Too Bad There Aren't Any Sidewalks In Thailand.

[NeverSure]

I have no idea how anyone can think that at least the US doesn't care about handicapped people. There is SSI income payment available for those people, and food stamps and housing assistance.

There is the Americans With Disabilities act which is proactive in tax breaks for employers of them, promoting jobs for them. There are 8' wide sidewalks retrofitted, everywhere there is a crosswalk there is a curb cut and a wheelchair ramp, all multistory buildings must have an elevator, all apartment buildings must have handicap friendly apartments on the first floor and if over a certain size then for all with an elevator... Handicap friendly means wider doors, roll-in showers, a sink that a wheelchair can fit under both in bathrooms and kitchens, and several other things.

Every commercial parking lot must have a certain percentage of spaces painted with a blue handicapped logo and if you park in one without the needed tag showing, the fine is $500 US. No slack cut on that. No slack cut on blocking a sidewalk. As a matter of fact most such laws are obeyed including traffic laws and there isn't chaos to dodge or wind through.

Here are some pics deliberately chosen of older sections, retrofitted to comply with laws, and a pic of two handicap spaces. The extra white striped area beside the handicapped space is to allow room for the hydraulic wheelchair lifts on many vans. Every lot, commercial or residential multifamily must have them.

Below is a shot of a 100 year old section of a downtown to show the effort to retrofit...

"North America doesn't care?"

Edited December 11, 2012 by NeverSure

[chiangmaikelly]

I have no idea how anyone can think that at least the US doesn't care about handicapped people. There is SSI income payment available for those people, and food stamps and housing assistance.

There is the Americans With Disabilities act which is proactive in tax breaks for employers of them, promoting jobs for them. There are 8' wide sidewalks retrofitted, everywhere there is a crosswalk there is a curb cut and a wheelchair ramp, all multistory buildings must have an elevator, all apartment buildings must have handicap friendly apartments on the first floor and if over a certain size then for all with an elevator... Handicap friendly means wider doors, roll-in showers, a sink that a wheelchair can fit under both in bathrooms and kitchens, and several other things.

Every commercial parking lot must have a certain percentage of spaces painted with a blue handicapped logo and if you park in one without the needed tag showing, the fine is $500 US. No slack cut on that. No slack cut on blocking a sidewalk. As a matter of fact most such laws are obeyed including traffic laws and there isn't chaos to dodge or wind through.

Here are some pics deliberately chosen of older sections, retrofitted to comply with laws, and a pic of two handicap spaces. The extra white striped area beside the handicapped space is to allow room for the hydraulic wheelchair lifts on many vans. Every lot, commercial or residential multifamily must have them.

Below is a shot of a 100 year old section of a downtown to show the effort to retrofit...

"North America doesn't care?"

Who wrote, "North America doesn't care?"

[NeverSure]

I am a US war veteran with a war connected disability and I came to Thailand because I am treated better here than in North America. Just thought I would mention that..

Maybe not using those words, but then treated better in LOS than in NA. How can that be when the whole culture is geared to accommodate the people? Even stop lights and crosswalks are respected. The government will buy you a motorized wheelchair. Restaurants will accommodate you. You have easy ingress and egress from any building open to the public, and elevators inside. People reserve a special parking space for you, even if you are driven there by someone else. You just need your permit to put on the dash.

I have never seen the handicapped treated poorly but rather see them given preference in so many areas including hiring and monetary help..

[chiangmaikelly]

I am a US war veteran with a war connected disability and I came to Thailand because I am treated better here than in North America. Just thought I would mention that..

Maybe not using those words, but then treated better in LOS than in NA. How can that be when the whole culture is geared to accommodate the people? Even stop lights and crosswalks are respected. The government will buy you a motorized wheelchair. Restaurants will accommodate you. You have easy ingress and egress from any building open to the public, and elevators inside. People reserve a special parking space for you, even if you are driven there by someone else. You just need your permit to put on the dash.

I have never seen the handicapped treated poorly but rather see them given preference in so many areas including hiring and monetary help..

