Footpaths in Thai cities and people with mobility issues, your thoughts please

[intel4004]

I started a discussion about reclaiming the footpaths for pedestrians in Chiang Mai here. Pretty much got a mixed response with surprisingly some even resisting change so I would be interested in hearing from those with mobility issues and how they manage.

Interesting please see this also

Edited August 26, 2014 by intel4004

[giddyup]

I can't speak for Chiang Mai, but Pattaya is very wheelchair unfriendly. It must be a nightmare with broken footpaths, very little in the way of ramps for shopping access, no wheelchair friendly taxis etc, etc.

[Ling Kae]

I would like to see footpaths used as footpaths and not for shopkeepers to put an an extra table there and sell goods. The local council should clamp down on such practices and fine the perpetrators. It is unsafe and nobody should be forced onto a busy roadway just because some shopkeeper thinks it is their property. Unfortunately I don't think this will change anytime soon.

Thailand doesn't go anywhere near acceptable when people with mobility issues want to get around with ease. Did you see the video of the Thai guy in a wheelchair ask a security officer why all the disabled spots were taken in Central Festival Pattaya? The guard said, they were for VIP's (rich people with expensive cars) very appaling and he was asked to occupy another spot much further away.

[choochoo]

Good footpaths also make good motosai paths.

[meatboy]

what foot paths?there arnt any.

[ezzra]

Footpath here in Thailand are for body able people only, no such consideration for the disabled what

so ever, that's how it was and that how it will be, as long as every man to him self here and the footpath

become a commercially viable space which tainted money can generated of, the disabled will remain

disadvantageous here...

[Whale]

Going for a walk is one of the things I really miss living here - every time I venture down the sidewalk its like an obstacle course, carts, huge steps, stalls, rubbish, bikes, dustbins, holes, dogs, collapsed drains, no footpath, drivers of cars not caring about pedestrians, etc, etc.

I don't mind the sweating, but would like to have a nice city stroll around my neighborhood.

[samuibeachcomber]

cant see pavements any time soon.The problem is even if the central govt.allocated funds to the councils most of that money would be syphoned off as(tea money)

Near where i live money was allocated to re build a flood damaged road,only 3/4 ever got completed cos they ran out of money.Its the same all over thailand...................unfinished projects!

[colinneil]

I am wheelchair bound. In banphai where i live forget it. I have to stay at home. Wife will not take me into town because as she says ,Thai drivers dont care about wheelchairs. Footpaths impassable , have to go on the road, to dangerous !SO STAY HOME!

[samuibeachcomber]

I am wheelchair bound. In banphai where i live forget it. I have to stay at home. Wife will not take me into town because as she says ,Thai drivers dont care about wheelchairs. Footpaths impassable , have to go on the road, to dangerous !SO STAY HOME!

sorry to hear your plight,yes thailand is not wheel chair friendly.

[daveAustin]

Being disabled and living here must be a nightmare. As pointed out with the lack of provisions, the 'Buddhists' generally look down on those not able bodied as being deserved of their plight through bad tidings of a previous life. They do the same regards to people with mental disorders. It's real head in the sand stuff and is actually a very morbid society when you scratch the surface.

[asdecas]

In general, if you have mobility issues but are determined to stay in Thailand, I would say that, for the sake of your own peace of mind, you adapt yourself to your surroundings as far as possible; in my opinion Thailand is not going to adapt itself to your needs any time soon, although small progress is made as the years go by. Railing away at the difficulties and injustices you may encounter will only detract from your experience in this interesting country.

Certain cities in China, notably Shanghai, do a far better job of catering for those with special needs, but of course come parcelled with their own, different faults. On the other side of the coin, in the Philippines you are lucky, in some cities, to find any sidewalk at all, and riding a jeepney, the only form of public transport in many places, is not for the fainthearted, yet alone the impaired.

