Lifestyle
Wheel Power
Published:
Thursday July 18, 2013 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Thursday July 18, 2013 MYT 7:17:36 AM
Updated: Thursday July 18, 2013 MYT 7:17:36 AM
An unusual zoo trip
Our columnist and MBPJ officials assessing the wheelchair friendliness at Zoo Negara.
The national zoo
is doing well with regard to wheelchair accessibility for disabled
visitors. What’s needed is just a few tweaks here and there.
I WAS at our national zoo in Ampang, Selangor last Tuesday. I was there with my special team from the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) where I serve as local councillor.
What was a seemingly odd group of officials from the town planning, engineering, building and landscape departments of a neighbouring local council doing at Zoo Negara, you might ask.
Our intrepid women and men were there on an extraordinary and potentially “dangerous” mission. We were there not so much to encounter wild and unpredictable animals such as tigers, lions and gorillas but to confront an even more “hostile situation”, particularly for people with disabilities.
I’m talking about wheelchair accessibility.
Our trip there was based on complaints by quite a few wheelchair-users with disabilities who are residents of Petaling Jaya. They had visited Zoo Negara but unfortunately found wheelchair-friendly facilities lacking even though the management had commendably added wheelchair-accessible toilets. I discovered the same thing when I visited Zoo Negara late last year.
But, instead of telling people what they don’t have, I decided to be proactive and offer suggestions on how things specifically can and should be done to make a difference.
So I got MBPJ to write to Zoo Negara officials. The latter warmly reciprocated by inviting us to conduct what became the local council’s historic wheelchair access audit exercise.
So there we were: Zoo Negara’s PR officials, MBPJ’s disability access experts and me in my wheelchair, leading the way as ferocious big cats, eagle-eyed large birds and a host of other wild animal sounds roared, shrieked and hissed in the background.
First of all, let me point out that the zoo is really a great place for people with disabilities. It presents a golden opportunity for the handicapped to encounter the resident animals.
I felt exhilarated during the visit last week even though I have gone to the zoo many times before as well as to the world’s best zoo in San Diego, California in the United States, some years ago.
What struck me most about the 40ha San Diego Zoo was its ubiquitous wheelchair-access facilities even back then. A disabled visitor could enjoy every aspect of the zoo as much as the able-bodied.
Animals are special because they never discriminate anyone for being different. They are non-judgmental and non-intrusive.
Zoos are great to help people “forget” about their wheelchairs and walking sticks for a while and whatever it is that may be bothering them at the time.
Observing the antics of the animals or just sitting back and admiring their beauty may just be what the doctor prescribed for them to pause from their worries.
The good news is we managed to find several sections on Zoo Negara’s 44.5ha premises that were already good enough for disabled visitors. They just needed some touching up to make them better.
Some of the pathways were already properly tiled for smooth wheelchair rides. These were at the areas for the spotted deer from Sri Lanka, the aviary and the reptile farm; they successfully brought the handicapped upclose with their subjects.
Zoo Negara needs to provide a special pathway – that is totally smooth and safe for wheelchairs, prams and the elderly – from the ticketing counter all the way to the animals’ enclosures. This will allow wheelchairs to get off the roads which the zoo’s trams use.
I had no choice but to use those roads, for instance, in some places because I couldn’t get up onto the pathway. Some ramps were good and gentle ramps, others were really steep.
We suggested having clear wheelchair signage to more friendly ramps, making sure that the accessible paths would lead to every animal exhibit.
For complicated paths, we suggested signage to indicate that those in wheelchairs accessed them only with assistance. We even suggested that wheelchair-users with body-balance problems use a wheelchair safety belt when going up steep surfaces, like at the aquarium.
Another alternative we suggested was a wheelchair lift with a swivelling platform to be used where it was difficult to make new changes. Companies that donated to the animals in a particular section could also consider extending their corporate social responsibility efforts to help pay for the wheelchair-friendly fittings.
The wheelchair toilets were generally fine except for one whose door needed to be changed to a sliding one for easier management for its users.
We also asked that foldable grab-bars fixed to the wall be used in place of the present grab-bars that
are fixed to the ground (these only limit the manoeuvrability space in the toilet).
