Accessibility in urban planning is a vitally important feature of any civilized society - everyone, regardless of their mobility, should be able to access and enjoy public facilities. Crappy-designed accessibility for people in wheelchairs, for example, sends a pretty insulting message: "We added this feature because someone told us we had to, but it's not important enough that we put any effort into making sure it actually helps."
Accessibility then becomes purely symbolic, something designed to show that we care, but has no practical purpose. Sadly, disabled people encounter this kind of attitude all too often, and beyond the continuous and ongoing campaigns for wheelchair accessible planning, there is little left to do but laugh at these outrageous design fails collected by Bored Panda.
So scroll down below to see where good intentions can go wrong for yourself, and if you see bad examples of disability-friendly designs in your neighborhood, be sure to report it to your local council or government representative!
This post may include affiliate links.
To Invite A Disabled Man To Talk About Accessibility..
For some insight on accessibility matters Bored Panda spoke to Julienne at abilities.com, the resource for the disability community in the USA. Julienne is sadly all too acquainted with businesses making half-hearted attempts to prioritize and provide effective accessibility, even if they do follow the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Standards for Accessible Design.
"Unfortunately, accessibility is just a burr under the saddle of many business owners," she told us. "It is an expense they don’t think they can afford because they don’t view the wheelchair community as the over $1 Trillion aggregate income market that it is. Their businesses aren’t accessible so they don’t see people in wheelchairs, so they don’t think they are important in their market. A classic Joseph Heller: Catch-22."
If You Aren't Already In A Wheelchair, You Will Be After This
*person in a wheelchair* "Nah, it's fine. Think I'll take the stairs" 😅
Extreme Wheelchairing!
I have ramp access to my house....and at the end of the ramp is a giant step....not as big as above, but still wtf!
So what can be done to improve awareness on the importance of accessibility? How do we get businesses to understand that cutting costs and corners to make inadequate facilities isn't just inconvenient and potentially dangerous, but offensive too?
"People with disabilities and their supporters have to speak up," Julienne continues. "Post it on Yelp, take pictures and post it on the businesses’ social media. Use peer pressure, shame them, and most of all, vote with your wallet. Unfortunately, the winner there is Amazon. They saw the need of people who can’t/don’t want to leave their houses and have exploited it superbly.".
This Crosswalk For The Handicapped
Being Handicapped In Cabo San Lucas Is Apparently An Extreme Sport. (Fb Friend's Vacation Pic)
Julienne believes that the best thing businesses can do is to simply ask a person using a wheelchair to share their experiences, and learn from them. Over 23 years in the wheelchair she has encountered no end of rude and frustrating situations where a little basic understanding would sure go a long way.
"The biggest problem is that they don’t have someone in a wheelchair consulting on the build," Julienne says. "If they had someone in a wheelchair try to bump up a steep grade, for example, and then hold themselves in place with one hand on a wheel while trying to open a heavy door with a handle too high, that swings OUT, they never would have built it that way."
"Put all owners, designers and employees in a wheelchair for a day and let them try it."
Makes sense, doesn't it? Julienne believes that it all starts with the individual’s awareness, so don't be afraid to talk to people with disabilities about their accessibility needs and frustrations. The more we learn to empathize with each other and experience the world in another person's shoes, the better things will be for everyone!
Epic Fail When It Comes To Accessibility
Accessibility Fail
Accessibility Fail
Accessibility Fail
How Is This Supposed To Work??
Possibly someone pointing out that there are no spots reserved for people with disabilities.
Because F**k You For Being In A Wheelchair
The Portuguese Parliament Had To Become Handicap Acessible Due To Having One Deputy On A Wheelchair. This Is The Result
Hospital Which I Work Has These Wheelchairs For The Patients
This seems incredibly resourceful. Where is this? That model would be $4,500 not covered by insurance in the US.
It’s better than nothing, they have obviously had to improvise with what they had.
I agree, except the chair they use seems to be quite flimbsy, but otherwise, it will work just as well.
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It looks cheap but I find it very practical. At least they're making do with what they have and if it works, it works.
