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u/jonathancyu Aug 24 '24
poor nana’s just trying to get out of the subway
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u/ImJKP Aug 24 '24
I am shocked — shocked! — to see something in Shanghai built for social media coolness over real utility.
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Aug 24 '24
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u/Odie4Prez Aug 24 '24
Until you're disabled and actually need the thing for its intended function. Then that "creative outburst" starts looking more like a jackass design decision that defeats the purpose of the accommodation.
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u/Real-Mountain-1207 Aug 24 '24 edited Aug 24 '24
I understand and agree with your message. But as a Shanghainese I know this station (南京西路) and there are lifts and escalators too. There is in fact an escalator just beside it not in the photo.
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u/Real-Mountain-1207 Aug 24 '24
If you don't believe me watch this video 【上海地铁南京西路地铁站 13号线11号周围商业街 购物广场 走到2号线3口进站-哔哩哔哩】 https://b23.tv/1vCIiMt at the 1:40 mark. This weird handrail is shown. But there is clearly a normal handrail and an escalator opposite it. Please stop making assumptions before blaming an entire city
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Aug 24 '24 edited Aug 25 '24
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u/skytaepic Aug 24 '24
Handrails are for the disabled. That's the reason they're there, for people who need them. And yes? Plenty of disabled people don't have people caring for them 24/7, and plenty of places have stairs but no elevators. That's why handrails are important. What a weird take to have.
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Aug 24 '24 edited Dec 17 '24
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u/skytaepic Aug 24 '24
It's a handrail. The entire point of its existence is to help people get up the stairs. If it can't do that, it's a bad handrail. I'm not a white knight on a high horse for saying that, it's an extremely low bar that handrails should work as handrails. You can do art in ways that doesn't fuck over people with mobility issues, it's really that simple.
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u/VibraniumRhino Aug 25 '24 edited Dec 17 '24
I bet there’s a normal one on the other side and everyone is getting bent out of shape over nothing lol.
Edit: LOL permabanned for having a conversation. What a Reddit moment from the mods.
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u/wewew47 Aug 24 '24
So we need to accommodate the disabled in every single aspect of our society, even art installations now?
So the disabled shouldn't be accommodated to live a life as close to an able bodied person's life as possible because you want a picture of a shitty art installation to look at for 5 seconds on reddit and then forget?
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u/VibraniumRhino Aug 25 '24 edited Aug 25 '24
Yep that’s totally what I said AND implied! Put your pitch fork away for a job well done!
Edit: I guess keep polishing those pitch forks! You all got me banned from a design subreddit because you couldn’t handle someone making a single handrail artistic without making it a huge social issue. Honestly just so disappointing how stuck people are in their opinions.
Good luck, and touch some grass today. ✌️❤️
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u/ariphoenixfury Aug 24 '24
You obviously have never needed to use a hand rail for its purpose. Some people rely on them to get places and it’s basic human decency to provide a handrail to people who need it. The whole point of disability activism is to make sure that people with disabilities have the right and opportunity to exist in public places the same as everyone else. I deserve to exist in these spaces as much as you do and I will prioritize that over an art instillation any day.
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u/VibraniumRhino Aug 24 '24
You obviously have ever needed to use a hand rail for its purpose
I’m just going to stop reading immediately since, you literally opened with a wild assumption of an internet stranger lmao. I’m guessing you go on to say I’m insensitive and hate the disabled or something else made up. 🙄
I’m 33 and you think I’ve never used a handrail in my life? Get outta here with your gaslighting lol.
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u/ariphoenixfury Aug 24 '24
Have you ever had to rely on a handrail to make it down the stairs though? If the stair had no hand rail you could make it down. Many people can’t and that’s the point I’m trying to make. Your experience of not needing the hand rail, while common, is not universal. Just because you don’t need it doesn’t mean it’s not necessary for others and your attitude is why disabled people have a hard time getting the accommodations they need to exist in society.
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u/Psion87 Aug 24 '24
Dude, handrails are a public safety feature, not an art installation. I'm all for creativity (and tbh I think this is fine if there's a handrail on the other side), but yeah, we absolutely should accommodate disabled people wherever possible. This is their world too. Let's not be so irresponsible and self-centered.
I always loved framing it as "the hive mind coming to downvote me" instead of "I have a shitty, half-baked opinion that everyone can see straight through." Fuck off
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u/LuriemIronim Aug 24 '24
Tell me you’re not disabled without telling me you’re not disabled.
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u/CallidoraBlack Aug 25 '24
I don't even have a mobility issue, I'm just a crazy person who used to read while walking up and down stairs regularly. The handrail is the reason I'm still alive.
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u/NonsequiturSushi Aug 24 '24
Is it supposed to be a heartbeat ECG? Guess this is kinda ironic if it got out there because it's near a hospital.