There is enough anti US sentiment around here without you making it up. If I said something fine but don't think you have the license to alter my words to fit your own meanings. If you want to find out how US vets are treated in Thailand go to one of the VFW meetings in Thailand. You know why all those US Vets are living in Thailand, and there are many? Go ask them. There are VFW posts in Pattaya, Bangkok, Chiang Mai and others.

Edited December 11, 2012 by chiangmaikelly

[HeijoshinCool]

I am a US war veteran with a war connected disability and I came to Thailand because I am treated better here than in North America. Just thought I would mention that..

Well that's good to hear,but it doesn't address the terrible state of the Sidewalks/Pavements,which negotiating at night can be a problem even for fit people.

For those who arrived before "refrigerators were in Thai houses," there is absolutely, apparently, nothing wrong in Thailand. Ever.

Any claim to the contrary will be instantly addressed.

[harrry]

I am a wheelchair user from Australia originally. In Australia I was fairly active in the community promoting and planning disabled mobility rights. As in the US the Australian model of mobility is one of individual empowerment. The individual must survive and function independently in the environment with as little personal assistance as possible this reqires the environment to be as fully accessiuble as possible. Of course I like that option. (It still is a dream in the US and in Australia though things have improved greatly n the last 10 years.

Thailand does not use that model. It relies very largely on assisted mobility and is rather slower in adapting the physical environment. I would say 15 years behind Australia. Interestingly it has one of the first diasability laws. A royal proclamation about 1947 entreating people to support and assist people with disabilities and the elderly.

I know I have to function in a different way here but I consider the3 life I have here is better than the one I had in Australia despite the environment because of the helpfulness of the Thai People.

Those photos of the US parking bay are interesting. I note the bay does not meet any standards. It is not on level ground and is a standard width bay with a not level walking stip on the right hand side. This is the standard for whn two enlarged bays are co-located as users may have to exit a bay from the left, the right or the rear of a vehicle. Standards also require a raised sign too so that the bay can be identified from a distance. Good to see the impimentation in the US is not perfect either.

Edited December 11, 2012 by harrry

[tinfoilhat]

How stupid can this get? Do we want the whole world to be one big, amorphous mass where all the shops, food, movies, culture etc are all the same?

One of the reasons I have enjoyed travelling and living in different countries over the years was that I saw and experienced something different; I was tired of walking around towns in the UK that were essentially all the same (many of the old shops of character had died out).

If you want sidewalks, go to a country that has sidewalks. Don't try and change Thailand to make it fit what you want. Either love it or leave it.

I thank you.

using your line of reasoning then you would agree with how Nepal handles their rubbish problem. Check it out on youtube.

seriously, garbage in nepal is as much the equivalent to sidewalks in Thailand as the holocaust is to schoolyard bullying.

in fact, the parallel between hitler and the school yard bully is stronger.

this isnt BC, you need to accept that, but it will get there in its own time

Edited December 11, 2012 by tinfoilhat

[geriatrickid]

You have been around long enough to know; never to mention anything personal on Thai Visa. Heck the folks here can turn eye color into a major crime let alone a war related disability. I don't want to go through the three pages of war monger posts again.

Every society can improve. Thailand can improve. A lot of people with disabilities have chosen to live here because of the acceptance of disabilities in Thailand as opposed to the West.

It is a glass half full argument. Are sidewalks more important than feeling like a normal person? Up to you. Thailand has work arounds for almost anything. I have some disabled friends so I know.

With all due respect your comment in respect to the acceptance of disabilities in Thailand as opposed to the west is hokum. Perhaps in your social circle it is accepted. However, for Thais with physical disabilities it is not. I put it to you that the Thai perception of disabilities has deep religious and cultural roots. The physically disabled, maimed, deformed or those with illnesses such as epilepsy are not to be ordained as monks. When one starts with a negative perception tied to one of the cornerstones of Thai life, then one should ot be surprised by the ingrained preception that the disabled are imperfect and this creates the conditions where discrimination is acceptable.

Disabled people are discouraged from job market because of discrimination. Don't believe me? Look at the hiring criteria that is posted for many jobs. The requirements posted are often in respect to age, gender, and even size. When is the last time you have ever walked into a large to midsized Thai company and seen anyone in a wheelchair? The companies just won't hire these people. Go to a university campus, the alleged centers of enlightenment, and you will see a soi dog before you see someone in a wheelchair. I've been through customs at airports in the west and I'll see a person with a prosthetic limb working. I've even see folks in wheelchairs doing the paperwork in the Netherlands. I can guarantee that you will never, ever see anyone with a prosthetic limb working at BKK immigration. On and on it goes.

You are fortunate as you have access to your generous veteran's benefits and other social security benefits. Most Thais have nothing and are left at the mercy of families that are neither as large as they once were or that have some serious dysfunctions.

[harrry]

You have been around long enough to know; never to mention anything personal on Thai Visa. Heck the folks here can turn eye color into a major crime let alone a war related disability. I don't want to go through the three pages of war monger posts again.

Every society can improve. Thailand can improve. A lot of people with disabilities have chosen to live here because of the acceptance of disabilities in Thailand as opposed to the West.

It is a glass half full argument. Are sidewalks more important than feeling like a normal person? Up to you. Thailand has work arounds for almost anything. I have some disabled friends so I know.

With all due respect your comment in respect to the acceptance of disabilities in Thailand as opposed to the west is hokum. Perhaps in your social circle it is accepted. However, for Thais with physical disabilities it is not. I put it to you that the Thai perception of disabilities has deep religious and cultural roots. The physically disabled, maimed, deformed or those with illnesses such as epilepsy are not to be ordained as monks. When one starts with a negative perception tied to one of the cornerstones of Thai life, then one should ot be surprised by the ingrained preception that the disabled are imperfect and this creates the conditions where discrimination is acceptable.

Disabled people are discouraged from job market because of discrimination. Don't believe me? Look at the hiring criteria that is posted for many jobs. The requirements posted are often in respect to age, gender, and even size. When is the last time you have ever walked into a large to midsized Thai company and seen anyone in a wheelchair? The companies just won't hire these people. Go to a university campus, the alleged centers of enlightenment, and you will see a soi dog before you see someone in a wheelchair. I've been through customs at airports in the west and I'll see a person with a prosthetic limb working. I've even see folks in wheelchairs doing the paperwork in the Netherlands. I can guarantee that you will never, ever see anyone with a prosthetic limb working at BKK immigration. On and on it goes.

You are fortunate as you have access to your generous veteran's benefits and other social security benefits. Most Thais have nothing and are left at the mercy of families that are neither as large as they once were or that have some serious dysfunctions.

I agree entirely about your comment regarding the entrenchment in bushism of non ordainability as a monk. I have lost much of the respect I used to have for that belief system due to this.

A lot of the restrictions on seing people in wheelchairs is that the environment has not sustained them. I have noticed since the coming of the Central Mall in Chianmai how it hasw rapidly become a place for families to take their elderly or disabled reatives as they find they can move about.

Some facilities are improving. It is a slow process but change happens. As people get more able to access the community they do. Now it requires assistance I think in 10 years there will be a big change.

I think families who in general give great support to their disabled relatives really do care and if they can see a way of helping them better embrace it.

My friend is a paraplegic who also has limited arm mobility. When his family saw the changes I made to my house they replicated them as far as they could and built a ramp and bathroom. Now they wheel him down to the end of the soi so that he can sit and talk to his friends. THe problem was not not caring but ignorance.

I doubt that yo9u will see a member of the Immigration police with a prosthetic limb, but you will see few police officers on normal duty with one in Canada too.

[hotandhumid]

It's called a PAVEMENT not a sidewalk.

Bloody Yanks.

[harrry]

It's called a PAVEMENT not a sidewalk.

Bloody Yanks.

It is a footpath....bloody POMS

[hotandhumid]

It's called a PAVEMENT not a sidewalk.