These are actually a really smart design for temporary use like in a hospital. A guy named Don Shoendorfer saw a disabled woman struggling to get across a street in Morocco and felt like there should be some way to make inexpensive wheelchairs from readily available products, this is the design he came up with and it's meant a world of mobility for millions of disabled people worldwide. https://www.plasticsmakeitpossible.com/whats-new-cool/healthcare/plastic-wheelchairs-deliver-mobility-to-developing-nations/
Having had that kind of plastic chair break under me in regular life, that looks terrifying. But... nonetheless, this is by far the least horrific thing on the list.
Some hospitals have to work with less. Whoever put together this chair is clearly up against some bureaucratic and financial hurdles.
Looks like the wheelchairs that used to be made and distributed in 3rd world countries by Free Wheelchair Mission. Wonder how they got this one as they are given to individuals, not hospitals or other institutions. They no longer make this design.
I expect this is for the use of people who aren't confined to a wheelchair full time, or they would use their own. It looks fine for people who are required to exit the hospital in a wheelchair but can actually walk.
Wow, broke-a*s hospital...what 3rd-world shithole do you live in? Detroit?
Have you been to Detroit lately? We just went there on vacation and perhaps there are a few things you should take a second look at. We stayed at the Shinola Hotel, ate at Lady of the House, walked along the river, gambled a little, went to Eastern Market. Who are you? Donald Trump? Calling places shitholes.
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This may not be as visually pleasing or comfortable as those that are provided in the hospitals most of us are accustomed to, but in a poverty stricken area where resources aren't available for such 'luxuries' then this meager attempt is quite genius in helping those with no other options
In my country everybody disabled receives free wheelchair and nobody is collecting it back - so i brought wheelchair - like new- from recycle facility - i literaly pulled it from dumpster. I hope that somebody can collect not needed wheelchairs and sent them where them need them the most. Unforunately its only idealistic dream - transport and administration costs will be much expesive than chairs alone - simply bussines as usual.
No offence but considering the alternative of no wheel chairs. I say this not a fail but limit resource management at its best
Next week on Redneck General: Is Bubba's mullet beyond saving? Can Francine make it from her moonshine binge? Are Darlene & Dale getting better from their gator attack?
This should be in a stage comedy. or at least, a commercial referring to this kind of Travel for someone who may not even be able to reach the elevator button.
That looks like some drunk red neck contraption. Where is this alleged hospital?
They'll develop blood clots do to the scooped seat forcing the front edge into the backs of their legs, unless they are particularly tall. Too all purchasers and business owners everywhere: Never, ever, ever purchase a molded/scooped seat for any public area (restaurant, waiting area, nothing).
Accessibility Fail
For Those Who Feel They Aren't Quite Handicapped Enough...
This Handicap Ramp
For Disabled People On Stilts
Accessibility Fail
Extreme Wheelchairing
Wheelchair Friendly
Access For Disabled Wheelchair Users
Design Fail
"Wheelchair Access" For The Brave
It is also a way to increase the wheelchair-bound population, especially if someone is walking along absorbed on the cell phone. Is that an orthopedist next door?
This Wheelchair Ramp
Accessibility Fail
Accessibility Fail
Hats Off To The Genius Who Installed This Disabled Access Ramp
It's Just Up The Stairs
At Least Wheelchairs Can Reach The First Stair
So they’re saved from going up one extra stair? Good job, everyone!
Oh Yeah, You Could Get A Wheelchair In There No Problem
This locker is for disabled people because it is the only one that you can sit in front of. I would imagine this is to suit a particular person's needs. The sign is obviously not only for people who are in actual wheel-chairs, it is an immediately recognizable symbol!
Note: this post originally had 81 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Most picures are hillarious, but the back story of them is grim. Typically, they reflect the attempt to meet some regulations rather than the willingness to include all people.
It mainly boils down to one thing - they never actually consult a disabled person or test it. Ramps must have grab rails and must be at a shallow angle. Anything 40 degrees or more is likely to be unusable. My mobility scooter cuts out if it goes that steep. My manual wheelchair would struggle to go safely up and down. Electric wheelchairs will likely suffer the same angle problem my scooter does. Steep angles are also no good for people who can walk but are not able to use stairs.