[robertthebruce]

Thailand in General is not Wheelchair friendly, just going about your daily routine here, is an effort, and trying to cross the road, they nearly kill you ?? It's like they try and drive faster and aim for you, I can't get my head around it...

I once stopped at a Zebra crossing and a car nearly drove into the back of me, and then a Scooter, overtook me and nearly knocked the old lady down .... Bad mannered or what....

But that's how,it is... Unfortunately.....

[Keesters]

I can't speak for Chiang Mai, but Pattaya is very wheelchair unfriendly. It must be a nightmare with broken footpaths, very little in the way of ramps for shopping access, no wheelchair friendly taxis etc, etc.

I've spoken to many wheelchair bound people from Redemptorist center and they say while Pattaya is far from perfect it is probably the best Thailand has to offer for them.

[masuk]

Going for a walk is one of the things I really miss living here - every time I venture down the sidewalk its like an obstacle course, carts, huge steps, stalls, rubbish, bikes, dustbins, holes, dogs, collapsed drains, no footpath, drivers of cars not caring about pedestrians, etc, etc.

I don't mind the sweating, but would like to have a nice city stroll around my neighborhood.

I was thinking the same thing as I walked around Chiang Mai's most expensive residential area (Nimman...)

If you had a baby in a pram, or used a wheel chair or had any sort of mobility problem, you'd be totally lost. Paths are blocked with pot plants, steps, motorbikes and all the above. Footpaths are for signs - often at head height - advertisements, power poles and so on.

The ONLY thing I didn't see in the past two mornings were PEOPLE! Not one pedestrian.

Why walk when you just park your motosai outside 7-11 or where ever, before returning the 100metres back to your house.

[Estrada]

They just finished constructing a 4 lane dual carriageway along Srinakarin road complete with pedestrian/wheelchair friendly walkway with ramps. There is a separate coloured cycleway designated for cycles.

They then came along and planted trees along the cycleway so that the motorcycle taxis use the on and off ramps for the disabled to access the footpath. The concrete flagstones are already breaking up due to inferior quality. It never fails to amaze me how they can build second hand quality roads.

I always remember previous Bangkok Governor, Pichit Ratakhun falling down a drain whilst on an inspection of the pavements, caught on camera by his accompanying TV crew. Neverthless no improvements were made despite him pushing for clear pavements with accomodation for the disabled.

[FireMedic]

Foot path = public space

Public space = public use

Public use = food carts, shop expansion, restaurant expansion

Army: Public space should be used by the public to benefit everyone.

Public: But we have been here for years. How are we supposed to make money?

[Boxclever]

Try pushing a stroller down Sukumvit from Asoke to Nana! Darn near impossible!

[gamini]

I disagree with these posts. I am 83 and can barely walk with a stick. I cant climb steps alone or open doors, All the shopping centers have toilets for disabled. There are disabled parking lots and excellant wheelchair facilities at airports. But on the whole not many other facilities for us. However the Thais seem to be exceptionally very helpful and friendly to me where ever I go. People help me across the street, open doors help me up steps. Far more friendly than most countries and on a hoilday to Chiangmai I very impressed by the Thais therre. The worst was Pattaya I fell down the steps of a big shopping center with lots of "farangs" sitting on the steps. Not one offered to help me get up but two Thais did. But it did not surprise me

Edited August 27, 2014 by gamini

[Baerboxer]

Being disabled and living here must be a nightmare. As pointed out with the lack of provisions, the 'Buddhists' generally look down on those not able bodied as being deserved of their plight through bad tidings of a previous life. They do the same regards to people with mental disorders. It's real head in the sand stuff and is actually a very morbid society when you scratch the surface.

Generally speaking you are right - it is a nightmare. Especially shopping malls, supermarkets,fresh markets, places of interest like palaces etc.

