At 17:51 14/11/99 +0400, you wrote:
Hi Patrick, welcome to the group.
a number of interesting points from your first mail.
As a parent of a child with a cognative rather than physical impariment
perhaps you'd like to outline some of the access issues you and your son face.
I'm sure we all have our own ideas based on professional knowledge or
personal experience but as someone new to the wold of construction and
design I for one would love to hear it from the horses mouth so to speak.
When I haven't got my "SURFACE project" hat on I'm a PHD student looking at
disability legislation, international comparison and effective
implementation and I hope to bring some of the issues I come across to this
list in the future. I look forward to hearing your experiences and
opinions when that time comes around.
with regard to current legislation:
I'm sure many of the list readers are aware of the research we here at
SURFACE are doing which is looking at accessibility in public buildings but
an even more topical subject at present is the changes in regulations in
the housing sector which were implement at the beginning of october this
year. One story I heard was that the construction industry was exploiting
a loop-hole in the legislation which exempted property from having an
accessibe main entrance if that entrance opened directly on to a public
area, that is if it opened on to a communal area or pavement rather than in
to a private garden or walkway. Do any of our readers know to what extend
this is true or of any other loop-holes in the legislation that are being
used?
Patrick as you say "wording is so importent in legislation".
You say that legislation in the 3rd world is less enlightened than in
europe and the US but I also wonder about the quality of construction.
With the recent events in Turkey following earthquakes, and the collapse of
the building in Italy, both of which have being blamed at least partly on
poor construction, and an article in the Sunday Telegraph on standards of
construction in the UK (which I intend to post as part of a subsequent
message). If we can't ensure a level of quality in basic building
techniques what are the implications for the demands we are about to make
on the industry.
Adrian Higginbotham:
S U R F A C E
Salford University, Research Focus on Accessible Environments.
tel> 0161 2954939.
if a pig looses his voice is he disgruntled?
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