queequeg wrote:One year, doing the wheelchair marathon as a bicycle escort for the elite athletes, I watched with embarrassment as one of the top US wheelchair competitors took himself from his hotel in the city to the start in North Sydney, not realising there were 55 stairs at the other end. Luckily we were meeting at the bottom of the steps and saw his plight. Two people assisted with his racing chair, but he refused help for himself, instead choosing to walk down the stairs on his hands! All we could do was apologise for our government’s lack of care about it.
While you may have no troubles, parents with trailers or young kids on bikes, cargo bikes, or those less capable, perhaps on an e-bike, can’t navigate 55 stairs and then weave through two narrow bollards. That includes elite athletes in carbon fibre racing chairs.
The Disability (Access to Premises - Buildings) Standards 2010 only apply to buildings covered by the various building classifications found in the Building Code of Australia and public footpaths do not have a building classification. This makes it more difficult, but not impossible, to bring a successful claim. I am aware of a handful of complaints the the Australian Human Rights Commission, but not of any going to court.trailgumby wrote:^^^This. I must say I'm very surprised the government has not been sued for failing to live up to its own disabled access laws...
Section 23 of the Disability Discrimination Act makes it to discriminate on the ground of the other person’s disability in relation to the provision of means of access to such premises, but the big get out is the "unjustifiable hardship" defence in section 11.
That said, work has finally commenced on building a lift at each end of the bridge on the pedestrian side