Load More Replies... These are just ridiculous and so dangerous. I can’t believe that there is so little consideration for people with disabilities.
I agree, it is degrading, makes me utterly furious!
Load More Replies... The words that popped into my head were: inconsiderate, rude, discriminatory, uncaring, ridiculous and illegal!
I have dyspraxia, fibromyalgia, asthma, von Willebrands, rheumatic pains and have been having seizures that are currently being diagnosed. I mainly insist on walking but I need a crutch, I often fall over or collapse, I get tired and breathless easily, my joints ache constantly and getting around is just really difficult for me. I have mates who use crutches or sticks, wheelchairs and mobility scooters for different hidden disabilities. If I'm in hospital or go for a day out, I need a chair as I can't walk too much, especially if it's hot as I have very little temperature control. Basic alterations like ramps, parking spaces near the doors and disabled loos mean the difference between us being able to function as normal people or as not.
This is quite cruel to be honest. So many places with useless ramps... it´s appalling!
On another note, please don't park cars across footpaths! It means people with disabilities have to go onto the road to get around
I had to relearn to walk several years ago (and still need a cane sometimes) so the "handicapped accessible" thing is often a bad joke, IMHO. It's not here, but there's an office in my area where you can ramp into the waiting room fine. It's the three steps up to get to the rest of the offices that create a problem... So some genius just put down plywood and braced it with bricks. Yep. ADA-compliant...?!
To be fair, most of these "fails" are attempts by building owners to comply with regulations that were put into effect well after the original design for their building was conceived. As a result, the engineering that went into the building never included space enough to include a ramp. So many end up being too short or a compromise had to be reached (such as the ramp being too steep or a stair being left above or below the ramp) because there isn't enough room for that ramp. Also, in some cities, ordinances allow for these compromises exactly because they had to acknowledge that some structures simply lack the real estate for a ramp. Newer buildings in these cities will often have well-designed access that is incorporated in the blueprints.
My cousin studied architecture and one of the things she did was comment on the ramps when she saw them. On one walk she commented one I thought was good enough, she said that the incline was too steep. The university let them borrow a wheel chair and let them try getting up and down these, or how difficult it was. I believe all the architects and builders should try that as well. Might make them think.
For future designer or builder, please give importance to the needs of person with disability specially on accessibility..if you cant design or build a sensible access to them just don't do it. Other are just a stupid compliance to the city ordinance. Be re-mindful on the user not just for compliance. Or better don't comply on your own recourse, have an expert to see the situation.
It's difficult to believe there are so many pathetic attempts to design a simple ramp, no consideration what so ever, if it wasn't an important matter, I would think all are a joke !!!
I'm curious about how many of these are in the US vs other countries. I have noticed that sometimes other places don't have very good laws or enforcement on disability access to services. (Disclaimer: yes, I am also aware that some places in the US do not do a good job of this either. It's a problem everywhere) Also, just for the sake of humor, I think anybody who has designed these "access ramps" should have to use one in a wheel chair to see how well they actually work. Clearly very little thought went into any of them.
These are absolutely the worst possible designs for wheelchair access. I hope all of these places have to pay a hefty fine and build one that works.
All of these are shocking from just the initial design level, but it is insult upon insult for them to have been carried through. Why on earth didn't the workmen just say, "No! I'm not doing something so ridiculous!"???
Words fail me, how disrespectful and discriminatory these are. Anyone is an accident away from being in a wheelchair even if it's temporary. My daughter was in a full leg cast and was off school for three months because there was no proper disabled access or toilets
Persons are paid for putting these 'ADAPTATIONS' in place !! More to the point they appear to have been in situ a while. Why Are they still there ???
Posts like this make you realize that most places are just paying lip service to a requirement, and they actually have no intention or desire to make life properly accessible for people with mobility limitations. I can't even imagine the nightmare of day to day movement and travel for wheelchair users.
