Day five: 2024 – Kay: In Residence

5 minute read. Content warning: Discussion of accessibility barriers, and mention of feelings of embarrassment and shame related to disability access issues

chatGPT Summary: Kay reflects on their ongoing work measuring the FLEET mobile trailer, navigating building codes, and addressing accessibility challenges, including their frustration with the lack of a ramp and railings.

Since arriving at FLEET, I have been engaged in a mapping and measurement project. In the first few days, I measured everything inside: length, width, and height, followed by the trailer’s exterior. This has allowed me to have numbers to work with as I build my 360 capture. Once I had the numbers, I could review them against the various building codes available (to me). I asked FLEET if they could contact the architect of the project to ask which code they used because architects and builders must choose between codes (especially when it comes to accessibility) and then stay consistent. Sadly, I have not heard back (update: Day 15 – still no update). And so I have been consulting the CSA B651-18 (Canadian Standards Association), Accessible Design for the built environment, the BCBC 2018 and newly published BCBC 2024 (BC Building Code), and the VBBL 2019 (Vancouver Building By-Law). I wanted to see if the new BCBC 2024 considered the ABCA (Accessible British Columbia Act). However, I didn’t find much since it’s still primarily committees and regulations for provincial organizations to have action plans. I wish there were an annotated version between the 2018 and 2024 versions so I could read where they differed. Within the same year, they show revised versions, so I know when the 2018 version was revised, but in general, I assume that the latest revisions of the 2018 version became the 2024 version. It’s a lot of reading to do.

The thing that struck me upon arriving was the stairs. I understood why they had decided against a ramp – primarily because I have heard most of the excuses that occupants use for not making or employing a ramp – but also because the temporary structure was already taking up a lot of space within Granville Island’s Chain and Forge plaza. I initially estimated that a ramp would need to run the length of the trainer and extend out another 2 metres at least. Since that would mean losing space for plaza chairs and tables, I’d imagined the non-disabled hadn’t even bothered to consider it and that it would have been immediately dismissed if it had been brought up.

**Image Description:** Greyscale (black and white) version of a large kraft paper mural covered with hand-drawn diagrams, measurements, and notes. The drawings are detailed sketches of various trailer parts, including their dimensions and design features. Additional notes are scattered across the paper, discussing best practices and safety considerations like fire hazards, visual alarms, and accessibility requirements. A few sticky notes and a paper document are pinned to the mural, and a level tool hangs on the right side. The mural serves as a working blueprint for planning and design adjustments.

But where are the railings?

I checked over the regulations and found myself in looping clauses and exceptions. I had to determine whether or not this structure was a temporary Group A division 2 building (it isn’t because it’s not accessible) or a Group F Div Artist Studio without Living accomodations (this is what I have determined). From this, I could now find out whether or not it was required to have certain accessibility features by law. Even so, I bet this space could be argued as only being accessed by “workers” and that it cannot be “reasonably made accessible to peoples with disabilities” (a ridiculous and angering way to argue out of being required to make things accessible by builders). As such, this is how this trailer was built without railings.

I have already had one friend visit who could not make it up the stairs without assistance, and I was embarrassed. Even when I told them I would argue that it was not ok, I still felt ashamed.

I painted the remaining flagstones around the stairs yellow today (with paint provided by FLEET) so that it was not a tripping hazard to sighted folks, but with renewed energy, I got to work doing the math required to get railings on the stairs and suggest the building of a ramp. If the ramp was not possible in this version or location, I hoped that the work I was doing would be used in future locations of the trailer.

**Visual Description:** The back stairs of the Fleet trailer with newly painted yellow levelling stones beneath them. A sign reading “Wet Paint” is hung on green painter’s tape, stretched between two patio chairs. Up the back patio steps on the left, an artist’s sandwich board is visible, while on the right, Fleet information signage is shaped like the trailer. In the background, brightly coloured patio furniture is scattered across the plaza.

Social media posts

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Technology note:

I continue to test the use of AI within my writing and artistic practice. I used chatGPT to create a summary, a reading estimate, to assist me in a visual description of the images, and to recommend some content warnings for this blog. Grammarly also assisted me with spelling and grammar.

I used the Instagram API to create embed code and share the two social media posts I uploaded there.