And Sometimes the Answer is Persistence

By Scott Rains on January 25, 2009 9:51 PM

In January 2008, disAbilities Resource Centre Southland, New Zealand the story of the Southland District Council's failure to comply with accessibility regulations at a tourist point of interest. ( Original article: http://drcsouth.blogspot.com/2008/01/riverton-viewing-platform-fiasco.html )

Following successful resolution they write:

Peter Dolamore, a qualified Barrier Free Advisor, assessed the platform for accessibility and found it non compliant with the Building Code and yet the Southland District Council had approved Building Consent for the structure. Peter forwarded a full report of his findings to the SDC who argued that they did not have to include access to the top level platform for wheelchair users because the view wasn't any different up there! Southland DPA members and other disabled people checked out the platform themselves and found that there clearly was a difference.

The Council's tokenistic response was to issue a notice to fix some of the 'minor' problems but flatly refused to admit that they had breached the Building Code by denying wheelchair users access to the top deck.

Source: http://drcsouth.blogspot.com/2008/09/southland-man-wins-access-case.html

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