...

Enuf said.

I'd love to get some comments about ths idea.

The right hook

The other day I was at Uncle Tubby's Pizza over in Jeffersonville (103 Quartermaster Ct., Jeffersonville). Tubby's is in the old Quartermaster facililty, which has been redone into a kind of mall. New stores in all of it. And all of it, it appears, accessible!

And there I saw an access feature I've longed to see -- but never have:

In the restroom, in the accessible stall, the coat hook inside the door was lowered. A woman in a wheelchair could actually hang her purse on it!

Sad that this has to be such an amazing sight.

Most of those stalls, even when they're roomy enough, even when the grab bars are installed correctly -- and even when the stall door actually locks, which is infrequent -- the stupid hook is way way too high to use if you're in a wheelchair.

And it's so very very simple to do correctly!

Kudos to whoever installed the restroom there.

Too-common problems: towelbar height

The image is of a restaurant restroom. Which restaurant? Doesn't matter. The picture is so typical it could represent dozens of restaurant restrooms in Louisville; thousands nationwide.

It's clear the folks here were thinking of access -- or at least the contractors putting the restroom in were thinking of it. The state building code's access requirements have things spelled out for restroom access.

Yup. Sure do.

"Reach ranges" are spelled out in the code. Nothing -- like towel dispensers, for example -- is supposed to be higher than 48 inches from the floor.

Somebody wasn't using a tape measure when they installed this towel dispenser.

But this restroom is far from unique. In fact, too-high towel dispensers are common in "accessible" restrooms. Why?

I can't figure that one out. Seems like such an easy thing.

Nobody cares? But why would whoever is putting together an accessible restroom WANT to put a towel dispenser so high? Don't they think? Don't they REALIZE that someone who has limited arm mobility would have a hard time reaching this thing?

Don't they think disabled people need to use towels in the restroom?

Don't they think?

Why not?