A full report on these and other suggestions will be sent by MBPJ soon to Zoo Negara together with technical details on how to successfully overcome the accessibility problems there.
The whole exercise was truly an incredible learning experience for all of us.
I WAS at our national zoo in Ampang, Selangor last Tuesday. I was there with my special team from the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) where I serve as local councillor.
What was a seemingly odd group of officials from the town planning, engineering, building and landscape departments of a neighbouring local council doing at Zoo Negara, you might ask.
Our intrepid women and men were there on an extraordinary and potentially “dangerous” mission. We were there not so much to encounter wild and unpredictable animals such as tigers, lions and gorillas but to confront an even more “hostile situation”, particularly for people with disabilities.
I’m talking about wheelchair accessibility.
Our trip there was based on complaints by quite a few wheelchair-users with disabilities who are residents of Petaling Jaya. They had visited Zoo Negara but unfortunately found wheelchair-friendly facilities lacking even though the management had commendably added wheelchair-accessible toilets. I discovered the same thing when I visited Zoo Negara late last year.
But, instead of telling people what they don’t have, I decided to be proactive and offer suggestions on how things specifically can and should be done to make a difference.
So I got MBPJ to write to Zoo Negara officials. The latter warmly reciprocated by inviting us to conduct what became the local council’s historic wheelchair access audit exercise.
So there we were: Zoo Negara’s PR officials, MBPJ’s disability access experts and me in my wheelchair, leading the way as ferocious big cats, eagle-eyed large birds and a host of other wild animal sounds roared, shrieked and hissed in the background.
First of all, let me point out that the zoo is really a great place for people with disabilities. It presents a golden opportunity for the handicapped to encounter the resident animals.
I felt exhilarated during the visit last week even though I have gone to the zoo many times before as well as to the world’s best zoo in San Diego, California in the United States, some years ago.
What struck me most about the 40ha San Diego Zoo was its ubiquitous wheelchair-access facilities even back then. A disabled visitor could enjoy every aspect of the zoo as much as the able-bodied.
Animals are special because they never discriminate anyone for being different. They are non-judgmental and non-intrusive.
Zoos are great to help people “forget” about their wheelchairs and walking sticks for a while and whatever it is that may be bothering them at the time.
Observing the antics of the animals or just sitting back and admiring their beauty may just be what the doctor prescribed for them to pause from their worries.
The good news is we managed to find several sections on Zoo Negara’s 44.5ha premises that were already good enough for disabled visitors. They just needed some touching up to make them better.
Some of the pathways were already properly tiled for smooth wheelchair rides. These were at the areas for the spotted deer from Sri Lanka, the aviary and the reptile farm; they successfully brought the handicapped upclose with their subjects.
Zoo Negara needs to provide a special pathway – that is totally smooth and safe for wheelchairs, prams and the elderly – from the ticketing counter all the way to the animals’ enclosures. This will allow wheelchairs to get off the roads which the zoo’s trams use.
I had no choice but to use those roads, for instance, in some places because I couldn’t get up onto the pathway. Some ramps were good and gentle ramps, others were really steep.
We suggested having clear wheelchair signage to more friendly ramps, making sure that the accessible paths would lead to every animal exhibit.
For complicated paths, we suggested signage to indicate that those in wheelchairs accessed them only with assistance. We even suggested that wheelchair-users with body-balance problems use a wheelchair safety belt when going up steep surfaces, like at the aquarium.
Another alternative we suggested was a wheelchair lift with a swivelling platform to be used where it was difficult to make new changes. Companies that donated to the animals in a particular section could also consider extending their corporate social responsibility efforts to help pay for the wheelchair-friendly fittings.
The wheelchair toilets were generally fine except for one whose door needed to be changed to a sliding one for easier management for its users.
We also asked that foldable grab-bars fixed to the wall be used in place of the present grab-bars that
are fixed to the ground (these only limit the manoeuvrability space in the toilet).
A full report on these and other suggestions will be sent by MBPJ soon to Zoo Negara together with technical details on how to successfully overcome the accessibility problems there.
The whole exercise was truly an incredible learning experience for all of us.
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