This is real. It’s located in Giulianova Lido, Italy. IIRC an arts project from a local school and it is meant as a way to “integrate” wheelchairs symbolically as well as practically.
Comment on Hostile architecture
null@piefed.nullspace.lol 11 hours ago
If this were real, consider how it would come to be. It’s obvious that even if we pretend it’s for accessibility purposes, it’s worse than just pulling up beside the bench because now you have to deal with backing into the spot.
But what if it’s more nefarious than that? No budget to put in new benches with spikes or whatever built in. But maybe there’s room in the budget for “accessibility upgrades”. Maybe a ramp was sacrificed for this idiocy.
b_tr3e@feddit.org 10 hours ago
LillyPip@lemmy.ca 9 hours ago
as well as practically.
X doubt.
This is worse than nothing, because (as a wheelchair user) there’s like 6 inches or so of clearance behind the chair. That back rail means you can’t back up to get yourself in line with your compatriots,so you’ll be in front of and misaligned with the people on either side, such that they’re literally talking behind your back.
If this design was in earnest, it’s godawful and just shows the designer had no idea what they were doing.
If it’s an art project, then I can appreciate it. If it was meant to be practical, it’s a major fail.
AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 3 hours ago
I can appreciate the thought, because as a part time wheelchair user, it does often wear me down when I feel like I’m perpetually perched on the periphery of any conversation.
However, like you say, this is just far too impractical for most people. I have a small, active wheelchair, and even that would probably put me in front of friends sitting on the bench beside me.
However, I can totally believe that this was made in earnest. I’ve seen some ridiculous “accommodations” that are ostensibly for disabled people that just show that the able bodied designer just didn’t involve any disabled people in the design process at all. And that’s why “nothing about us, without us” is a long used slogan used by disability rights campaigners.
If anyone wants to see an example of good accessibility design, I love how they designed the packaging for the Xbox Accessible Controller. They included lots of people with varied needs across multiple stages of the design process, and it really shows. And the end product is so elegantly functional. I like this quote from Solomon Romney, a “Microsoft Retail Stores retail learning specialist”:
"The whole thing sort of blossoms open in this really beautiful, fluid way. The package just sort of opens and hands you the controller. What’s wonderful about it is the effortlessness.”
b_tr3e@feddit.org 9 hours ago
It’s a single installation, AFAIK - and definitely an art project.
LillyPip@lemmy.ca 7 hours ago
But what this art says to me, as a wheelchair user, is something completely different because this design is the opposite of inclusive. Is that what is meant?
This design says I should be excluded – taking it as art, this design communicates everyone having conversations and leaving me out, because that back bar will exclude me by design.
If I’m to socialise, I should be on one end or the other, but that middle part means I’ll be artificially excluded by the environment.
Is that what it’s meant to mean?
Passerby6497@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
It’s also for sale. Here’s a link OP posted
Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 8 hours ago
practically
Ahhh, art students trying to be practical.
ObviouslyNotBanana@piefed.world 6 hours ago
b_tr3e@feddit.org 6 hours ago
Maybe it is now. The one,. I saw not that long ago was a single piece.
Microw@piefed.zip 10 hours ago
I mean, the only benefit this has is that someone in a wheelchair can now sit next to two people. Pulling up besides the bench always means that you’re on the end.
ObviouslyNotBanana@piefed.world 10 hours ago
But since the wheelchair has a back to it and such, you’ll be sitting slightly in front of those two people meaning everyone will have a sore neck.
LillyPip@lemmy.ca 9 hours ago
They couldn’t, though. Because of the space the back of the chair and the radius of the wheels requires, the person in the chair would be sitting at least a foot in front of anyone seated on the bench.
ObviouslyNotBanana@piefed.world 10 hours ago
I mean…
null@piefed.nullspace.lol 10 hours ago
I gotta stop giving reality the benefit of the doubt.
ceenote@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
Seriously, have you been living under a rock?
ObviouslyNotBanana@piefed.world 10 hours ago
They even sell the actual bench from the meme, so I linked it instead! Fantastic design. No notes.