My daughter is 20 and has used a wheelchair for 18 yrs... I "cant even" with these photos but I also have encountered so many absurdly ridiculous 'accessible accommodations' in our lifetime that I believe some idiots thought they were doing the right thing. I still travel with her in a light weight sport style chair that i can lift up a few steps cause I expect everyplace to have a barrier of some kind. (also the bathrooms are never actually big enough for a wheelchair to fit in the stall and close the door)
This makes me so angry, that disabled people are treated in this manner. I hope the a’holes who built them get what they deserve!
All architects and building planners should have to live in a wheelchair for 2 days, visiting as many "accessible" public and private buildings as possible, so they can experience how many supposedly accessible areas aren't!
I want every moron who designed these to have to traverse these horrors in a wheelchair and see just how easy it is.
A history of accessibility could work wonders. Disability is not a coherified concept in earlier eras. Many of these designs look like an assistant, parent, or chauffeur would be helping. Others look like strong arms would be lowering chair and all. Some designs were probably never intended to be used by anyone, let alone persons with disabilities, while others may had been due to incompetent laborers. Most of them look to be fairly old structures. And some seem geared at getting all types of people to contemplate prevention of disability. And some of the symbols look like fanciful pranks with no actual relation to accessibility.
Well . . . there are two choices. 1) get white spray paint and outline multiple bodies around the offending areas . . . or, 2) either "CRIME SCENE" or "CAUTION" tape wrapped across railings. Either one will get noticed, possibly to the extent of news coverage and/or corrective measures. Worth a try . . .
Every single one pretty much looks ... auld These were clearly experimental designs, but many were based on the idea of being accompanied by a parent or assistant. Without chauffers, a lot of wealthy people would have been out of luck entirely. Times have changed but time clearly hasn't changed some things.
This is insane! Whoever has designed any of these deathtraps should be forced to use them... in a wheelchair.
What is totally frightening,is that human beings installed these ramps.
No terribles designs....Disrespectful designs for every human with or without disabilities.
Most picures are hillarious, but the back story of them is grim. Typically, they reflect the attempt to meet some regulations rather than the willingness to include all people.
It mainly boils down to one thing - they never actually consult a disabled person or test it. Ramps must have grab rails and must be at a shallow angle. Anything 40 degrees or more is likely to be unusable. My mobility scooter cuts out if it goes that steep. My manual wheelchair would struggle to go safely up and down. Electric wheelchairs will likely suffer the same angle problem my scooter does. Steep angles are also no good for people who can walk but are not able to use stairs.
Load More Replies... These are just ridiculous and so dangerous. I can’t believe that there is so little consideration for people with disabilities.
I agree, it is degrading, makes me utterly furious!
Load More Replies... The words that popped into my head were: inconsiderate, rude, discriminatory, uncaring, ridiculous and illegal!
I have dyspraxia, fibromyalgia, asthma, von Willebrands, rheumatic pains and have been having seizures that are currently being diagnosed. I mainly insist on walking but I need a crutch, I often fall over or collapse, I get tired and breathless easily, my joints ache constantly and getting around is just really difficult for me. I have mates who use crutches or sticks, wheelchairs and mobility scooters for different hidden disabilities. If I'm in hospital or go for a day out, I need a chair as I can't walk too much, especially if it's hot as I have very little temperature control. Basic alterations like ramps, parking spaces near the doors and disabled loos mean the difference between us being able to function as normal people or as not.
This is quite cruel to be honest. So many places with useless ramps... it´s appalling!
On another note, please don't park cars across footpaths! It means people with disabilities have to go onto the road to get around
I had to relearn to walk several years ago (and still need a cane sometimes) so the "handicapped accessible" thing is often a bad joke, IMHO. It's not here, but there's an office in my area where you can ramp into the waiting room fine. It's the three steps up to get to the rest of the offices that create a problem... So some genius just put down plywood and braced it with bricks. Yep. ADA-compliant...?!
To be fair, most of these "fails" are attempts by building owners to comply with regulations that were put into effect well after the original design for their building was conceived. As a result, the engineering that went into the building never included space enough to include a ramp. So many end up being too short or a compromise had to be reached (such as the ramp being too steep or a stair being left above or below the ramp) because there isn't enough room for that ramp. Also, in some cities, ordinances allow for these compromises exactly because they had to acknowledge that some structures simply lack the real estate for a ramp. Newer buildings in these cities will often have well-designed access that is incorporated in the blueprints.
