Needless occupations...

With this page I made my mind up for a long time if and how I can publish it in the internet. Carping without reason it is not my turn; if there is something disturbing me I try to solute the problem in a constructive way. But at some facts I'm just destitute of all power because there are amongst others some human features which can't be eliminated like indifference or mental laziness par example. Even 200 years ago the german writer Mr. Friedrich Schiller let Jeanne d'Arc shouting out desperately in the theatre feature "Die Jungfrau von Orleans" (The virgin of Orleans) that even gods fight against the stupidity in vain. So the problem regarding the human ability (or inability) to learn from real situations had to be known even at that time and that's why PISA (Programs for International Student Assessment) is not only a phenomenon of our time.

As long as mental inability or inclination to a simple learning resistance, respectively, only expresses in the private spheres a correction can be carried out fastly and without problems with the simple question " ... oh, are your silly???... ", but if this occurs in the public spheres in concrete and stone it becomes a little more complicated. Surely, I can ask the architect who just builds in wunderful steps in his "master piece" again being invincible for a wheel-chair driver "... oh. are you silly???..." - merely I don't change anything at this unsatisfying conditions and I just only get an action of fence. Surely, he "merely" forgot that there are people in our society falling out off the usual physical standards. At earlier times the people were much closer to these physical standards, such mesures of length like foot, ell or inch or the non-metric system being valid in the U.S.A. orientating rather at concrete imaginable dimensions than at more abstract ones are the evidence for that historical fact. (-> A little question by the way: Do you know how long a metre is? - But a yard this is easily imaginable, isn't it???). But I don't want to decry the metric system as the reason for this architectural bullshit and to eliminate it at all. Rather I want to draw the attention that there are people who know in fact the dealing with this metric system but there are results to be complained over and over again keep missing this responsible dealing. Now we are again in the headline.

Information / help desk in the shopping mall "Saale-Park / Nova Eventis" being reconstructed in 2005 . Can anybody tell me what could be seen on it .....(?) :-(

Starting point for these thoughts was a cinema visit in vain in the UFA-Filmpalast of Dresden, Petersburg Street, where the ticket seller reminded punctually that I couldn't enter theatre 1 as a wheel-chair driver because I would stand in the corridor of the viewing room and on this way I would bar the emergency exits. In other cinemas, I can go in, can enter the handicap toilet or I can eat or drink something but if I want to see a film (what should happen in a cinema from time to time) I get only a stiff neck (the empty places in the first row for the wheel-chair drivers - only places being eliminated - are very unconvienent places to see a cinemascope film) or the embloyees of the cinema have to keep me with the wheel-chair in a higher row being very unconvienent to them. Another recent example happened to me at the first address here in Germany, at the Potsdamer Platz. On the Cinemaxx centre there, I couldn't enter hall no. 10 with the wheel-chair. But, certain films not being "mainstream" have been only shown there, unfortunately )-: .
The ticket seller or the UFA are not responsible for the fact that I can't enter the rooms or I haven't any pleasure in seeing a film but there is a responsible architect or civil engineer who did not follow their occupational duties at all after my opinion.

On floading of an earlier open coal mine in Bitterfeld/Germany a touristic attraction had been created: the Level Tower (Pegelturm) in the Goitzsche area being entered about a sea bridge, normally...

If you point out these architectural defiencies for instance at the newly-built Level Tower (Pegelturm in Bitterfeld/Germany which only can be entered on a sea bridge with steps as it happened by the Club for handicapped people and their friends, you only get the information "... the accessibility of the sea bridge for wheel-chair drivers is about to come..." but, unfortunately, these responsible persons forgot to say when it will come. Additional to this indifferent (= irresponsible) dealing you can still find the try to kidding us (this special question had already been asked in the year 2000) keeping me somewhat diappointed and doubting me about the practical purpose of architects and civil engineers.

...because at first you have to climb 3 steps...

...and after that you have to go down more than 20 to the sea bridge...

No doubt - many building being newly constructed are designed on a way that wheel-chair drivers can enter them. After my opinion there is a lack for the view of the detail (as a constructor of a garden railway I know what I'm talking about) shattering the good intention to integrate people beyond the normal physical standards or reversing it to its complete opposite. As an example I want to show my training route where a big part of the sidewalks of the main street of the city of Wolfen had been newly built (as handicapped people we could make our suggestions but they hadn't been realized) but I can't use it because of the lateral inclination being there (one arm will be overloaded because of the use of only one arm to drive the wheel-chair) and I'm forced again to use in a dangerous way the street again with all cars, lorries and busses on which the rolling is not a problem - strangely - the lateral inclination over there is minimal. On this way I get the conclusion that in addition to architects and civil engineers embloyees in the administration are not absolutely necessary in solving architectural problems. At this point, I don't want to extend this estimation to politicians despite of the fact that it will be obvious and I badly want to do so. But I had to realize that we haven't any vocational training for a politician here in Germany. Consequently, every politician has just only some kind of a unskilled or semiskilled profession...(-;

Sunday morning on my training round: You just see with the naked eye the lateral inclination of the sidewalk to the right. At about 850 arm strokes per kilometre wheel-chair driving this will be a really hard job - after that you have the feeling that your arm isn't at your body anymore...

