Thursday, January 12, 2006
Thursday Jan. 12, 2006 - Year 3, Day 297 - barrier free by design
-6C/23F, a frosty walk in the wee wee hours, very busy rabbits made Gusta’s walk a frenetic chore as she chased the illusion of fresh wascally wabbit – perhaps the notion of doing that at 3:30 AM must have felt like the perfect puppy dream/sleep walking activity
by the time I finished my ‘must do on Wednesday’ work last night it was too late to be driving so ‘early rising’ after few hours sleep became the safer alternative . . caffeine & light traffic are my friends . . I am off to Edmonton
my 2:30 meeting this afternoon with DH in Edmonton was re-scheduled to 8:30 AM . . thanks DH, you better be really nice to me!!
about 25 years ago, when provincial legislation governing building & other codes was being revamped the very valuable ‘Barrier Free Design’ functions via a review committee slipped through cracks & disappeared; together with Eric Boyd & Dave Pinney & quiet voices of many behind the scenes including Paul Mousseau we lobbied for its ‘re-instatement’
it sometimes seemed the barriers were everywhere, they were free, as if by design
we succeeded, though that was the first of what seemed like an endless series of battles
the Barrier Free Design Advisory Committee was supported on a budget that did not even resemble a shoe-string; for nearly 20 years that followed a great group of wonderful people with cleverness & understanding, with skill & passion ensured that code re-writing could genuinely make a difference in the lives of people with disabilities, frail elderly folks & children could achieve useful function in buildings without putting developers in the poor house; a group of colleagues & friends bantered & debated how best to ensure fairness as well as form followed function – a genuinely thankless job spent nit-picking with engineers & officials of many stripes – as a product of this work the Alberta Building Code & National Building codes have few sections that have not been impacted
today at a luncheon in Edmonton my colleagues & I are finally being thanked for that thankless job; it is bittersweet as a Barrier Free Council, entrenched in new legislation – finally exists – now new appointees with a mandate they have yet to fully appreciate begin a new generation of code-evolution . . . oh yummy thoughts of debating millimeters, newtons & nuances, of visual impairments & things that drive you crazy; we all had fire in our bellies when we started, some burned bright, some burned out, some did a slow burn . . . but we burned in a way that would have made Kerouac proud
things got tougher, then easier . . worthy skills equal to a worthy struggle
each time you see a Braille appliqué in an elevator, use a barrier free washroom, find ramps actually in the vicinity of the wide parking stalls & building access that is genuine & functional there are a handful of people responsible for that
they are my friends I admire profoundly – your thank-you luncheon is long overdue, I’ll be seeing you soon
Mark
by the time I finished my ‘must do on Wednesday’ work last night it was too late to be driving so ‘early rising’ after few hours sleep became the safer alternative . . caffeine & light traffic are my friends . . I am off to Edmonton
my 2:30 meeting this afternoon with DH in Edmonton was re-scheduled to 8:30 AM . . thanks DH, you better be really nice to me!!
about 25 years ago, when provincial legislation governing building & other codes was being revamped the very valuable ‘Barrier Free Design’ functions via a review committee slipped through cracks & disappeared; together with Eric Boyd & Dave Pinney & quiet voices of many behind the scenes including Paul Mousseau we lobbied for its ‘re-instatement’
it sometimes seemed the barriers were everywhere, they were free, as if by design
we succeeded, though that was the first of what seemed like an endless series of battles
the Barrier Free Design Advisory Committee was supported on a budget that did not even resemble a shoe-string; for nearly 20 years that followed a great group of wonderful people with cleverness & understanding, with skill & passion ensured that code re-writing could genuinely make a difference in the lives of people with disabilities, frail elderly folks & children could achieve useful function in buildings without putting developers in the poor house; a group of colleagues & friends bantered & debated how best to ensure fairness as well as form followed function – a genuinely thankless job spent nit-picking with engineers & officials of many stripes – as a product of this work the Alberta Building Code & National Building codes have few sections that have not been impacted
today at a luncheon in Edmonton my colleagues & I are finally being thanked for that thankless job; it is bittersweet as a Barrier Free Council, entrenched in new legislation – finally exists – now new appointees with a mandate they have yet to fully appreciate begin a new generation of code-evolution . . . oh yummy thoughts of debating millimeters, newtons & nuances, of visual impairments & things that drive you crazy; we all had fire in our bellies when we started, some burned bright, some burned out, some did a slow burn . . . but we burned in a way that would have made Kerouac proud
things got tougher, then easier . . worthy skills equal to a worthy struggle
each time you see a Braille appliqué in an elevator, use a barrier free washroom, find ramps actually in the vicinity of the wide parking stalls & building access that is genuine & functional there are a handful of people responsible for that
they are my friends I admire profoundly – your thank-you luncheon is long overdue, I’ll be seeing you soon
Mark
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