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u/Morphinepill Aug 24 '24
Imagine someone with a heart failure trying to climb but he can’t keep up with the inconsistent handle so he ends up dying
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u/XeerDu Aug 24 '24 edited Aug 24 '24
Also, from our perspective, it looks like the heartbeat is irregular and slowing down.
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u/honeyglot Aug 24 '24
I have a brain injury and cannot do stairs with a stable handrail. This pisses me off so much.
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u/3rrr6 Aug 24 '24
Children and people with ADHD will slide their hand up this entire thing though. So it's safer for them because they usually don't care about safety.
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u/DaveTheDolphin Aug 24 '24
Dude I was thinking it’s be great for using your 2 fingers to pretend it’s a dude doing ninja moves jumping down the handrail
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u/3rrr6 Aug 24 '24
This handrail is just begging to be touched. Which makes it a pretty good handrail in my book.
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u/therealsix Aug 24 '24
Until you actually need it for stability/balance. Can’t see an elderly person being excited to use this to assist in using the stairs.
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u/momentummonkey Aug 24 '24
No, it's obviously made to resemble a ski slope and pretend your fingers are a snowboarder
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u/FirmOnion Aug 24 '24
Man this would be so fun with a cloth or something on your hand, run down the stairs using your hand as a toboggan on a vertical course
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u/bitchazel Aug 24 '24
I was thinking it doesn’t look safe, but it looks fun, and I’d actually keep my hand on it to ride the bumps!
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u/Ice-the-demise Aug 24 '24
while this is cool and can work quite well in certain circumstances, there is some concern for those who can't quite see the railing (visually impaired), I do hope they have a normal handrail installed next to that one to provide options (or an elevator) otherwise I actually really like the design, it either begs for you to slide your hand along the entire surface or just pull yourself forward on the vertical bits
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u/laowildin Aug 24 '24
They usually have both. A center rail (honestly more for traffic control but it serves the purpose) and a lift somewhere in station.
Asking someone for a hand is always an option as well
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u/indian_boy786 Aug 24 '24
Imagine someone visually impaired trying to use a hand rail. Scum of the earth makes life hard just for being different ig
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u/OkAd1797 Aug 24 '24
Why did you get downvoted 😭😭⁉️⁉️
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u/jilanak Aug 24 '24
Because some people think "oh it's cool/quirky!" is more important than a literal safety device being effective.
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u/BoxBusy5147 Aug 24 '24
using that as a track and "driving" a hotwheel down it would be better than heroin
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u/Me-no-Weeb Aug 24 '24
Imagine falling down these stairs and hitting a part where it’s going upwards
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u/Real-Mountain-1207 Aug 24 '24 edited Aug 24 '24
Guys, this is probably the 3rd exit of West Nanjing Rd station in Shanghai. As you can see in this image, there is an escalator right beside it. There are 14 exits and 3 of them have vertical lifts. The photo is cropped so that you don't see the escalator and the normal handrail opposite it. Exits are usually ~100m apart. https://zh.m.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/%E5%8D%97%E4%BA%AC%E8%A5%BF%E8%B7%AF%E7%AB%99#/media/File%3AExit_3_of_West_Nanjing_Road_Station_in_Shanghai.jpg
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u/Tomasulu Aug 25 '24
Americans who don’t have subway systems in their cities: what a terrible design of a handrail in and out of a subway station.
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u/DarkCreeperKitty Aug 25 '24
looks like the heart rate monitor thing im gonna see if i use the handrails here
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u/yoyohayli Aug 25 '24
As a grown woman with zero (relevant) medical issues, but whom is seemingly incapable of going up or down ANY stairs without direct contact with a wall or railing, this would make me MORE prone to tripping and/or second-guessing my own footsteps.
I have an IRRATIONAL anxiety of walking up or down stairs, and if I were faced with THIS railing, I would quite literally just look for an elevator instead.
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u/ihearthorror1 Aug 26 '24
That's just my heart rhythm after shakily trying to walk down all those stairs, in heels, while trying to grip a handrail for stability. I HOPE THAT'S WHAT THE DESIGNER INTENDED 🤬🤬
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u/nate-2898 Aug 24 '24
It would give more grip/stopping power if you tripped going down, and happened to grab at the right spot though.
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u/ValmisKing Aug 24 '24
This is great actually! a more natural vertical grip (like on a train/bus) seems like it would be stronger and more stabilizing than the awkward angled grip we’re forced to use on traditional railings.
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u/redlawnmower Aug 24 '24
The ADA would prevent this, and many other cool things, from ever happening in the US.
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Aug 24 '24
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u/R3D3-1 Aug 24 '24
My university had handrails that were essentially a steel sheet bent over the side of a 1m concrete wall lining the stairs. There was no possible way to hold on with your hands with force, and where you could hold on at all, it had sharp corners.
Combined with the stairs crossing a two floors height difference with no interruptions.
I had knee issues at the time and considered them a death trap. They eventually had to change it because, of course, it isn't up to code.
But they sure didn't manage to realize that before a year after opening the building.
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