What is very annoying is that a high percentage of people here seem to think they have the right, and seem to enjoy, pushing in front of someone in a wheelchair - exiting and entering lifts, pushing them through malls, trying to negotiate escalators etc. I've banged into a few people who have rushed to get in front of my son's wheelchair only to then slow down to a virtual stop and expecting me to do the same to accommodate their behavior. Then the dramatics start if you barely touch them.. Last time the woman must have thought she was auditioning for a Thai soap,

However, some temples have wheel chair ramps and my son has been really welcomed at several in Pathumthani, Chonburri, and Isaan.

The hospital facilities for disabled children are very good particularly the equipment side. Very impressed with them and it's basically free.

[Baerboxer]

Try pushing a stroller down Sukumvit from Asoke to Nana! Darn near impossible!

Yep - even before the stalls all set up. On the rare occasions we go there I have to push my son on the road. Otherwise it takes a very long time and frustrating.

[MrBrad]

Have you looked at the inaccessibility around your favorite hospital grounds lately? Lots of steps on almost all government buildings with very seldom a wheelchair ramp. At the universities all buildings are way above ground level, again with many steps and no ramps. Oftentimes there's not even a handrail alongside the steps.

I can see their not wanting to incur the costs involved in making older buildings accessible, but even new public buildings continue to be designed for the able-bodied only.

And I don't buy the idea that we should "give them time," "Rome wasn't built in a day" kind of thinking. Thais have no trouble adjusting to the latest telecommunications or other computer gadget, driving cars instead of ox carts, and needing fashions and fads from the West. They don't need time to re-invent the wheel; they know exactly what needs to be done in order to accommodate handicapped people. They only need motivation and will-power.

[WitawatWatawit]

I am wheelchair bound. In banphai where i live forget it. I have to stay at home. Wife will not take me into town because as she says ,Thai drivers dont care about wheelchairs. Footpaths impassable , have to go on the road, to dangerous !SO STAY HOME!

Colin, more than any other, your post really hits home. This is one issue where i think Thais would not mind us foreigners sticking our noses in. All the best, mate.

[WitawatWatawit]

Being disabled and living here must be a nightmare. As pointed out with the lack of provisions, the 'Buddhists' generally look down on those not able bodied as being deserved of their plight through bad tidings of a previous life. They do the same regards to people with mental disorders. It's real head in the sand stuff and is actually a very morbid society when you scratch the surface.

You may well be right in certain sections of Thai society, but let's not forget disabled Thai athletes compete internationally and the team to the last Paralympics came home to a very warm reception.

[lordblackader]

I disagree with these posts. I am 83 and can barely walk with a stick. I cant climb steps alone or open doors, All the shopping centers have toilets for disabled. There are disabled parking lots and excellant wheelchair facilities at airports. But on the whole not many other facilities for us. However the Thais seem to be exceptionally very helpful and friendly to me where ever I go. People help me across the street, open doors help me up steps. Far more friendly than most countries and on a hoilday to Chiangmai I very impressed by the Thais therre. The worst was Pattaya I fell down the steps of a big shopping center with lots of "farangs" sitting on the steps. Not one offered to help me get up but two Thais did. But it did not surprise me

While it's great you're treated well, and yes go to Airport Central or similar and there is disabled support, how can you disagree with this post overall though?

I'm not disabled, but there are parts of Chiang Mai (particularly in the old city) where if you even have a footpath, there's up to a 1m difference between them in height in front of one building to the next. It can be even challenging for an able bodied person at times.

There was a joke going around after the earthquake earlier this year that Chiang Mai footpaths had magically improved with the quake by levelling them out.

I have a friend back in Australia who is in a wheelchair who travels a fair bit around Asia: I tell him don't come to Thailand. CM is bad, but so is BKK.

[noahvail]

With my arthritis getting worse quickly, I've been giving thoughts to modes of transportation. I live in a little village in Isaan, about in the middle of a triangle formed bumUdon Thani, Loei, and Khon Kaen. It ain't the end of the world, but at times you can sure see it from here. Pavements? Oh, no, wouldn't those be nice. Ramps? Well yes actually, some people have ramps for their scooters, not very wide, though. Steps? Most definitely? Crumbled road surfaces? In spades.