Bloody Yanks.

It is a footpath....bloody POMS

Aussies and Yanks speak ENGLISH. Remember that

[impulse]

A lot of the restrictions on seing people in wheelchairs is that the environment has not sustained them. I have noticed since the coming of the Central Mall in Chianmai how it hasw rapidly become a place for families to take their elderly or disabled reatives as they find they can move about.

That's because there is money in catering to rich folk with their elderly and disabled (and possibly purse string holdin') relatives. Not a magnanimous gesture of compassion at all...

The better indicator would be the number of wheelchair bound employees you see scooting around the mall.

Edited December 11, 2012 by impulse

[NeverSure]

It's called a PAVEMENT not a sidewalk.

Bloody Yanks.

We pave streets, parking lots, sidewalks, bike paths, and we even pave with blacktop which is the asphalt product. To know the difference between a paved street and a paved sidewalk, we have two different words. They are tonal, too. "Street" has a rising tone, and "walk" has a falling tone. Get it right, willya mate?

[rene123]

How stupid can this get? Do we want the whole world to be one big, amorphous mass where all the shops, food, movies, culture etc are all the same?

One of the reasons I have enjoyed travelling and living in different countries over the years was that I saw and experienced something different; I was tired of walking around towns in the UK that were essentially all the same (many of the old shops of character had died out).

If you want sidewalks, go to a country that has sidewalks. Don't try and change Thailand to make it fit what you want. Either love it or leave it.

I thank you.

using your line of reasoning then you would agree with how Nepal handles their rubbish problem. Check it out on youtube.

seriously, garbage in nepal is as much the equivalent to sidewalks in Thailand as the holocaust is to schoolyard bullying.

in fact, the parallel between hitler and the school yard bully is stronger.

this isnt BC, you need to accept that, but it will get there in its own time

The implication by BoonToong is that everything is perfect in Thailand and foreigners should butt out with any sort of criticism. If that were the truth then someone in Nepal should say everything in that country is also perfect. It's not, nor is it perfect in Thailand.

However we all have the opportunity to improve if we CHOOSE to do so. If we choose not to improve then we should also accept any sort of criticism. Just because someone chooses to accept the problems of Thailand because of Thailand's other attributes does not mean those problems don't exist. I don't really care if Thailand does not have sidewalks. I don't care that people can park their vehicles anywhere while at the same time, blocking passageway on the roads and sois. I don't care that the police in Thailand are corrupt. They are paid so little that they are forced to be corrupt. I don't care that the Thai schooling doesn't teach their children the concept of a simple map. I don't care that the Thai people believe in some mystical entity that will solve all their problems. I just enjoy the country for what it is and accept it for what it isn't. That doesn't mean I don't recognize problems wherever I might travel. And, if I see problems then I will comment on them... where it is legal to do so.

[BoonToong]

The implication by BoonToong is that everything is perfect in Thailand and foreigners should butt out with any sort of criticism.

You are wrong; I am not implying that at all

[HeijoshinCool]

I have no idea how anyone can think that at least the US doesn't care about handicapped people. There is SSI income payment available for those people, and food stamps and housing assistance.

There is the Americans With Disabilities act which is proactive in tax breaks for employers of them, promoting jobs for them. There are 8' wide sidewalks retrofitted, everywhere there is a crosswalk there is a curb cut and a wheelchair ramp, all multistory buildings must have an elevator, all apartment buildings must have handicap friendly apartments on the first floor and if over a certain size then for all with an elevator... Handicap friendly means wider doors, roll-in showers, a sink that a wheelchair can fit under both in bathrooms and kitchens, and several other things.

Every commercial parking lot must have a certain percentage of spaces painted with a blue handicapped logo and if you park in one without the needed tag showing, the fine is $500 US. No slack cut on that. No slack cut on blocking a sidewalk. As a matter of fact most such laws are obeyed including traffic laws and there isn't chaos to dodge or wind through.

