accessible buses

Today I went to Lunt Roman Fort to have a look around. Actually I made a mistake. I thought the VENI VIDI VICI Bank holiday event was on today. so I went on the bus - the 539 bus to Baginton village. It was an accessible bus and the driver let me off right outside the gate. I was told that it starts tomorrow though. They were setting it up today and doing some practices.

I am doing a mini inspection tour. i have to do a access audit for an open access area and I thought it is a good place for me to start.

According to their website-

The Lunt is accessible to visitors with disabilities. There are pathways throughout the site, ramped access to the museum and specially adapted toilet facilities.

True, there are pathways but there are gravelly paths and I wouldn' t like to take a self propelled chair - it would be tough going. Its a nice size for a first time attempt at access auditing though.

Lunt Roman fort Coventry

On another matter, I see on Peter Tan's blog that there is an additional firstever 100 accessible buses in Kuala  Lumpur.  I wonder if any of them go where i want to go and if they stop near enough to the kerbs.  How many wheelchairs  do they take  at one time?  What happens  in KL's torrential  downpours.
But how exciting to have accessible buses in Kuala Lumpur.

While I am on the subject of Malaysia and the disabled, I had a chat with Peter  as to why  Malaysia  did not sign the UN Convention for Human Rights for people with disabilities  - heres the answer in his blog -

The two legal officers in separate presentations informed participants that Malaysia has reservations with Article 16 which is about “Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” This Article contradicts Malaysian law because of the penal code with provides for capital punishments such as whipping. If Malaysia were to adopt that, it would mean that disabled persons would have to be exempted from such punishment under the law.

Malaysia will also not sign the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 1 of the OP states that “A State Party to the present Protocol (“State Party”) recognizes the competence of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (“the Committee”) to receive and consider communications from or on behalf of individuals or groups of individuals subject to its jurisdiction who claim to be victims of a violation by that State Party of the provisions of the Convention.”

This seminar left many unanswered questions with regards to the rights of disabled persons in this country. The status of the Disabled Persons Acts is still unclear. There is also a question of how many more reservations Malaysia has with the articles in the CRPD. What is the basis of Malaysia’s refusal to sign the OP? Last but not least, there is no one agency within the government that oversees all disability-related issues. This makes it very difficult for advocates of disability issues as we have to deal with different and separate ministries on transportation, built-environment, education and employment, among others. Until a time when Malaysia has a dedicated agency that has the authority to compel all ministries to address disability-related issues, disabled persons will have to run from one ministry to another just to get a single issue resolved. Apa macam Malaysia?

 The full entry can be read here.