Another example from there. During transformation of the inner city region, a contact region had been created offering presentation opportunities at city parties. But it can only be reached by steps, partly.

At the front ends, possibilities for access had been built with slopes which can be used at least at the north side with a normal equipped wheel-chair.

But at the south side, by levelling to the pavement such a steep slope had been achieved which leads to an inadvertently stunt with passing it. To cross the edge with a wheel-chair, the driver had to accelerate it shortly to raise the front wheels. With this "creation" it leads inevitably to fall backwards with the wheel-chair. This architectural solution quite borders on bodily injury - in other words - THIS IS BULLSHIT! ))))-:

These problems had been also described by other handicapped people and one result of it is the anti-discrimination law here in Germany trying to solve these problems in an administrative way. But strangly, it still works without any additional laws because in super markets I have unlimited accessibility with my wheel-chair. On an ironic way I would say that they are interested at my money because as a pensioneer I have a very stable and desired purchasing power due to my regular income but if we want to have some education or relaxing then we have to stay before the door to prevent that the others don't have to face us and lose therefore their good feelings (for instance the EVE Bar at the Theatre in Bochum which can be reached only by a narrow spiral stair). Unfortunately, jazz or blues bands don't play in construction markets. Not to mention about certain physical activities if you got a new acquaintance and she wants to have drink with you. But for this we have videotheques unfortunately being seldomly accessible to wheel-chairs...

Or if I want to create new jobs as an investor I have to seek extensively for an accessible bureau despite of the great building activities - a situation being not only close to the violation of my constitutional human right of physical soundness and the opportunity for unhindered development my personality but preventing new jobs too.

In 2003, a tv team made a shooting at another critical point of my training mile - the uneven going or the use of the other side of the street with the wheel chair sembles a stunt. The pictures being taken there could be see at 04/26/2003 at the german tv station of MDR.

But if I take a look at the situation in Netherlands where I have to recall really hard where I couldn't enter a building - no matter if private or public - (here in Germny I have to recall hardly where I can enter a building) then I have the question if this solution to get access by law will be the right way or if it wouldn't be better to prevent such an architectural bullshit by a realized integration in daily life of the society. One suggestion to overcome this abstruse situation may be that architects have to accept their "works" in a wheel-chair (here in Germany they wouldn't get very far). The demographic development here in Germany provides in the future rather for more wheel-chair drivers than for less. The difficulty that normal architectural standard solutions couldn't be used anymore would lead after my opinion to new ideas in architectura - here the old german proverb applies - emergency makes inventive - and the monotony of german cities would be overcome markedly. But this presumes mental flexibility, courage for unusual solutions and enough power to fight for his ideas - and if I see the results of the PISA study I have less hope. It should start with the kindergarden where disabled and non-disabled children can play together. Playing - this is the reflection of the environment in an imaginative way - also with the barrieres (as constructor of an garden railway I again know what I'm talking about). This lacks in the grown-up world of architects and administration embloyees because then this problems would be recognized for sure and I wouldn't need to publish this page in the internet.

But I have to do so )-: .....

Annotation to the Level Tower from 08/18/2002: This photo was taken short before the diluvian rain falls and the following historical flood desaster happened here in the middle of Germany. By a dike breach between the villages of Pouch and Löbnitz the lake "Goitzsche" was filled by water of the river Mulde (level on 08/16/2002 at 2 p.m. 77.5 metres above mean sea levcl - 71 m were the normal level up to this point of time) with the consequence that the town of Bitterfeld was threatened considerably. Naturally, it also concerned the region of the sea bridge and the Level Tower - the nature had evidentially the opinion too that this construction couldn't be the best one. Due to damages of this complex there isn't any indication about the date when this touristical attraction could be reopened.
Annotation from 02/14/2003: At 02/09/2003 the sea bridge and Level Tower had been reopened after comprehensive repairs - but wheel-chair drivers still don't have any chances at all to enter it; the steps shown above continue to enhance this touristic attraction in a wonderful ignorant way )-:
Annotation from 10/15/2003: Since the end of septembre a descent is installed nearby the sea bridge to alow wheel-chair drivers to get onto the sea bridge. Even though there had been activities in many ways and, finally, this page payed surely the least contribution to this success - it isn't so useless to get it out in the net.... (-: