Wheelchair Access Penang (wapenang)

The Ramp Connecting KOMTAR to Prangin Mall

2018-04-07T20:54:00.001+08:00

Reclining Buddha Temple (in English)

2018-03-28T22:48:00.005+08:00

There is a new accessible toilet at Reclining Buddha Temple Penang. I checked that toilet on 27th March 2018.

Reclining Buddha Temple (In Chinese)

2018-03-28T13:58:00.001+08:00

There is a new accessible toilet at Reclining Buddha Temple Penang. I checked that toilet on 27th March 2018.

Grand Imperial Restaurant (KOMTAR)

2017-02-25T23:59:00.003+08:00

KOMTAR Level 5 has a new restaurant -- Grand Imperial Restaurant. My first impression was that it is not accessible by wheelchair users. But I later found out that there is a lift for wheelchair users. I am posting photographs of how to reach the lift. Just follow the yellow arrows in the photographs.

Here is the lift that will bring you to the restaurant. (Photos were taken on Feb 6, 2017)

A Misleading Pavement

2016-04-09T13:19:00.000+08:00

I went to Fort Cornwallis on 13 Oct. 2015. On the way I had to move my wheelchair on a pavement (see map). I was happy to see a kerb ramp at the start of the pavement. But when I reached the other end, I could not find any kerb ramp to get down. This is bad practice. If there is a kerb ramp at one end of a pavement, there MUST be a corresponding kerb ramp at the other end. Or else a wheelchair user could get stranded at the end that does not have kerb ramp.

There are some photos I took of the pavement. It was not properly maintained. Since it is at an area where there are many tourists and visitors, surely the local authority should pay more attention to it.

Botanic Garden Of Penang

2015-11-10T16:46:00.000+08:00

The Botanic Garden of Penang used to have an accessible toilet. I used it before many years ago. But when I visited the garden on 7 Nov 2015 I discovered that the accessible toilet was no longer there. I was very surprised and could not understand why the management of the garden made the decision to demolish the accessible toilet. The thoughtless action contradicted the legal requirements of Malaysia's Uniform Building By-laws (UBBL). By-laws 34A of UBBL clearly states that public gardens must have disabled access. (Full content of by-laws 34A can be found HERE.) The management of the garden has completely ignored the by-laws and I could not understand why the authority has not taken any action against them.

While I was there, I took some photos of the toilet. I am posting them here for the wheelchair users who plan to visit the garden. I hope the photos will give you a rough idea of what to expect.

By-laws 34A of the Uniform Building Bylaws (UBBL)

2015-11-07T22:20:00.001+08:00

By-laws 34A of the Uniform Building Bylaws (UBBL)
In Malaysia, it is mandatory that all public buildings must provide facilities for disabled persons. In Sep. 20^th 1990, an amendment was made to the Uniform Building Bylaws (UBBL) at the 35th National Council of Local Government (NCLG).
The amendment, namely 34A in UBBL, makes it compulsory for buildings to provide access to enable disabled persons to get into, out of and within the buildings. Buildings already built before the commencement of this by-law must be altered to comply with the by-law within 3 years from the date of commencement.
Under National Constitution article 95A, the provision of NCLG is binding on all state governments. By-law 34A of the UBBL was gazetted in the State of Penang on Nov. 11th 1993. (State Gazette No. Pg. P.U 26).
The following is the full text of bylaws 34A of the UBBL:


STREET, DRAINAGE AND BUILDING ACT 1974
UNIFORM BUILDING (AMENDMENT) BYLAWS 1991

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 133 of the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974, the State. Authority Makes the following By-laws:

