Vancouver Canada bans doorknobs on new buildings ... and it makes sense

[underpants]

(Newser) – Vancouver is taking the lead in getting rid of something that many people didn't realize was problematic: the lowly doorknob. The city has already replaced knobs with levers—which are much easier for elderly or people with disabilities to operate—in public buildings, and the city's building code will require all new housing to be built with door levers starting in March, reports the Vancouver Sun, which notes that changes made in the city often spread to building codes across the country. Water faucets will have to take the shape of levers, not knobs, as well.

The move is based on the concept of "universal design," which aims to make spaces usable for as many people as possible, a University of British Columbia professor explains. "A really simple version is the cut curbs on every corner," he says. "That helps elderly people, people with visual impairments, moms with strollers.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/20/vancouver-bans-doorknobs_n_4309510.html

The city, the only one in Canada that is allowed to set its own building codes, decreed the changes in its Accessible Housing Bylaw in September. As of March 2014, all new buildings built in the city will have to include levers rather than doorknobs.

Vancouver's ban on doorknobs is based around the city's adoption of the concept of universal design, Jeff Lee wrote in The Vancouver Sun this weekend. “The old model was adaptation, or adapted design," Tim Stainton, a professor and director of the School of Social Work at the University of B.C., told Lee. "You took a space and you adapted for use of the person with a disability. What universal design says is let’s turn it around and let’s just build everything so it is as usable by the largest segments of the population as possible.”

You should also consider how many examples of universal design have subtly crept into your everyday life; curb cuts, sidewalk ramps, low-floor buses, even things like closed-captioning for television. In fact, the city's proposals go far beyond simple doorknobs, with things like wider doorways, lower light switches, and higher power outlets. Making things accessible for everyone makes sense to almost everyone.

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-vancouvers-ban-on-doorknobs-makes-sense-2013-11

[Pretzel_Warrior]

1. those crazy canucks. I just wish they'd approve an actual limited access freeway

instead of dumping major traffic through Vancouver into 20 m.p.h. residential neighborhoods just to get from Washington State to downtown Vancouver. Talk about stupid.

[Suich]

3. LOL!

No kidding! I've gone from Seattle to Kitsilano several times this year and it takes forever once I hit the city...those "no left turn" signs on Granville are killers!

The levers are a good idea until you accidentally hook your purse strap on it and get yanked backwards!

[pangaia]

8. Purse strap ???

I love it.
Not being a user of purses, myself.

[Suich]

14. LOL!

ok, I don't really carry a purse...it's a tote bag with shoulder straps!

[pangaia]

16. Sure it is.

Actually, when I travel I use a ----'shoulder bag'-- black, about 13" high, 7" wide and maybe 5" deep-- carries everything- passport ,flight info, shades, hotel reservations, tooth brush, breath mints, 1 change of underwear, eye drops, aspirin, one photo of my wife and one of Slim Pickins, one miniature bible, one issue prophylactics, etc....

[Butch McQueen]

40. Hell A Fella Could Have A Pretty Good Time In Vegas...

With all that stuff

Butch

[Scuba]

2. Now if Canada could just get rid of that knob in Toronto.

[Aerows]

10. DUzy!

[csziggy]

4. That is GREAT!

While we were finalizing the plans for our house I got "trigger finger" in my right thumb and could not open regular door knobs. So we bought lever knobs for the new house and it has been a life saver.

Even though I had the trigger thumb treated, since then I've had carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand, and just recently carpal tunnel surgery and arthroplasty on the left hand. It was bad enough having the right hand temporarily incapacitated. Not having a working opposable thumb on one hand is a PITA. It's still soon enough that the fingers on the left hand have little strength but my thumb has to be in a brace for two months!

The lever handles make my life sooooo much easier!

Tips for anyone over 40 considering buying or building a house:
-Master bedroom on first floor
-Equip bathroom on first floor with safety bars for toilet and bath or shower
-All doors at least 30" wide - 36" even better
-Limit steps for entrances
-Lower floor all one level
-LEVER handles for all doors

[underpants]

6. I work with blind people so I will bring this up at our next meeting

We have an "Issues with blindness" meeting every week so I will ask about their experiences with this.
I have to say that during my two weeks of orientation (in a sleep shade) I didn't have to deal with any doorknobs but I had a hard enough time just finding doors. Having to find a doorknob (a very specific area) instead of the handles that are in the building would probably have been much more difficult.

These little things are just so interesting.

[grilled onions]

15. You don't realize until you are in that position

Our home is not wheelchair friendly. The bathroom door had to be removed and reset outside the doorway and that is just to manage a walker into the room.
Toilets should not always be the first thing in the bathroom unless there is plenty of room for a walker or wheelchair.
There should be the ability to have a walk in shower. It can be used for not only walk ins but also to push a shower chair into. It is no fun to try and take a shower with a sliding shower seat.
And then there is the nightmare with appliances! You are either too low to see the buttons,knobs or you simply cannot reach them.
Do they ever design products that are tested with the handicapped or even slightly challenged?
One of the worst is the standard door to get into restaurants. They seem to operate on vacuum and you cannot pull them open if you are using a walker and it's a double challenge if a person is pushing you in while trying to pull open the door. I have wrote my share of complaints and suggestions to "corporate" and have seen managers look the other way when you are struggling with the damn door. A simply handicapped push lever would solve the problem. The cost could be made up by knowing more seniors and handicapped may visit their place of business.

[csziggy]

28. Yes - I spent a good amount of time looking at ADA sites

The information is out there on how to design or retrofit homes to make life easier. You just have to hunt for it.

We have a walk in shower with a built in bench and space for a portable bench. Safety rails on both sides,fixed shower head on one side, with hand held that hooks into holders that attach to the safety rails and can slide up and down as well as back and forth (Moen - but others make the holders, too). One of the doors in the main bath opens out - if the only door opens in and someone falls against it, it can be a hazard. The downstairs half bath has a sliding door.

Because I am short the toilet in the main bath is a regular height - but the one in the half bath is "comfort height" which came in useful after my knee replacements. Safety rails in that one made it practical, too.

My wall oven is a side opening Frigidaire which we mounted low - if I end up in a wheelchair I can put a surface into the drawer next to it so I can slide pans from the oven shelves onto the drawer. I found that one in an ADA article!

If I end up wheelchair bound, I will have to replace our sinks - but we used IKEA cabinets so they will be easy to take apart and reconfigure.

Yeah, public spaces are NOT ADA compliant, even those built after ADA was passed. And you're right - people simply will not help. Even though I was not on a walker for long after my knee replacements, I ran into problems with doors - even the facility where I did my outpatient therapy had hard to open doors. Maybe by design, since they did a lot of rehab for Alzheimer patients and had to guard against "escapees".

[kcass1954]

37. Some good friends built a house 10 years ago with this in mind.

They were in their early 60's and wanted to be able to stay in the house even if one of them needed special care.

Took out the garden tub in the master bath, and made a shower big enough to push a wheelchair into it.

Took the "comfort" option in both bathrooms, which raised the height of the vanity and the toilets. (A real treat when I visited them for a weekend shortly after a knee injury.)

Wider doors and lever handles throughout.

Completely level flooring in the entire house - no door sills anywhere. There is vinyl in kitchen and bathrooms, and laminate everywhere else.

Removed the kitchen island - that kitchen really isn't big enough for an island anyway, and my friend didn't want to walk around it every time she fixed a meal.

House is all on one floor - no steps, except one small step out to the back patio and the garage.

[csziggy]

38. That sounds a lot like what we did

One major difference - no laminate or vinyl. I'm too allergic to be around them. We used low VOC (volatile organic compounds) materials and paint throughout. That was one reason we went with IKEA cabinets - they were made with low VOC materials.

[pintobean]

5. I changed out a lot of lock sets

to levered handles back in the 90s for ADA compliance.

[retread]

7. Ah doorknobs!!

"Yes, I received your letter yesterday
About the time the doorknob broke
When you asked me how I was doing
Was that some kind of joke?"

Bob Dylan

[pangaia]

9. The Canadian Communists have figured out door knobs..

and we can't even get decent health insurance..

[elfin]

11. Had a "geezer" lever installed on the back door

Got wrist and thumb area pain with all the in and outs by my geezer dog.

We are both MUCH better now.

The idea makes sense and will save $ in the future for replacement costs by those who need it.

[NightWatcher]

12. How long before the TeaBaggers claim there's a war on doorknobs?

I predict a similar response as they did to compact fluorescent light bulbs. They'll be afraid of the UN sending in troops to knob grab (sounds kinky, actually).

