Promoting the construction of barrier free environment is actually for tomorrow's self
2022-04-01
When the barrier free environment construction of the Beijing winter Paralympic Games attracted world attention, Zhang Jinglin, a 22-year-old girl and founder of Shanghai Science and Technology Co., Ltd., has found a new office for the entrepreneurial team. Compared with the space layout of "barrier free home exhibition hall + office" in the past, the new office area is smaller, there is no exhibition hall, and the rent is relatively cheap. "The team is mainly engaged in the customized design of barrier free home, but it has been chased by the accounting period and had to tear down the barrier free exhibition hall at the end of February. Taking into account the deposit of nearly 150000 yuan for three months refunded in advance, as well as the expenditure on design, decoration and manpower, frankly speaking, when the exhibition hall was closed, it was considered to close down." Zhang Jinglin said. After all, she was still unwilling. Before dismantling the exhibition hall, Zhang Jinglin released a group of photos on the social platform. "Unexpectedly, the attention increased quickly, and new cooperation opportunities came to our door, which made it possible for us to continue to move forward and saw the development potential of the industry". According to statistics, the total number of disabled people in China has exceeded 85 million, and the population aged 60 and over is 267 million. The number of potential barrier free environment demanders is even more considerable. In a sense, Zhang Jinglin's entrepreneurial experience provides an observation incision for understanding the current home design and construction of barrier free environment. No barrier can have dignity The barrier free exhibition hall of nearly 60 square meters, which simulates the pattern of one room, one living room, one kitchen and one bathroom, was once the "highlight" of Zhang Jinglin's entrepreneurship. Two designers of the team have previously participated in the design of barrier free spaces such as autistic children's rehabilitation center and elderly day care center. When planning the exhibition hall, the width of the door and porch reached 1.5 meters that stretchers and wheelchairs can pass through, which is related to the experience of Zhang Jinglin's relatives. When she was 18 years old, her grandmother had a sudden illness at home and couldn't get up, but the stretcher couldn't be carried into the room because of the narrow door and many sundries in the porch, so her family had to carry her out first. After being sent to the hospital, grandma was diagnosed with sudden cerebral hemorrhage. "Afterwards, it was speculated that the back movement had great ups and downs, which was likely to cause secondary damage to grandma. If the extreme situation of first aid could be taken into account during the initial decoration and a channel was reserved at home, the situation might be completely different." Zhang Jinglin said. Home improvement made Zhang Jinglin realize the importance of accessibility again, "After grandma was discharged from the hospital, she got into a wheelchair and fell in the bathroom. The family invited her to the decoration company. The designer proposed to install some barrier free facilities in the bedroom and bathroom to facilitate the entry and exit of wheelchairs. At first, we didn't feel anything wrong. After the completion, we found that the wheelchairs didn't work in the unmodified places at home, and Grandma could only move in a small area, that is Even if you just want to go to the kitchen and have a look, you have to ask for help. According to Li Dihua, associate professor of architecture and Landscape Design School of Peking University, the concept of barrier free design is changing from ensuring basic living standards to meeting independent living and emotional needs, "No matter what happens to the body, people live not just to survive, but to enjoy life freely and independently, which is related to human dignity. Barrier free design is to try to create conditions for users to be independent." Grandma's experience made Zhang Jinglin start to pay attention to the news related to accessibility. During her internship in a foreign company in Shanghai in 2019, she accidentally learned that barrier free home exhibition halls have appeared in foreign countries. People in need can go to the scene to feel various facilities, and then customize more independent transformation schemes according to their physical conditions. After some research, Zhang Jinglin judged that the barrier free home design in China at this time was mainly in the form of "general product package" provided by suppliers, and there was a certain market gap in personalization and whole house customization. The idea of "opening an accessible exhibition hall by yourself" came into being. In October 2021, the exhibition hall, which had been prepared for several months, was officially opened. Before opening, in addition to asking professional institutions to test the equipment, all members of the team sat in wheelchairs in turn to experience the floor less counter top, step wardrobe and other facilities from the perspective of users. However, despite doing her homework in advance, Zhang Jinglin can still find new design ideas from the feedback of visitors. "For example, we thought that the hearing-impaired would be more sensitive to the vibration effect of the bracelet, but the hearing-impaired visitors said that they actually pay more attention to the visual changes of the flashing lights. In the design, we added more options for visual cues. After all, no matter how strong the sense of substitution is, it can't be compared with the user's own experience." Zhang Jinglin said. Entrepreneurship is frustrated and the market is still exploring After the exhibition hall was opened to the public for more than half a year, the team did not receive an order, but the rent expenditure alone was nearly 50000 yuan a month. "A practical problem is that people with disabilities are generally not well-off in economic conditions and have little spare power to pay for the cost of barrier free home transformation; in terms of aging transformation, there