1.	These By-laws may be cited as the Uniform Building (Amen4ai6w), By-laws 1991.
2.	By-law 2 of the Uniform Building By-laws 1984 which in this By-laws is referred to as "the principal By-laws" is amended by inserting immediately after interpretation “detached building” the following interpretation.
	"disabled persons" means people; with a physical, hearing or sight impairment which affects their mobility or their use of buildings as referred to under by-law 34A;".
3.	The principal By-laws is amended by inserting immediately after by-law 34, the following new by-law 34A:
	34A	(1)	Any building or part thereof to which this by-law applies shall-
			(a)	be provided with access to enable disabled persons to get into, out of and within the: building except for any part of the building for which access is provided wholly or mainly for the inspection, maintenance or repair of the building, its services or fixed plant or machinery; and
			(b)	be designed with facilities for used by disabled persons.
		(2)	The requirements of this by-law shall be deemed to be satisfied by compliance with Malaysian Standard MS 1184 and MS 1183.
		(3)	Buildings to which this by-law applies and which on .the date of commencement of this by-law have been erected, are being erected or have not been erected but plans have been submitted and approved shall be modified or altered to comply with this by-laws within 3 years from the date of commencement of this by-law.
		(4)	Notwithstanding paragraph (3) the local authority may where it is satisfied that it is justifiable to do so-
			(a)	allow an extension or further extensions of the period within which the requirements of this by-law are to be complied with: or
			(b)	allow, variations, deviations, or exemptions as it may specify from any provisions of: this by-law.
		(5)	Any persons aggrieved by the decision of the local authority under paragraph (4) may within 30 days of the receipt of the decision appeal in writing to the State Authority whose decisions shall be final.
		(6)	The requirements of this by-law shall apply to any of the following buildings or any part thereof –
			(a)	offices, banks, post offices, shops, department stores, supermarkets and other administrative anti commercial buildings. except shop-houses existing, at the commencement of this by-law;
			(b)	rail, road, sea ad air travel buildings and associated concourses, car parking, buildings and factories;
			(c)	hospitals, medical centers, clinic, and other health and welfare buildings;
			(d)	restaurants, concert halls, theatres, cinemas, conference buildings, community buildings, swimming pools, sports buildings and other refreshment, entertainment and recreation buildings;
			(e)	religious buildings;
			(f)	schools, colleges, universities, zoos, museums, art galleries, libraries, exhibition buildings and other educational, cultural andscientific buildings; and
			(g)	hostels, hotels and other residential buildings other than single family private dwelling houses.

The following table shows the gazette dates of by-laws 34A of the UBBL :-

LIST OF STATE GAZETTE NOTIFICATION ON AMENDMENT TO UBBL 1984 ON BUILDING REQUIREMENTS FOR DISABLED PERSONS
No.	State	Gazette Date	Gazetted Document
1	Perlis	3 March 1994	PS. P.U.2
2	Kedah	30 November 1992	-
3	Pulau Pinang	11 November 1993	Pg. P.U.26
4	Perak	13 May 1994	Pk. P.U.26
5	Selangor	20 January 1994	Sel. C.U.95
6	Negeri Sembilan	31 January 1991	N.S.P.U.1
7	Melaka	22 May 1996	-
8	Johor	7 May 1992	J.P.U.14
9	Pahang	28 March 1996	-
10	Terengganu	15 December 1993	-
11	Kelantan	3 July 1992	Kn. P.U. 5/92
12	Wilayah Persekutuan	13 August 1993	P.U.A. 305/92

Fort Cornwallis Food Court

2015-10-15T14:49:00.000+08:00

Fort Cornwallis Food Court has been operating for many years. There are some very nice hawker food there. But unfortunately wheelchair users are unable to reach the place. Here are some photos I took when I checked that place on 13 Oct 2015.

If a wheelchair user comes from Light Street, the entrance is blocked. (See photos above).

You cannot enter from the public car parks. (See photo above).

Entrance from Jalan Tuan Syed Sheh Barakbah is also blocked. (See photo above). So no access at all entrances.

Udini Square

2015-10-05T20:50:00.006+08:00

Udini Square is a newly opened shopping mall at Lebuh Tunku Kudin 3. It is just next to Tesco Gelugor. A friend told me there is a passage connecting the two buildings. So I decided to check them out on 16 Sep 2015.

A very visible accessible car park sign greeted us and this gave me a good impression (see photo above). The friendly guard guided our car to the car park. There were all together four accessible car parks. It is good that these car parks are completely separated from the general car parks. There will be no possibility of abuse. But since it is an open air car park it can be messy when it rains (see photos below).

Next to the car parks is a ramp. I had no problem using that ramp. But I didn’t like the fact that handrail is only installed at one side of the ramp. A ramp must always have handrails on both sides. I had also noticed a very sharp edge at one point and this could post a danger to the person who accidentally falls (see photos below).

Since the mall is newly opened, it was not fully occupied yet. But as usual, I first made the point to check if this mall has an accessible toilet. And if it has, I will try to review the design of the toilet. I was actually quite disappointed with the accessible toilet when I saw it. Firstly, I didn’t like the grab bar that is fixed to the floor. And secondly the empty space beside this toilet bowl is too narrow (see photos below).

I hope the following photo illustrates my points clearly.

After checking the accessible toilet, I tried to find out if the lift of the the mall reaches the basement car parks.The lift did reach the basement (see photos below). And I think the car park next to the entrance is also a good location for disabled drivers’ car park because it is well shaded from the rain and sun.

Before I left, I check the passage way that connected this mall to Tesco. The entrance to the passage could be easily found.

But if a wheelchair user tries to go to Tesco using this connecting bridge, the person will be blocked at Tesco’s end. (See photos below.)