Here are some pics deliberately chosen of older sections, retrofitted to comply with laws, and a pic of two handicap spaces. The extra white striped area beside the handicapped space is to allow room for the hydraulic wheelchair lifts on many vans. Every lot, commercial or residential multifamily must have them.

Below is a shot of a 100 year old section of a downtown to show the effort to retrofit...

"North America doesn't care?"

That looks very much like Fredericksburg ...

[chiangmaikelly]

You have been around long enough to know; never to mention anything personal on Thai Visa. Heck the folks here can turn eye color into a major crime let alone a war related disability. I don't want to go through the three pages of war monger posts again.

Every society can improve. Thailand can improve. A lot of people with disabilities have chosen to live here because of the acceptance of disabilities in Thailand as opposed to the West.

It is a glass half full argument. Are sidewalks more important than feeling like a normal person? Up to you. Thailand has work arounds for almost anything. I have some disabled friends so I know.

With all due respect your comment in respect to the acceptance of disabilities in Thailand as opposed to the west is hokum. Perhaps in your social circle it is accepted. However, for Thais with physical disabilities it is not. I put it to you that the Thai perception of disabilities has deep religious and cultural roots. The physically disabled, maimed, deformed or those with illnesses such as epilepsy are not to be ordained as monks. When one starts with a negative perception tied to one of the cornerstones of Thai life, then one should ot be surprised by the ingrained preception that the disabled are imperfect and this creates the conditions where discrimination is acceptable.

Disabled people are discouraged from job market because of discrimination. Don't believe me? Look at the hiring criteria that is posted for many jobs. The requirements posted are often in respect to age, gender, and even size. When is the last time you have ever walked into a large to midsized Thai company and seen anyone in a wheelchair? The companies just won't hire these people. Go to a university campus, the alleged centers of enlightenment, and you will see a soi dog before you see someone in a wheelchair. I've been through customs at airports in the west and I'll see a person with a prosthetic limb working. I've even see folks in wheelchairs doing the paperwork in the Netherlands. I can guarantee that you will never, ever see anyone with a prosthetic limb working at BKK immigration. On and on it goes.

You are fortunate as you have access to your generous veteran's benefits and other social security benefits. Most Thais have nothing and are left at the mercy of families that are neither as large as they once were or that have some serious dysfunctions.

Praise For Kfc Thailand http://www.thaivisa....r-kfc-thailand/

Kingkaew Inwang, secretarygeneral of the National Office for Empowerment of Persons with Disability (NEP), said the regulation would increase the number of employers within the legal framework from the existing 6,000 establishments, which currently hire one disabled person per 200 employees, to about 15,000 establishments hiring one disabled person per 100 employees. The regulation covers state agencies, ministries, state enterprises and local administrative organizations.

Since the Persons with Disabilities' Quality of Life Promotion Act came into effect in September 2007, more and more employers have been complying with the law. In 2009, employers contributed Bt80 million to the NEP fund, while last year the figure rose to Bt100 million.

Last year, a total of 5,525 organizations, each with more than 200 employees, or 84.39 per cent, followed the law by hiring disabled people, while only 1,022 organizations or 15.61 per cent did otherwise.

After the new regulation comes into effect, it is expected that 12,624 qualifying organizations covering 4.63 million workers will hire 46,362 disabled persons as part of the special quota.

http://www.thaivisa....led-employment/

Above is factual information you can disagree or agree. But at least it is not the usual anti Thai folk wisdom that is pedaled as facts here. I posted the above information not to be contentious or wordy but the information geriatrickid posted was not accurate. Now for some more juicy stuff. The generous veterans benefits geriatrickid talks about that I have are the result of 20 years of law suites The backlog of Agent Orange cases needing attention at the Veterans Administration has been placed at half a million. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has declined to find the chemical companies responsible for Agent Orange health problems, in the US or Vietnam. The United States of America is waiting for the Vietnam Vets to die. “About a million and a half of us are already gone.”

– Paul Sutton, former Chairman, Vietnam Veterans of America, Chicago Tribune, 2009.

Photo Disabled workers monitoring CCTV cameras at Phuket City Police Station. Also The Phuket Provincial Employment Office itself has five disabled people among its employees.

[Morakot]

I would think being in a wheelchair is even worse.

For sure it is.

Especially if you use one of those wheelchair ramps they made on the footpaths in Pattaya and find a lamp post in the middle of it.

I think I remember seeing that one and just shook my head in wonderment.

Me too, shook my head in wonderment! Especially since the lamp post was already there before they build the ramp.

Edited December 11, 2012 by Morakot

[HeijoshinCool]

I would think being in a wheelchair is even worse.

For sure it is.

Especially if you use one of those wheelchair ramps they made on the footpaths in Pattaya and find a lamp post in the middle of it.

I think I remember seeing that one and just shook my head in wonderment.

Me too, shook my head in wonderment! Especially since the lamp was post put up before they build the ramp.

Oh, c'mon you two. The lamp is there so the ladyboy gangs can more easily see their mark late at night ... and, of course, to slow him up. It's hard to run in heels when you have big feet.

[chiangmaikelly]

I have a friend who had polio as a child. He wears braces on his legs. He hires the same two companions whenever he comes to Thailand. He spends a lot of his time here. There used to be a bar in Chiang Mai with two flights of circular stairs very narrow and very difficult to negotiate even for a man with no disabilities. His two companions managed to get him up and down the stairs drunk (all three) with no trouble at all. I know another man who is confined to a wheelchair and daily he would make his way through Soi LK Metro to get to second road. The ladies at one particular bar plotted daily new pick up lines to get him to stop and spend some time with them. They had a bet among themselves for a bonus for the first lady to actually get the gentleman to stop and buy a lady drink.

What is abnormal about the above two examples? NOTHING, in Thailand. All either man wanted was to be normal. I know a dwarf who works in a circus and he wears red boots maybe you have seen him. He is normal in Thailand. He's not a dwarf in his head in Thailand. Do you get it? It's not the sidewalk that makes people not handicapped.

As far as I know the Thai Army airborne lets soldiers with missing limbs still work in some capacity in the the Army. I don't know everyone I only know one man who lost a foot and he still polishes one boot every day and goes to work on a Thai military base and drinks at night with his Army buddies.

[NeverSure]

Those photos of the US parking bay are interesting. I note the bay does not meet any standards. It is not on level ground and is a standard width bay with a not level walking stip on the right hand side. This is the standard for whn two enlarged bays are co-located as users may have to exit a bay from the left, the right or the rear of a vehicle. Standards also require a raised sign too so that the bay can be identified from a distance. Good to see the impimentation in the US is not perfect either.

You are right, there is no standard other than a minimum 9' width for the parking space, and one striped area as you see to the right of that space - one for each space. In fairness, many people who have a permit to use the space don't have a wheel chair. They are elderly and weak or have some other malady, but they walk. It's likely they can't walk a long distance and so they get to use the spaces. Those with wheelchairs who are independent have a van with a lift on the right side. Using their arms they move themselves from the driver's seat to the wheel chair and roll onto a platform in the van. Then electric controls open the door and lower the chair to ground level so the person can just motor the wheel chair away. The door closes with a remote.

I agree it isn't perfect and I'm always for doing more. However it is a vast improvement over nothing, which is what we had perhaps only 30 years ago. I don't think I ever saw a vehicle that a paraplegic could drive until maybe 15 years ago. Now I have seen them that quadriplegics can drive using a micro switch device held in the mouth.

You know, the worst thing is how terrible I feel if it is a wounded warrior. You will never find anyone quicker to say "Thank you for your service" than me. I consider those men so much better than I will ever be that I can't propose to do enough for them. Here's where I agree with Kelly. We haven't done enough.

[HeijoshinCool]

Those photos of the US parking bay are interesting. I note the bay does not meet any standards. It is not on level ground and is a standard width bay with a not level walking stip on the right hand side. This is the standard for whn two enlarged bays are co-located as users may have to exit a bay from the left, the right or the rear of a vehicle. Standards also require a raised sign too so that the bay can be identified from a distance. Good to see the impimentation in the US is not perfect either.