Ain't no damn Obama gonna take my doorknobs away.

[underpants]

13. When I saw this headline (the second link) yesterday..

I almost expected the local RW radio idiot to feature this on his show.


Yes I listen to it. It is sort of like ...well I can't really draw a parallel without really being offensive to someone. I listen because I want to know what nonsense they are spreading and because I have actually compared how long it takes to refute what I heard once I got home AND to see how many pages deep Google goes with their, almost, daily whackjob storyline. BTW - the Federal Government is supposedly randomly pulling people over to get blood samples....seriously google that one. It turns out that Transportation is, in fact, pulling people over and asking for a saliva or blood sample - no ID or risk of arrest - to determine how many people ARE on the roads under some sort of influence. They have been doing this for 40 years and they offer $10 for saliva and $50 for blood.

[Swede Atlanta]

17. Oh please......

this is the nanny state doing something stupid for the infirm. Let them get normal hands!!!!!

SARCASM - ---- SARCASM

I applaud this move.

[Baitball Blogger]

18. I hate levers!

The loops in my fat arse jeans keep getting hooked on those levers!

[diane in sf]

22. I'm just at the height where levers and knobs grab the ends of my sleeves if thy're loose.

Drives me crazy.

[Baitball Blogger]

25. There was one time I was in such a hurry that I had a tantrum

to try to get loose.

God I wish I had a video.

[laundry_queen]

23. Yep. I have a love-hate relationship with them.

My new house is all levers. It's great when you have your arms full and you can use your elbow to open a door. It really sucks when you are walking fast and a jean loop or sweater pocket gets caught and rips your clothes and flings you backwards.

[KamaAina]

19. Van once had a mayor who is a quadriplegic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Sullivan

Sam Sullivan, CM (born 1959) is a Canadian politician currently serving as the MLA for Vancouver-False Creek. Previously, he served as the 38th mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and has been invested as a Member of the Order of Canada. He is currently President of the Global Civic Policy Society and Adjunct Professor with the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture....

Sullivan became paralyzed after he broke his neck in a skiing accident at the age of 19. Sullivan suffered a fracture dislocation of his fourth and fifth cervical vertebra, leaving him almost completely paralyzed.

I wonder if he might have started this trend?

[elehhhhna]

20. we have 'em in our house and I love 'em - BUT (BIG BUT)

you can open the door w/ your elbow if your hands are full...BUT!

The dog can also open the bedroom doors now. And she knows it.

[Wilms]

21. And the lever also makes good voting systems.

[billh58]

24. In my younger

years I worked extensively overseas -- Africa, Middle East, Southeast Asia, and South America -- and expats I worked with always referred to the USA as the "land of the round door knobs." Door levers are used in most of the rest of the world.

[underpants]

27. That is interesting

[CFLDem]

26. I'm all for automatic doors myself...

especially of they make a cool woosh noise like in sci-fis. The less energy I have to expend the better I say!

[silverweb]

29. Cats everywhere applaud this trend.

Last edited Fri Nov 22, 2013, 10:40 PM - Edit history (1)

[underpants]

33. FREEDOM!

my daughter was cracking up watching this.

Thanks

[silverweb]

34. I crack up every time I watch it, too.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Glad you and your daughter enjoyed it!

[Hekate]

36. Awesome! Cat-staff needs to install hook-latches as a backup when home

[busterbrown]

30. Wow, This is depressing..

All true and valid and important,,, but is this what waits for us?... Christ. I didn’t sign up for this part..

[ErikJ]

31. Great to prevent spread of germs too cuz you dont have to use fingertips nt

[Silent3]

32. Easier for cats too.

One of our cats is constantly letting herself into closed rooms in our house by jumping up and pulling down on the level-style door handles.

[dflprincess]

35. Dogs too

I was in the exam room at a vet's once with my sister-in-law and her two large dogs. One was hiding under the bench we were sitting on - no doubt thinking the vet woudn't find him there (despite his butt was hanging out from under the bench).

The other one was staring at the door - he scratched at the handle a couple of times - maybe figured out it would move and, all of sudden, jumps up and, as he comes down knocks both paws down on the lever and out he went. He almost made it to the lobby before he got caught.

[XemaSab]

41. We switched from handles back to knobs in the house for that very reason

[Pretzel_Warrior]

39. kick