I left the mall feeling very frustrated that wheelchair users are again being discriminated. It is simply unfair that we are unable use the same facilities that other people enjoy.

Update on 26 Dec 2015

Some of the problems highlighted in the above post have been solved (see photos below.) I wish to thank whoever is responsible for making the improvements.

Two Hotels In One Building

2015-08-24T22:30:00.002+08:00

St. Giles Wembly Hotel and Cititel Express were opened in Penang recently. Both hotels occupied the same building. St. Giles Wembly's entrance is at Magazine Road (Jalan Magazine) and Cititel Express's entrance is at Noordin Street (Lebuh Noordin). (See map below.)

The ramp to enter St. Giles Wembly is as shown in the photo below. The ramp appeared to be steep and there is only handrail at one side of the ramp.

The ramp to enter Cititel Express are shown in the photos below.

The multi-storey car park has a few accessible car parks and one of them was located next to the lift. (Photo below.)

The accessible toilet at St. Giles Wembly was located at the lobby and could be found easily. It was big and bright and quite expensively docorated. The only thing I didn't like was the location of the basin. (See photos below.) It is not good for people who use side-transfer.

The accessible toilet of Cititel Express was quite a distance from the lobby and hidden behind a wooden door. A friendly receptionist led me all the way to the toilet. We had to go up a ramp and then past a long corridor before we could reach it. Then we found that the toilet was locked and she could not locate the person who had the key. I ended up using the one at St. Giles Wembly.

I encountered an irritating problem when I was at the hotels. The floor from one part of the building to another part are often not jointed smoothly. The small front wheels of my wheelchair got stuck a few times and I had to "reverse" (moving back to front) so that I could use the big hind wheels to overcoming the problems. Here are some photos to illustrate my point.

Conclusion: All new buildings in Penang are beginning to have facilities for wheelchair users. This is a good trend. But the designs of these facilities still have room for further improvements.

No Disabled Access: Farquhar Mansion

2015-04-11T14:54:00.002+08:00

I phoned Farquhar Masion 10 minutes ago and was told that the place is NOT wheelchair friendly. This post is for disabled people who may want to go there.

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

2015-03-01T21:05:00.003+08:00

No I wasn't referring to the famous movie by Clint Eastwood. I was referring to my impressions when I visited the new Royale Bintang Hotel of Penang on Jan 7, 2015.

The good thing about this hotel is that there were attempts to make the premise wheelchair friendly. It has a step-ramp at the main entrance. And I had no problem moving around inside the hotel. (See photos below.)

The bad thing is the hotel's accessible toilet. When I entered the toilet I was very surprised to see that the toilet floor is about 15 mm lower than the floor outside. That posed a problem when I wanted to leave the toilet. The small wheels in front of my wheelchair were unable to overcome the 15 mm height step. I had to reverse my wheelchair and exit back to front. (See photo below.)

The grab bar in the toilet was fixed in a wrong direction. I cannot understand how the designer could make such a fundamental error I really could not understand. (See photo below.) (Please refer to my post about designing an accessible toilet if you want to know how grab-bars should be fixed. The link is HERE.)

And what is the ugly thing -- keeping cleaning equipment in the accessible toilet. Imagine a foreign visitor entering the toilet. What will he or she thinks of this hotel or even Penang. Can't the hotel allocate a dedicated room for such storage and not use the accessible toilet to store such stuff.

Old Ramp, New Ramp

2015-02-22T19:39:00.003+08:00

I wrote a post about a very steep ramp (see above photo) on 4 Aug 2014 (see link HERE). The authority reacted promptly by building a much better ramp beside the old one. I wish to thank the authority for taking prompt action. Here are some photos I took of the new ramp.

Greetings To All My Readers

2014-12-24T13:09:00.000+08:00

They Did Hear Us.

2014-12-15T19:20:00.001+08:00

In Nov 2012, I wrote that Penang State Museum And Art Gallery did not have wheelchair access (see link HERE), I am happy to say that it now has. I was told by one of their staff that a ramp and an accessible toilet were added not long after my post was published. I wish to thank the authority for listening to the voice of disabled persons. I visited the place yesterday (Dec 14, 2014) and here is my short report.

The new and beautifully designed ramp is at the left side of the gallery compound. I like this ramp because it has a gentle slope, good width and non-slip floor. It also has a pair of well-designed handrails. It would be perfect if it has edge protection at both sides of the ramp. But as a whole it is still a safe ramp to use.

The photo below shows a ramp with edge protection. The purpose of edge protection is to prevent small front wheels of wheelchairs from slipping off the ramp.

I had no problem locating the accessible toilet. There were clear signages to indicate its location. The toilet is reasonably good and it is useable for most wheelchair users. I was surprised to see that the door opening inwards. But since the toilet is very big, I had no problem turning my wheelchair around to close the door.

The toilet bowl was correctly placed. There was enough space for people who use side transfers. (See this video if you want to know what is side transfer.) For more information about accessible toilet, please click HERE.

But I was disappointed to see that grab bars. They were not installed properly. Here is a drawing showing how grab bars should be installed. For more information about please click the link HERE.

After the visit, I concluded that although the Penang government wants to have more disabled access, the quality of access design is still lacking. Malaysian Standards have clear specifications for disabled access, but many designers are still unable to follow the standards correctly. There may be a need for the authority to organise more training sessions to help more people understand the subtleties and requirements of disabled access standards.

Helping Wheelchair Users - Three Points To Remember

2014-12-13T14:33:00.002+08:00

A lot of people do not know how help wheelchair users. I am giving three importants tips here. Of course there are many more but let's start with these very important points first.

International Day Of Persons With Disabilities

2014-12-03T15:17:00.001+08:00

I have a lot of thoughts today. I made this video just to express some.

Designing Doorways For Wheelchair Users

2014-10-31T23:57:00.002+08:00

Most people are not aware that not all doorways are suitable for wheelchair users. There are certain special requirements if you want to design a really good doorways for wheelchair users. I hope this post helps you understand some of the important requirements.

The key points to remember are:
1, There should be sufficient space for wheelchair users to maneuver at both the "push" and "pull" sides of the doors. (See drawing below for what is meant.)
2, Handles, pulls and other opening devices must be suitable for persons with reduced strength and dexterity to control.
3, Lever type handles and push lock mechanisms are preferred.
4, Glass doors must have bright and colored motifs at eye level.

Please note the difference between the "Push Side" and "Pull Side" of doorway.

The drawing above illustrates the importance of having clear space in front of a door. The clear space (marked as yellow box in the left drawing) must be placed at the correct position. The wheelchair user at the right drawing has problem reaching the door handle due to lack of clear space.

Layout of door handle, door bell ..etc should follow the above drawing.

Level type handle is preferred.

Persons who have limited fingers movements will have problem with this type of door knob.

Budget 2015, Employment & Wheelchair Users

2014-10-14T15:23:00.003+08:00

The trend in Malaysia is that the working disabled persons get more welfare allowance than the non-working ones. I think that is unfair to many non-working wheelchair users. Here is why.

The Penang Struggles: Signature Campaign For Persons With Disabilities Act

2014-10-12T12:47:00.001+08:00

(I have been requested to document the struggles of the disabled persons of Penang. I will be making a series of videos on this topic. I shall call these videos "The Penang Struggles". Here is one of the videos.)

More than 10 years ago, the PWD ngos of Penang organised this very successful signature campaign. It was one of the milestones of SILA (Sustainable Independent Living & Access), a forum for PWD ngos of Penang.

From China Press

2014-10-07T21:33:00.003+08:00

China Press did a follow up story of my post. I must thank them. That will create more awareness.

"Dear Car Owner"

2014-10-05T14:07:00.003+08:00

To my Malaysian readers, please share this in your Facebook if you agree with this video. I hope to reach the owner of this car via social media. I did the video in Chinese because I think the car owner is a Chinese. What I said in the video was translated in the text below. Thank you.

“Dear Car Owner, greetings. I saw your car parked at the disabled persons’ car park yesterday and made this video today to communicate to you. I covered up your number plate because I did not want people to know who you are. But I am sure you will recognize your own car. I will place this video in Facebook and hope you will help the disabled when you see this message. Yesterday there were too many cars and not enough car parks. I believe your original intention was not to part at disabled persons’ car park, but due to lack of car park you felt that “never mind lah, only once in a long time, may be no disabled person will come". I hope you will help us by not parking at our car parks next time. You can also help us by telling your friends to respect disabled persons’ car parks. Thank you.”

CRC Restaurant

2014-10-03T16:04:00.000+08:00

Good food, but not accessible. Why? When will MPPP enforce the law to make building like this accessible to the disabled and the elderly many of whom are using wheelchairs.

Why I Normally Don't Tell People Their Place Is Not Wheelchair Friendly

2014-09-30T15:55:00.000+08:00

Many readers of my blog asked me if I tell the people that their place is not wheelchair friendly. My answer is often "No". This video explains why.

Sri Ananda Restaurant

2014-09-25T19:41:00.000+08:00

Some of my friends understand simple spoken English but have problems reading English. So I decided to try to use video to make my post. I am not sure if it is good to do this. Please give me your opinion.