My cousin studied architecture and one of the things she did was comment on the ramps when she saw them. On one walk she commented one I thought was good enough, she said that the incline was too steep. The university let them borrow a wheel chair and let them try getting up and down these, or how difficult it was. I believe all the architects and builders should try that as well. Might make them think.
For future designer or builder, please give importance to the needs of person with disability specially on accessibility..if you cant design or build a sensible access to them just don't do it. Other are just a stupid compliance to the city ordinance. Be re-mindful on the user not just for compliance. Or better don't comply on your own recourse, have an expert to see the situation.
It's difficult to believe there are so many pathetic attempts to design a simple ramp, no consideration what so ever, if it wasn't an important matter, I would think all are a joke !!!
I'm curious about how many of these are in the US vs other countries. I have noticed that sometimes other places don't have very good laws or enforcement on disability access to services. (Disclaimer: yes, I am also aware that some places in the US do not do a good job of this either. It's a problem everywhere) Also, just for the sake of humor, I think anybody who has designed these "access ramps" should have to use one in a wheel chair to see how well they actually work. Clearly very little thought went into any of them.
These are absolutely the worst possible designs for wheelchair access. I hope all of these places have to pay a hefty fine and build one that works.
All of these are shocking from just the initial design level, but it is insult upon insult for them to have been carried through. Why on earth didn't the workmen just say, "No! I'm not doing something so ridiculous!"???
Words fail me, how disrespectful and discriminatory these are. Anyone is an accident away from being in a wheelchair even if it's temporary. My daughter was in a full leg cast and was off school for three months because there was no proper disabled access or toilets
Persons are paid for putting these 'ADAPTATIONS' in place !! More to the point they appear to have been in situ a while. Why Are they still there ???
Posts like this make you realize that most places are just paying lip service to a requirement, and they actually have no intention or desire to make life properly accessible for people with mobility limitations. I can't even imagine the nightmare of day to day movement and travel for wheelchair users.
My daughter is 20 and has used a wheelchair for 18 yrs... I "cant even" with these photos but I also have encountered so many absurdly ridiculous 'accessible accommodations' in our lifetime that I believe some idiots thought they were doing the right thing. I still travel with her in a light weight sport style chair that i can lift up a few steps cause I expect everyplace to have a barrier of some kind. (also the bathrooms are never actually big enough for a wheelchair to fit in the stall and close the door)
This makes me so angry, that disabled people are treated in this manner. I hope the a’holes who built them get what they deserve!
All architects and building planners should have to live in a wheelchair for 2 days, visiting as many "accessible" public and private buildings as possible, so they can experience how many supposedly accessible areas aren't!
I want every moron who designed these to have to traverse these horrors in a wheelchair and see just how easy it is.
A history of accessibility could work wonders. Disability is not a coherified concept in earlier eras. Many of these designs look like an assistant, parent, or chauffeur would be helping. Others look like strong arms would be lowering chair and all. Some designs were probably never intended to be used by anyone, let alone persons with disabilities, while others may had been due to incompetent laborers. Most of them look to be fairly old structures. And some seem geared at getting all types of people to contemplate prevention of disability. And some of the symbols look like fanciful pranks with no actual relation to accessibility.
Well . . . there are two choices. 1) get white spray paint and outline multiple bodies around the offending areas . . . or, 2) either "CRIME SCENE" or "CAUTION" tape wrapped across railings. Either one will get noticed, possibly to the extent of news coverage and/or corrective measures. Worth a try . . .
Every single one pretty much looks ... auld These were clearly experimental designs, but many were based on the idea of being accompanied by a parent or assistant. Without chauffers, a lot of wealthy people would have been out of luck entirely. Times have changed but time clearly hasn't changed some things.
This is insane! Whoever has designed any of these deathtraps should be forced to use them... in a wheelchair.
What is totally frightening,is that human beings installed these ramps.
No terribles designs....Disrespectful designs for every human with or without disabilities.
