Why Are You Standing On the Stairs? A Post About How People Create Accessibility Obstacles

The other day I walked into a subway station and I was walking down the stairs with a fair bit of people behind me as it was rush hour. There was a person in front of me who was on their phone who just simply stopped on the stairs, without warning, because they were seemingly oblivious to what was going on around them. I had to also stop suddenly or I would have risked accidentally pushing that person further down the stairs.

                I maneuvered my way around them and looked back at them and said “you know you shouldn’t stop on the stairs- that’s kind of the worst place to stop for people could get hurt.” They looked at me like no one had ever told them not to do something before. But they started walking because they realized they were creating a back log of folk on the stair.

                This post is not one of those humanity is in a state of complete disrepair posts, we are kind of done with those because I think we get that we are creating a mess for the future. It is actually about accessibility. I have decided that you can’t get people to act like we share the world and the space we live in because some people really don’t care about that because it is not immediate. They have no real motivator for them to be aware of their surroundings because they are very internally focused. So I decided to highlight why some of the things I see people do every day could cause someone to be seriously hurt. Because if people are hurt, your life is changed forever. So I am going to do this as a list, 1. because lists are easier to read, and it’s Saturday and frankly I am writing this as a way to work through my irritation about it, and 2. I’m doing this to put words on a page (even though I should be putting very different words on a page).

1. Don’t stand on the stairs. If you stand on the stairs you may be accidentally pushed down them if there is a group of people. If one of the people that is behind you is using the stairs but also uses a cane or has a guide dog, you stopping on the stairs creates a real accessibility issue and that person may have to change direction, or could lose their balance and slip and seriously injure themselves.

2. Don’t put your car up on the sidewalk and/or leave your door open of your car because you are just “running in quick.” No. stop. Don’t do this. You know why? Because where do have to go as a pedestrian when you do this. In.the.street. And you know what is in the street? Cars. And I could get hit, because I shouldn’t be on the street. I should be on the sidewalk, the same sidewalk your car and car door is taking up.

3 Don’t stand right in front of the door of a business. If I have to get in or get out you being there creates an obstacle for my access. You could cause the automatic doors to not open properly as you are in the way; you yourself could be hurt by the opening door. Why stand there when you could easily stand a few feet away? That way no one loses their balance, no one gets hit by a door.

4. Don’t leave your bicycle, scooter, wheeled basket, or child carriage in the middle of the sidewalk. I actually witnessed a person in an electronic scooter and a person with a double wide child carriage play a game of chicken down the sidewalk. You know what happened? They both got stuck. I kid you not. They both tried to pass the other in a narrow part of a sidewalk bordered by a newspaper box and restaurant patio rail and they were stuck there. The scooter backed up a bit and they could eventually go on their way but seriously are we all so much in a hurry that we can’t stop and go one at a time? Don’t leave your wheeled devices in the middle of the sidewalk so people can’t navigate around them. Someone could trip and seriously hurt themselves.

Oh they are many many more examples but these are just a few from recent memory (over the past months). I am sure you could list many as well so feel free to share and let your friends know to be aware of how they navigate and negotiate our shared space can affect others.