You are right, there is no standard other than a minimum 9' width for the parking space, and one striped area as you see to the right of that space - one for each space. In fairness, many people who have a permit to use the space don't have a wheel chair. They are elderly and weak or have some other malady, but they walk. It's likely they can't walk a long distance and so they get to use the spaces. Those with wheelchairs who are independent have a van with a lift on the right side. Using their arms they move themselves from the driver's seat to the wheel chair and roll onto a platform in the van. Then electric controls open the door and lower the chair to ground level so the person can just motor the wheel chair away. The door closes with a remote.

I agree it isn't perfect and I'm always for doing more. However it is a vast improvement over nothing, which is what we had perhaps only 30 years ago. I don't think I ever saw a vehicle that a paraplegic could drive until maybe 15 years ago. Now I have seen them that quadriplegics can drive using a micro switch device held in the mouth.

You know, the worst thing is how terrible I feel if it is a wounded warrior. You will never find anyone quicker to say "Thank you for your service" than me. I consider those men so much better than I will ever be that I can't propose to do enough for them. Here's where I agree with Kelly. We haven't done enough.

Yep, it's good to take a bit of care of those who have sacrificed militarily. They deserve it.

And, they should arrest the people with fake permits; the family member of the disabled permit holder who parks in the HC space and jogs into Wal-Mart; and the doctors who hand out permits like candy to anyone with an ingrown toenail.

But I also like Thailand for its lack of preferential treatment. Makes people more responsible.

Nothing is black and white.

[MAJIC]

It's called a PAVEMENT not a sidewalk.

Bloody Yanks.

For the English it's a Pavement,and for the Americans it's a Sidewalk. every year there are 2 or 3 hundred new words added to the English language,and that'swhy it's a Universal language,and also versatile, allowing for many additions,and expansion......so you are both right!

[kevvy]

.What we take for granted in North America is not so common in the rest of the world.

What makes you think that the rest of the world would have the same amenities as North America?

thats right North America is the besy in the world you have the best of everything , hahahahha you live in la la land .. you are just like all americans we are the best ... yeah right

[manarak]

The one problem I see with sidewalks in the west is that there aren't much reasons to use them, so many wheelchair users just stay home.

Then I see many wheelchair users roll down on Pattaya soi 7, and how nicely the girls treat them.

It's a tradeoff.

Would wheelchair users either have:

- cheap services/assistance all around and have a sexual life, but have problems with obstructed sidewalks

OR

- have neat sidewalks but not feel welcome in any pubs, have no sex life worth mentioning and being confronted to prohibitive prices for anything and the invalidity pension just isn't enough?

I say the west should fix their girls and prices first, then we will talk about sidewalks in Thailand,

[chiangmaikelly]

The one problem I see with sidewalks in the west is that there aren't much reasons to use them, so many wheelchair users just stay home.

Then I see many wheelchair users roll down on Pattaya soi 7, and how nicely the girls treat them.

It's a tradeoff.

Would wheelchair users either have:

- cheap services/assistance all around and have a sexual life, but have problems with obstructed sidewalks

OR

- have neat sidewalks but not feel welcome in any pubs, have no sex life worth mentioning and being confronted to prohibitive prices for anything and the invalidity pension just isn't enough?

I say the west should fix their girls and prices first, then we will talk about sidewalks in Thailand,

How many people walk in LA? The last time I looked most people in America had a car. I used to drive a block rather than walk as it was too bloody hot in South Florida to walk.

[farang000999]

why is he in Thailand?

[jacktrip]

curious that i dont see many handicapable around at all.

in the usa they are all over.

where are they, sitting at home?

[chiangmaikelly]

curious that i dont see many handicapable around at all.

in the usa they are all over.

where are they, sitting at home?

I really don't know what a handicapable is but I see handicapped people all the time at the markets begging. A guy from Burma drops them off and picks them up every day. I assume they are also from Burma.