are still conceptual differences. For example, when a young man wants to make barrier free transformation for his grandfather's house, we have almost prepared our plans, but the old man firmly opposes it. He feels that he can't continue to place orders before he can use these designs Gone. " Zhang Jinglin said. While the C-end was frustrated, Zhang Jinglin did not go well in finding the way of investment. According to Zhang Jinglin, part of the startup funds came from her roommate in Shanghai. "After she decided to open an accessible exhibition hall, her roommate told me that her dead father was also a wheelchair user. Similar experience made her better understand what we were doing.". However, what commercial investors need is projects with clear commercialization path and can quickly copy and realize. "The vast majority of investors will support our project at the personal level, but when it comes to investment and financing, that's another matter. Many investors say that you should give up this part of business for the disabled and focus on the aging transformation, but this is contrary to our original intention." Zhang Jinglin said. However, in order to make the company "live", Zhang Jinglin tried to focus on aging design in Entrepreneurship roadshows and market promotion, and also attracted some investors to visit the exhibition hall, but the effect of attracting investment is not obvious. Without orders and investment, the rent, manpower and operating expenses of the company are still "rolling" forward in January. In the face of financial pressure, Zhang Jinglin had to close the exhibition hall. When the photos of the exhibition hall attracted attention on the social platform, Zhang Jinglin's company ushered in a turnaround. "Some b-end institutions contacted us after seeing the pictures. At present, they have contacted the construction of cognitive friendly community environment, the development of aging suitable lighting products, barrier free research and study travel and other projects, and the entrepreneurship has finally taken another step forward. This crisis made me realize that in addition to the transformation of home environment, barrier free design of community and public space should also be an important direction for us. This market is still in the exploratory period, and the opportunities are still there A lot. " Zhang Jinglin said. The implementation plan of the 14th five year plan for barrier free environment construction puts forward that during the 14th Five Year Plan period, the construction rate of barrier free facilities on urban roads and public buildings will reach 100%; Support the barrier free transformation of 1.1 million families with severe disabilities; Support the implementation of aging adaptation in 2 million families of the elderly, disabled and disabled with special difficulties. The policy guidance also gave Zhang Jinglin hope. "For tomorrow's self" After speaking on the social platform, Zhang Jinglin made many new friends who paid attention to the construction of barrier free environment, including 21-year-old wheelchair user Mianmian (net name). In recent months, Zhang Jinglin and Mianmian have conducted an evaluation of some barrier free environments in Shanghai. The evaluation results are not ideal. "Taking a taxi on the travel platform, 7 of the 10 cars will refuse to carry wheelchair users. Many cinemas do not have barrier free seats, and there are more restaurants without barrier free ramps". Zhao Hongcheng, a short video blogger living in Shanghai, published two issues of "red list and black list of wheelchair travel" at the end of 2021. In the video, she came to the door of bookstores, art exhibitions and other public spaces. The staff refused to enter the venue because of using a wheelchair. After repeated negotiations, she was able to enter the door. Outside a "wanghong" bookstore listed in the "black list", the instructions for entering the store directly read "baby carriages, wheelchairs and other appliances that may occupy the passage, please do not push them in, but deposit them at the entrance". In Li Dihua's view, there is a kind of discrimination behind the behavior of "refusing wheelchairs to enter the door", "Many people have such a concept in their hearts: the disabled, the elderly and the sick should not appear in the public environment to trouble others, and even many disabled and the elderly themselves think so. Equality for all is a concept that embodies the progressive spirit of modern civilization. More loud advocacy is needed to understand and practice this concept. The built environment should be unconditionally created for those who need to live independently without barriers Many people find it hard to accept the conditions. Since 2007, Li Dihua has held an experience class for graduate students every semester. Take students to experience the "barrier environment" in the city: rent wheelchairs, crutches, strollers, elderly action simulation clothes and other equipment to simulate the travel of people who need barrier free use. "It is the first time that many students have experienced the 'obstacles' in the built environment of the city from the perspective of the demander. Before that, they would not have thought that a small ditch along the road, several floor tiles with slight height difference and an inclined wire will make it difficult to walk in an inch in seemingly ordinary streets and public spaces. Why is there a column in the middle of some barrier free passages that makes wheelchairs completely unable to pass through? What is behind the inadequate management and maintenance The idea didn't follow up. I hope students will think of this class when they encounter some scenes related to accessibility in the future. " Li Dihua said. In the barrier free exhibition hall, Zhang Jinglin once noted that nearly half of the visitors are young people. "In the final analysis, everyone may temporarily become a barrier: pregnant women, families with children and passengers with large suitcases. Everyone can also benefit from barrier free design. We promote barrier free construction today for ourselves tomorrow". (outlook new era)
Edit：Yuanqi Tang Responsible editor：Xiao Yu
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