So here's the best of what I've found online so far. Not perfect, but small enough to get around the aisles in the stores. Easy enough to build an electric-powered winched ramp to the back of a pickup, or get a small trailer. The problem with a trailer is parking in the relatively small blue space.

Would it be worth 10 grand US? http://www.gizmag.com/unimo-continuous-track-electric-wheelchair/29748/

[thaibeachlovers]

I would like to see footpaths used as footpaths and not for shopkeepers to put an an extra table there and sell goods. The local council should clamp down on such practices and fine the perpetrators. It is unsafe and nobody should be forced onto a busy roadway just because some shopkeeper thinks it is their property. Unfortunately I don't think this will change anytime soon.

Thailand doesn't go anywhere near acceptable when people with mobility issues want to get around with ease. Did you see the video of the Thai guy in a wheelchair ask a security officer why all the disabled spots were taken in Central Festival Pattaya? The guard said, they were for VIP's (rich people with expensive cars) very appaling and he was asked to occupy another spot much further away.

<The local council should clamp down on such practices and fine the perpetrators. It is unsafe and nobody should be forced onto a busy roadway just because some shopkeeper thinks it is their property. >

The day that happens it won't be the Thailand most of us love.

<Unfortunately I don't think this will change anytime soon.>

You've got it there.

Unfortunately, those of us in such situations have to live in the real world, and in the real world, Thailand is NOT disabled friendly. Where I live there aren't any pavements at all, and unless they knock down the street front properties never will be. Try driving through Mae Rim when the schools get out .

[thaibeachlovers]

With my arthritis getting worse quickly, I've been giving thoughts to modes of transportation. I live in a little village in Isaan, about in the middle of a triangle formed bumUdon Thani, Loei, and Khon Kaen. It ain't the end of the world, but at times you can sure see it from here. Pavements? Oh, no, wouldn't those be nice. Ramps? Well yes actually, some people have ramps for their scooters, not very wide, though. Steps? Most definitely? Crumbled road surfaces? In spades.

So here's the best of what I've found online so far. Not perfect, but small enough to get around the aisles in the stores. Easy enough to build an electric-powered winched ramp to the back of a pickup, or get a small trailer. The problem with a trailer is parking in the relatively small blue space.

Would it be worth 10 grand US? http://www.gizmag.com/unimo-continuous-track-electric-wheelchair/29748/

That's similar to the track chairs that US disabled veterans are using. They love them.

[khunjamesjohnson]

I would like to see footpaths used as footpaths and not for shopkeepers to put an an extra table there and sell goods. The local council should clamp down on such practices and fine the perpetrators. It is unsafe and nobody should be forced onto a busy roadway just because some shopkeeper thinks it is their property. Unfortunately I don't think this will change anytime soon.

Thailand doesn't go anywhere near acceptable when people with mobility issues want to get around with ease. Did you see the video of the Thai guy in a wheelchair ask a security officer why all the disabled spots were taken in Central Festival Pattaya? The guard said, they were for VIP's (rich people with expensive cars) very appaling and he was asked to occupy another spot much further away.

"The local council should clamp down on such practices and fine the perpetrators."

You do realize they 'fine' them every week. The porn and rolex peddlers pay a bit more of course.

They even lease out space to the human traffickers that deploy the disfigured Cambodian beggars, to swindle the charitable donations.

When they are not exploiting locals, they stalk & entrap foreigners with the cigarette butt scam.

[chuenyongman]

I was only speaking to my wife about the footpaths mostly everywhere you go in Thailand. I said it would be a sight impaired persons nightmare. Even in Hua Hin where I went for a holiday there were large iron types of grates over some of the holes in the footpaths. In other cities the pavements are not level and venders carts block the footpaths. There are trees growing in the niddle of the walkways and some times a pedestrian road bridge starts in the middle of the footpath too.