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Auto-opening doors made for wheelchair users, and able-bodied people using them.
So a couple weeks ago I was away from IJBM but I wanted to make this thread: IJBM when people who are perfectly capable of opening a door with their arms hit the blue (or other color) button that's supposed to open such doors automatically for people in wheelchairs. Maybe this could be justifiable if they were carrying a bulky load and couldn't easily open the door, but most of the time they are carrying nothing (except maybe a backpack or a single bag). They could instead be saving electricity AND getting some more exercise.
Sure, some of these doors (not all of them) are harder to open than other doors. Not that so hard that it's impossible for you to open, though.
Then I did a bit of quick internet research and found that some people avoid swinging open these doors because apparently it wears out the mechanism faster. The counterargument though is that having the electronic mechanism swinging the door outward causes wear on the mechanism anyway. And if people are going to use it all the damn time even if they can easily open a normal door...
Related IJBM: Architects not creating easily-openable, non-electronic doors in more convenient places, thus partly eliminating the point of using the automatic door by able-bodied individuals in the first place.
Comments
Does that really bug you, you damn hippie?
...what exactly is that supposed to mean?
There are signs all over my school saying not to do this.
...I do it sometimes anyway, not gonna lie.
Who cares about the inteneded purpose - if it's there, why not use it?
Also, let me use this opportunity to again proclaim my eternal hatred for Kantian ethics.
Because I appreciate the exercise and I'm aware of what externalities are, Kant or no Kant.
Marx partially built upon Kant. Unca Joe was aware of it, that's why not all of Koenigsberg was levelled in '45.
Well, he also did build upon Hegel a lot more, and Hegel himself was a proto-fascist.
I wanted to say you Kant just diss him, but Hegel on for a minute...
Also: it just came to me that Alex probably got into leftist politics because he mistook Marx for the Marxbruedern. (Edit reason: typo.)
Gah! My secret revealed.
There aren't a lot of disabled people around, so I do sometimes end up using the disabled-only toilets in emergencies. I do rush, though.
I use those freely because those don't incur any additional costs to anyone; if a non-handicapped toilet was placed there it'd still have a door mechanism and stuff.
That said I am aware that there is this one guy in our office who does use a wheelchair.
HAHA YOU TRIED TO DO IT WHERE I WOULDN'T LOOK YOU BASTARDS
Glennmagusharvey,
Normally I would agree with you on this (and on the corollary of "able-boded" people using elevators for seemingly no reason), but I actually have heard a person working for disabilities services tell "able-bodied" people to use the auto-open doors button when they see one. The rationale behind that instruction was that it is helpful to check to make sure they work. Going off of that point, I imagine that it would be better for someone who could easily open a door to find out if an automatic opening button was not working and report it than if the same thing happened to somebody who actually needed it.
On a somewhat related note, auto-open doors are certainly helpful, but I get the impression that they tend to be limited to front doors or (in certain circumstances) restrooms. I guess you have to take into account costs though and maybe having automatic openers for front doors and restrooms is the best way to ensure some basic level of autonomy for everyone.
Honestly, adapting buildings to be accessible to a variety of people seems like an incredibly difficult task to me, at least in part because not everyone who has a disability or even uses a wheelchair has the same needs. That being the case, approaching things in a one-size-fits-all fashion would probably be problematic.
It always confused me when people do this. It's like, you have to press the button, then stand and wait for the door to slooowly open, when if you'd just opened the door manually you'd have already be on your way in less time.
Louie does bring up a good point, though--if the mechanism is broken, it's better for someone who can manually open the door to find out instead of someone who actually needs the button.